10 Things You Don't Know About Me

1.  I’m from Montana, but I moved around a lot growing up because my dad is in the Army.

2.  I have two sisters, two brothers-in-law, a perfect niece and a precious nephew. My immediate and extended family is physically all spread out (sisters in Montana and Kansas, my parents are in Norway, aunts, uncles, and cousins are all over), but we’re very close and involved in each other’s lives. Thank you, Skype!

3.  I started studying Russian in college so I could travel there one day with my best friend. We’ve both been to Russia now, but we’ve never been together.

4.  After graduating from the University of Montana (Go Griz!), I wanted to move to Seattle. I applied to grad school there but wasn’t accepted. I was accepted to the University of Kansas (Go Jayhawks!) Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures. I got my Master’s degree there and continued with Ph.D. coursework. However, two more years into my studies I decided what I really wanted to do was be a high school humanities teacher.

5. I moved to Alaska because a) it seemed like an exciting place to live, and b) they had a great alternative certification program for people in other careers who wanted to become teachers. I finished all the requirements for the program (AKT2- Alaska Transition to Teaching) this past summer (2014).

6.  The AKT2 program trained teachers for rural Alaska areas, a.k.a. The Bush. I ended up on St. Paul Island out in the middle of the Bering Sea. I teach middle school and high school English/Language Arts, Russian Language, and various history and social studies classes at St. Paul School.

7.  My philosophy of education is rooted in Pragmatism. I believe that the purpose of thought and learning is action and practical application.

8. I also take a leaf out of the Cognitivist/Constructivist book—I think that learners of all ages construct their own understanding of reality by interacting within their environments and then reflection on actions and circumstances.

9.  Above all, my role as the teacher is to make sure I provide a space for students to develop social/emotional awareness and intelligent behaviors in a safe and encouraging environment.

10.  I decided to blog about my career as a teacher and my ongoing attempts at greatness in the classroom for two main reasons: 1. I use teacher blogs (and other sites and pins) for ideas all the time. I rarely comment on anything I find or use. Before starting this blog, I wasn’t contributing to the global conversation at all—I was all take and no give. 2. I am having all of my Language Arts students blog this year as a way to connect and be part of a dialogue with people beyond St. Paul Island about the things they’re interested in, as well as to get structured weekly writing practice outside of class. As my students set up their blogs, some of them asked me what my blog was about—so I had to create one! I hope it gives me good writing practice, too, as well as a place to share, overshare, and reflect.