Can you imagine standing on the South Pole? Or excavating one of the earliest settlements in the Alaskan Arctic? Or enduring the summit of Greenland? Or traveling on an icebreaker through the Drake Passage? …
These are just some of the exciting projects that the “PolarTREC class of 2010” will enjoy as we venture out across the world from one pole to another. It is an amazing experience for all of us, and this week is about bonding together as a group while learning the nuts and bolts about communicating with the public, our students and the researchers we will be working with.
The nine Arctic teachers are located in Kamchatka, Russia; Svalbard, Norway; Western Alaska; Atqsuk, Alaska; the Northern Bering Sea; Summit Greenland; North Slope of Alaska; the Polar Sea; and the Svartisen Glacier in Norway.
We are a diverse teaching group, from the far corners of the USA, educating all ages of kids from elementary to adult learners. We teach Special Ed, Writing, and Science of every discipline imaginable. We come from urban and rural communities, large and small schools, with kids that represent the heart and the future of America. While our personal challenges as teachers are immensely different, this week we have united together to learn about the Polar Regions and find ways to bring this experience to our students. Our researchers have come aboard through Webinars; past members of PolarTREC have given outstanding presentations about their experiences, and we will soon visit the University of Alaska Large Animal Research Station, Creamers Field and the Permafrost Tunnel.
I am looking forward to a rewarding and enriching week!