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Teacher Cross-Cultural Immersion
Rose Urban Rural Exchange

Mission: to build an understanding between urban and rural Alaskans. The Rose Urban Rural Exchange aims to strengthen relationships between urban and rural Alaskans by building mutual respect, understanding and a statewide sense of community through a cross-cultural exchange of ambassadors from urban and rural communities.


Teacher Cross-Cultural Immersion Program

The Rose Urban Rural Exchange is also offering an opportunity for elementary, middle and high school teachers from Anchorage, Fairbanks and Mat-Su to gain first-hand experience about Alaska Native culture and rural life by attending a regional culture camp during the summer months. Teachers attend pre-and post-travel orientation and debriefing sessions. All costs including round trip airfare, camp fees, and college tuition are underwritten by the Rose Urban Rural Exchange.

While being an ambassador for their school, this program offers teachers a unique opportunity to learn, work and play at an Alaska Native summer culture camp. The camp experience gives teachers insights into the Native people, their culture, their ways of teaching, learning and living.

Click here to go to Applications and Forms for the Teacher Cross-Cultural Immersion.

Tremendous Benefits to Teachers:

Teacher participants receive the following gifts from the program:
- 3.0 CR grad-level multi-cultural course through UAA - free!
- An invitation to visit a rural Alaska Native culture camp,
- All expenses paid, round-trip airfare, meals and accommodations
- Two-day sessions with participant peers - cultural training and debriefing sessions

Program Requirements:

- Enroll in a 3.0 credit graduate level course on communication and culture.
- Attend required two-day cultural training and two-day debriefing session.
- Keep a journal of your camp experience.
- Submit a reflective written essay.
- Develop and teach a lesson plan that relates to your rural experience.
- Develop a community presentation based on your experience.

Download an application for submission. If selected, teachers will participate in an interview with the selection committee, and a match will be made accordingly.


If you would like MORE information on Teacher Cross-Cultural Immersion, please contact:

Laurie Evans-Dinneen, Director
907-272-5302
ledinneen@akhf.org

MAILING ADDRESS:
Alaska Humanities Forum
421 W. 1st Ave, Ste. 300
Anchorage, AK 99501

 


Teacher Deanna Youngren's second day of chiseling her bentwood visor, Camp Qungaayux, Unalaska.

Dig Afognak Camp
Teacher Kirsten Gray helping to Reforest Dig Afognak


Klukwan Traditional Fish Camp

Looking back on the past week, my most significant realization is that I have neglected to take advantage of my own cultural resources….If I am fortunate enough to have my grandparents here for one more summer, I'm going to rectify what I've failed to learn in the last twenty years. I'm going to spend time learning from their stories, not just watching them work, helping. If there is one thing I learned about my Rose Urban Rural Exchange experience, it is to not take for granted what my own culture has to offer.

Amber Rinella
Klukwan Traditional Fish Camp






Teacher Experiences:


John Cox, Colony Middle School teacher, learns how to scrape a ringed seal skin at Tuapaktusuk Culture Camp near Barrow in July 2006. The camp is sponsored by Ilisagvik College.

"Garrett sat with me a lot this afternoon and evening and taught me things about woodcarving. I feel a special touchstone with my father, who is also a woodworker. I am making a spoon with a pocketknife, but the woodcarving tools that Garrett pulls out make the work so much easier. Like showing us how to skin a seal, Garrett teaches by doing. There is very little talk and I realize how comfortable, and different, this way of learning is. My time with Garrett leads me to consider my own teaching methods and the many different ways of knowing."

Kake Camp Photo
Annie Caulfield learns to skin a seal.

Annie Caulfield
Keex' Yanshuka
Kake Culture Camp

Keex, our way of life
Our food is our way of life
Keex, our food, our life

Kake Camp Photo
Drumming to an Elder at the Kake Cultural Camp.


Something I realized about myself on this trip was how much I value structure. As far as how I look at structure, it appeared that there wasn't any, but by the time my trip concluded I realized that the structure was unstated and that it was actually there. Since I am a teacher I really appreciate step by step instructions ….I really like to know what is going on and what to expect next….they did not give me these details, I had to observe and learn from those observations.

Kate Hallford
Kuskokwim Camp


Respect for nature- when in camp we used all of the animal that was harvested…..The hunting traditions are passed on from generation to generation. Quayaan taught Ash how to hunt for aivik. The women taught us how to harvest animals. The tradition states that the animal gives themselves to the hunter so the hunter must honor that animal. That is how the cycle of life continues. The one value that is in danger is knowledge of the language. This is such a sensitive matter for the Inupiaq. The fear that the culture will die because the young don't know the language is palpable.

Warna Bellamy
Barrow Inupiaq Culture Camp


After everyone had arrived, we gathered at the central yurt for formal introductions. Staff, elders and then adults and kids stated their name, where they were from, and parents and grandparents names. I later learned that they stated their grandparents' names to help elders identify who the students were and create ties between the elders who grew up knowing some of their parents and the grandchildren.

Joyce Mayfield
Historical Alutiiq Camp

Rose Urban Rural Exchange
421 W. 1st Ave, Ste. 300
Anchorage, AK 99501
Ph. (907) 272-5301
 
© 2010 Alaska Humanities Forum / Rose Urban Rural Exchange