Rural Teaching Exchange - Bethel,Alaska

March 20-April 1, 2011

Now that I am leaving Bethel, AK, I can finally sit down and analyze everything that I have observed and taken in. I am so thankful that I got to come to a community that is so rich in family culture. During my two week visit, I have had the opportunity to meet some amazing people and participate in a festival where family and community came together as one. Ashley and I chose a question about the local native culture and how it is represented within the school community.

After visiting other schools and spending time in this community, I have seen how important the Native culture is to this population, but I have also heard differently about the community’s perception on education. We had a chance to sit down with Mikelnguut Elitnaurviat principal, Josh Gill and discuss the education system in Bethel. He helped us learn about the history of the community and understand why education in the Native community is evolving. From his perspective, most families are struggling to understand “WHY” education is important. They recognize the importance of education but they have been taught to have different priorities. The majority of these children will never leave rural Alaska; so families find it more important to teach the Native way of life and put education on the back burner. Children in Bethel have an advantage over other children in surrounding rural villages; In Bethel there are more resources.

Education in this Native village is developing. There are two elementary schools in Bethel, Alaska; the M.E. public school and Kilbuck Yup’ik Immersion School. M.E. follows a standard curriculum and children have four specials: Music, PE, Library, and Yup’ik. Kilbuck is a Yup’ik Immersion School that follows a curriculum but their mission is to help strengthen the Yup’ik language and culture and promote cultural differences. Classrooms at Kilbuck speak Yup’ik as a first language. As an optional school, there are privileges and more freedoms in the classroom. Children at Kilbuck are chosen by a lottery system, and could be kicked out of the school if the student has poor attendance or has made poor choices in the classroom. The majority of our time was spent in the M.E. preschool. The M.E. preschool is funded by a grant catering to low income families. After being in this preschool classroom, I learned how important language development is and why. Most children in this community do not have an English language or Yup’ik language foundation; for that reason, they struggle in the classroom and slowly fall behind. I did see some lessons taught focusing on repetition and fluency development; by doing these types of lessons, children’s overall language development will improve. I also saw lessons that seemed to have no relevance to these children’s lives. I believe this school district needs to budget more money to spend on culturally responsive education pertaining to the rural life in Alaska. Speaking to Angel, the M.E. preschool teacher, I found out that rural teachers like her, make and add to the curriculum with kits that are native to these children. I appreciate that these teachers also see the importance in best teaching practices.

In light of this inquiry project and rural experience I can honestly say it has changed my overall appreciate for the state of Alaska and has helped me realize how blessed I truly am. Culturally responsive education means that everyone is given the same opportunity and the education system should be teaching children what is relevant to their lifestyles. I think if I were to teach in Bethel, I would immerse myself in the community and gain as much knowledge on the Native culture as possible. I think this rural experience combined with my life experiences thus far, has made me an educated teacher who would be an asset to any school district. If I had a chance to come back to Bethel, Alaska, I would choose to spend more time at Kilbuck Immersion School. Now that I have a better understanding for the Native culture, I would like to take that one step further and immerse myself in a school where I would be forced to learn Yup’ik and shape my socio-cultural being to be that much richer.

Thank you AEIN and UAA for this amazing opportunity!!!