I asked a bunch of my former students to tell me one thing that makes a good teacher in the Alaska Bush. They responded quickly and profoundly, and their thoughts can be instructive to teachers already in rural Alaska and those thinking about coming up. They gave me enough to fill three blog posts. This […] The post How to Be a Good Teacher in the Alaska Bush appeared first on The Alaska Teacher ..read more

Thanks to Kaitlyn, we had a berry picking adventure. It turns out my daughter can identify good berry picking spots from far away. We were walking on the dump road, and she pointed and said, "there are berries there." She was right. I asked her how she learned to do that. She just shrugged and […] The post Berry Picking Adventure appeared first on The Alaska Teacher ..read more

It's been a long time since the TAT family had a fishing adventure. In fact, it's been a very long time. We were lucky enough to follow some friends to the spit last week. That's where the lagoon meets Grantley Harbor. It was a beautiful day. Our kids were psyched. Levi started relaxing the second […] The post Another Fishing Adventure appeared first on The Alaska Teacher ..read more

The Alaska Teacher family is proud to announce another miracle: we adopted Ella Grace. (Astute readers will notice that Kaitlyn's announcement posted 38 days after her birth, Levi's posted 20 days after his birth, and Ella's posted 270 days after her birth. It's rough being a third child...) This was the first picture we saw […] The post Introducing Ella Grace appeared first on The Alaska Teacher ..read more

We're back in Brevig Mission and under quarantine. We're allowed to go outside, so I've been taking walks with the kids in the mornings before most people are awake. We found a little trail down by the lagoon. I'm kind of embarrassed that we've lived here for eleven years and I didn't know about it. […] The post Tundra Flowers and the Beginnings of Fall appeared first on The Alaska Teacher ..read more

The Alaska Teacher family has never spent an entire summer in the Alaska Bush, but we always catch the tail end of it when we come back before school starts. It's fun to see everything green. And nothing is frozen. There are fish to catch. And classmates to reunite with. Parkas and sealskin mittens will […] The post A Little Bit of Summer in the Alaska Bush appeared first on The Alaska Teacher ..read more

I've written before about the shopping we do in preparation for a year in the Alaska Bush and the way we travel with tubs. This year Steve and I had it down to a science as we were traveling back to the Alaska Bush. Step 1: Shop for 250 pounds of dry goods in the […] The post Traveling Back to the Alaska Bush appeared first on The Alaska Teacher ..read more

I've written about my love for ivory carvings before, but I haven't mentioned my love for walrus ivory jewelry. Every once in a while somebody stops by our house or my classroom to show me ivory jewelry. Sometimes it's the carver stopping by. Other times it's the carver's son, daughter, honey, or cousin. These earrings […] The post Walrus Ivory Jewelry: Favorites From My Collection appeared first on The Alaska Teacher ..read more

Dear Students, I know I spend a lot of time talking about vocabulary and primary sources and things that happened a long time ago.  I constantly remind you to plug in your laptops, use school appropriate language, and wait in the student zone until I dismiss you. I’m a teacher, that’s what I do. It […] The post An Open Letter to My Students appeared first on The Alaska Teacher ..read more

After summer break, we're back in the Alaska Bush We've been back in Brevig Mission for a while, but it's time to let the blog know. ? One of Kaitlyn's favorite things to do is take walks on the beach while the weather is nice. The above picture is taken looking west and east from […] The post Back in the Alaska Bush appeared first on The Alaska Teacher ..read more