The school year ends for July in the month of June. For principals, teachers and other retiring teachers and other school personnel this time of the school year can be bittersweet.
In the past two decades or so They’ve seen the district develop new campuses and battling the outbreak and integrate Alaska Native language and culture into the school curriculum.
Three former students discussed their experiences in Juneau School District. Juneau School District and discussed their plans for the future.
Henry Hopkins, teacher at Yadaa.at Kale Juneau Douglas High School
Since the past twenty years Henry Hopkins’ outdoor biology class has been at top of efforts by Juneau’s schools in integrating Alaska Native knowledge and language into local schools.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I spend lots of time in the in-between world,” Hopkins said. “If you’re looking to gain specific information about the world around you, I believe an ideal place to start is with people living in the area. If you’re not paying attention to this as you’re a Western science researcher, you’ve missed an enormous amount of information .”
Hopkins was employed as an aqua biologist within Western Alaska when he first thought of teaching.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I was sitting in a river taking measurements of fish late in the fall, and large chunks of ice floating by and I decided that I was not going to continue doing this for the remainder of my life,” he explained. “The the next thing for biologists was to work in a cubicle, writing reports, and it wasn’t what I was looking for. .”
He returned to UAF which he’d relocated away from Germany to pursue a biology degree and also earned an education qualification. He then worked the class in Dutch Harbor, then Wrangell and finally Delta Junction before settling down in Juneau.
He’s been with the Juneau School District for over 23 years.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”My classroom looks out onto Gastineau Channel,” he stated. “There aren’t many teachers who can see orcas pass by while they teach. .”
After being an educator mentor for technology and helping to establish the district’s homeschooling program Hopkins began teaching outdoors biology. He changed the course to one that focused on Lingit sciences and the subsistence. He arranged for guests to visit the classroom, such as Donald Gregory, who taught the students about hooks used for halibut.
The conversations in these lessons eventually led the school to adopt the Lingit title.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”In my outdoor biology class, we discuss often about names, the names of nature,” he said. “In English, we name things after people numerous times. In Lingit you identify things by their properties, or after their characters .”
His students wondered why the Juneau-Douglas High School did not have the Lingit name like the other schools within the district. After they had a meeting together with members of the Douglas Indian Association, Fran Houston was the one to give the name the school is the present day: Yadaa.at Kale, which refers to “beautifully decorated face.”
When he retires, Hopkins plans to work with Sealaska Heritage Institute to mentor other teachers in incorporating Lingit information to their science courses.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I believe that historically, our system of schools has been very unhelpful to Native students as well as members of the Native group,” he said. “I’ve been working to bridge the gap since the very first day I began teaching .”
Gretchen Kriegmont, counselor at Thunder Mountain High School
counselor Gretchen Kriegmont has been at Thunder Mountain High School long enough to assist children of former students.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I was a parent and I had a child arrive at my door and I asked”Who is your father? I’m 100% certain I was the one who taught your dad in the past,'” she said. “Seeing entire families develop starting in kindergarten to it’s quite amazing. .”
After her retirement she’ll teach educational psychology classes for students who want to become educators on the University of Alaska Southeast.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”It’s very timely right now,” she said. “Giving teachers tools to understand that they’re not being teaching material. They’ll also teach psychology, and there needs to be a philosophical .”
Kriegmont began her lecturing in Yadaa.at Kale Juneau Douglas High School in 1997, following her and her husband relocated into Juneau after a move from her home in the Midwest.
“It was probably the best vibrant school I’ve ever witnessed,” she said.
When Thunder Mountain High School opened in the fall of 2004, Kriegmont resigned to teach history, psychology, and sociology. She completed her master’s and then became school counselor.
Kriegmont stated that she wanted to support students’ growth academically as well as socially and emotionally – and to help teachers foster the growth of their students. As the pandemic spread, that balance became more vital than ever before.
It’s a style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”We persevered and I believe that’s exactly what education is all about and what students at high schools are all focused on,” the girl said. “You can see the strength the students of high school have to offer and the immense value they bring to the world. .”
The magic is beginning to return with full force, Kriegmont said. She’s witnessed students who were an imaginary seventh or eighth grade transform into accomplished ninth and students in the tenth grade. Students who were not able to attend homecoming dances were able to attend prom earlier in the month.
As the seniors plan their futures, Kriegmont said more and more are deciding to travel or learn the pursuit of a profession before entering the four-year degrees.
It’s a span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”It’s modified how I interact about students” the teacher said. “I think that students are considering reevaluating their objectives. .”
Kriegmont hopes that her UAS students will be enthused to teach the way she has enjoyed teaching.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”The classroom is a microcosm of the society,” she said. “You will be teaching every kind of person and they’ll enhance your life when you allow the students to .”
Lucy Potter, principal at Sit”Eeti Shaanax Lucy Potter, principal at Sit’ Eeti Shaanax Glacier Valley Elementary School
Lucy Potter’s workplace was adorned with brightly colored decorations during the final day of the school year. The office was adorned with balloons and students wrote their own cards.
It’s a great idea to have a style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I wish you to be satisfied at the end of your career,” one student wrote on neon pink paper. “You are the most effective principal I’ve ever had. .”
Potter is hoping she’ll be content. She has been the principal at Sit’ Eeti Shaanax Sit’ Eeti Shaanax Glacier Valley Elementary School over the past nine years, and has watched one of the school’s youngest pupils endure the ailment.
It’s a span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I do not want to think of myself as nurses working in the field of medicine However, we were emergency responders at first,” She said. “It was a very difficult few years. Very challenging, demanding in many different manner .”
Teachers swiftly relocated classes to online. Potter oversees the distribution of laptops and food for children who required laptops. After students returned in person, one successful test could send the entire class home for a second time.
Potter stated that teachers are trying to help children to catch up academically. Teachers are also noticing more issues with emotional and behavioral in students.
Potter was teary-eyed when she discussed the changes and how they’ve made teachers tired.
” style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”They put their heart into helping our students learn,” Potter said. “What I’m seeing because of this – not just teaching, but also doing many social-emotional activities together and assisting them with these very difficult effects of COVID. I believe they’re exhausted. .”
Potter is, too. One of the reasons is that she’s taking a break. She explained that between the departure of Superintendent Bridget Weiss leaving and the Alaska Reads Act going into the fall of this year it was a great time to transition into more relaxed work.
The Reads Act requires teachers to create reading plans for their individual students, and meet with their families, and think about stopping them from reading at the third grade in the event that they aren’t reading at a grade level. Potter is concerned about the effects it’ll have on teachers already stressed. Potter believes that keeping students back may cause more harm than good.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”Many of our families just make it through – they’re working between two and three jobs to support their families,” she explained. “And many of them aren’t involved as much the education of their child. I am concerned over the fact that this Reads Act is creating even more divisions for families who are economically marginalized. .”
Potter has witnessed each of these issues including increased workloads, difficulties with students’ behavior and an absence respect for educators which can result in a drop on the amount of students looking for teaching positions. Potter said it’s more crucial than ever before for teachers who are new to be able to build supportive communities at their schools.
“It’s very satisfying, but you can’t accomplish it on your own,” she said.
