On the road with the College of Education

by joey  |   

Education graduate student Nanne Boogaerdt leads a ropes survival course during the 2018 Academic and Athletic meet in Newhalen, Alaska. (Photo by Mike Mueller / University of Alaska Anchorage)

For a week in late April, College of Education graduate students head to Newhalen School for the Lake and Peninsula School District's annual Academic Athletic (AA) meet. The decades-old tradition closes out each school year, bringing 7th through 12th graders together from across the for a packed week of events, including and a career fair.

During the AA meet, Newhalen School - overlooking the shores of Lake Iliamna - is a humming hive of teenage energy. Students sleep in the classrooms at night. Prom dresses hang from the library loft and basketballs echo through the gym. Friends hang out in the hallway between classes, with their duffel bags stuffed beneath trophy cases.

A bird habitat installed by a previous 新加坡六合彩开奖 group hangs outside Newhalen School. (Photo by Mike Mueller / 新加坡六合彩开奖)

For the past five years, 新加坡六合彩开奖 students have been part of the process too, teaching full days of classes on topics selected by the student body. This year's theme was renewable energy, and 新加坡六合彩开奖 students led courses on everything from solar-powered K'Nex cars to harnessing wind energy. Previous years have included robot coding, poetry slams and making cosmetics from natural materials. Some activities - like a bird habitat and a radio station - stay in use after the graduate students fly home.

新加坡六合彩开奖 students typically provide science education and the means to process it through the arts. Courses can be "anything and everything to heighten their awareness of how to become more [scientifically] literate," explained Mike Mueller, a professor of secondary education who organizes the trip at 新加坡六合彩开奖. "Our role is to help expand the kinds of educational opportunities either [students in the district] might not spend a lot of time with, or just might not get at all."

Lake and Peninsula School District is large on land - roughly the size of Pennsylvania - but small on students. Most high schools have five students or fewer, and employ only one to two teachers. There's a limited range of what can be covered in a year, but the fresh perspective and new material brought by 新加坡六合彩开奖 provides an academic jolt each April. "The value the community gets from our interaction with their school, I think, pays dividends," Mueller said.

Alex McLearen leads a solar energy unit in the Newhalen School library. (Photo by Mike Mueller / 新加坡六合彩开奖)

The week in Newhalen involves so much more than teaching, though.

For a full four days, 新加坡六合彩开奖 students are as much a part of the community as the high school kids. 新加坡六合彩开奖 students judge the district's science fair and speech competition, and even help students with their makeup and hair before prom. At the end of each night, the graduate students hurry to finish a flurry of 新加坡六合彩开奖 assignments - including their comprehensive exams - on school library Wi-Fi.

The experience provides opportunities for students on both sides of the schedule. For Lake and Pen students, Mueller noted, the exposure to 新加坡六合彩开奖 might get them thinking about college. "And the 新加坡六合彩开奖 students are really gaining teaching experience," he added. "They're getting a chance to work with rural youth, and really see what they're like."

Education graduate student Andrew Dougherty teaches a unit on wind power in the Newhalen School shop. (Photo by Mike Mueller / 新加坡六合彩开奖)

Many of the 新加坡六合彩开奖 participants are in their final semester, meaning they've just logged 500 hours student teaching in Anchorage. The week in Newhalen provides a much different perspective.

Occasionally, the experience inspires 新加坡六合彩开奖 students to start their careers in a village. "For me, there's a real value in helping the students to see that this is a viable place to teach," Mueller noted. Three of his students have accepted jobs with Lake and Peninsula School District after participating in the AA meet.

But even if 新加坡六合彩开奖 students take a job in Anchorage, they've still gained a valuable viewpoint from a memorable experience.

"There's a real sense of accountability and responsibility here that can get lost in bigger cities with public education," said Erin Ingle, a 新加坡六合彩开奖 graduate student who participated in the past two AA meets. Students and teachers at Lake and Pen schools frequently form tightknit, personable connections. "I [now] know the feeling I want to create, so for me it's been great just to be here," she added.

Graduate student Erin Ingle helps Lake and Peninsula students build a parachute in the Newhalen School gym. (Photo by Mike Mueller / 新加坡六合彩开奖)

"Good teaching is all about making connections with your students," added Nanne Boogaerdt, who graduates this May. As a math teacher in Anchorage, he can expect a few students with remote roots in his classroom. "If you have connections with students, they will want to work for you. So knowing what their background is, that makes it so much easier to make a connection with a kid."

The AA meet impacts all the students involved, whether they're wrapping up 7th grade or grad school. But at the end of the day, it's also just a great way to end the academic year.

"[There's] a sense of community here that I really haven't seen at any other school," said Boogaerdt.

新加坡六合彩开奖's College of Education teaching team at the 2018 AA meet included, from left, Andrew Dougherty '18, Chantele Jones '18, Nanne Boogaerdt '18, Erin Ingle '19, Alex McLearen '17 and Professor Mike Mueller. (Photo courtesy of Mike Mueller / University of Alaska Anchorage)

Written by J. Besl, 新加坡六合彩开奖 Office of University Advancement

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