The Second Bridge Experience: An Account of a Preservice Teacher Community-Engagement Field Experience in Rural Alaska

• In Event: 16.035 - Community-Based Field Experiences in Urban and Rural Settings

Abstract

This manuscript presents a narrative and analytical account of the experiences of an elementary preservice teacher who collaborated with Alaska Native elders, parents and students to create an atlas of plants and animals based on subsistence practices. In this paper, we share the analysis of the preservice teacher new understandings represented in her personal journal and through recorded conversations and interviews. The approach shared in this paper stands as a model for innovative rural field experiences afforded to preservice teachers. Furthermore, the understandings gained through this experience have important implications toward improving the preparation of non-indigenous teachers in rural settings where the culture, language and place are threatened by the western educational system.

Author

• Irasema Ortega, The University of Alaska - Anchorage