By Linda Kal Sander
Finalist, 2010 Target® Teacher on the Trail
The trail to Nome is filled with unknowns. At every step along this thousand-mile journey, a musher has to make decisions. Some call this risk assessment. What obstacles might be encountered, and how to best prepare for them are the decisions constantly floating around inside the head of every musher on the Iditarod Trail. Do I stop at this checkpoint? Do I have to drop a dog? Does my leader need a break? Can my team make it to Nome? Isn’t that the way it is in life? Buckling up, wearing sunscreen, or locking our doors at night are some simple decisions made daily by responsible adults. As teachers we want to help our students in their decision-making skills as well. Our goal as educators is to provide whatever tools necessary to help our students make the right choices, choices that might even one day save their life.
Most teachers want to protect their students from negative influences that occur on a daily basis. Children are continually exposed to messages about the supposed acceptability of drug use through television, the Internet, movies and radio. There is no other time in a person’s life when peer pressure is greater than during adolescence. During the 2009 Winter Iditarod Educator’s Conference, the Alaska National Guard presented their “Stay on Track” Drug Demand Reduction Program. Now, here is a teacher tool with some real meat behind it.
Stay on Track is a free research-based program targeted at middle school students. It is an innovative, fun, and comprehensive approach to preventing substance abuse. The units are broken up into health education, decision-making, improving communication, and media influence. Each of these units has activities that help your students with trust building, communication, and risk assessment. Chief Warrant Officer Scott Frickson and his Guard team had us participate in many of the activities included in the curriculum. We played a trust game where we had to hold hands, and wait for a hand squeeze before we got to grab a chicken (no way to do this game justice, so just go with me here). We had to use analytical skills and determine in a pile of string which one string we could pull that would be attached to the rest of the strings to test our problem solving skills. Then there was the game where we stood on a dot and had to nonverbally communicate with another person in the circle that we wanted to switch spots with them, without letting the person stuck in the middle get our spot. All of these activities came with reflection at the end with the decisions we made and why we made them. The great part about this free program is that your local National Guard, no matter where you live, can come in to teach the program, or you can teach it yourself.
It is no wonder the National Guard is such an important collaborator with Iditarod Education Department. The Army National Guard is an elite group of warriors who dedicate a portion of their time to serving their nation. Each state has its own Guard, as required by the Constitution; in fact, it is the only branch of the military whose existence is actually required by the Constitution. According to SSgt Jen Theulen, the Alaska National Guard does the most rescues of any National Guard. This is due to the high volume of high-risk sports in this state. They rescue pilots, snow machiners, climbers, hunters, photographers, hikers, rock climbers, and occasionally boaters. Now their goal is to help students evaluate the risk assessment with using tobacco, drugs, or alcohol.
The Iditarod Education Department’s goal is to provide teachers with standards based lessons that will hook kids on to the Iditarod and become lifelong fans. When our students are excited about what they are learning, and have the skills necessary to make good decisions both in and out of the classroom, then you can see why the National Guard’s partnership is such a powerful tool. Together we can help our kids make it to Nome!
If you would like to find out about the Drug Demand Reduction program for the National Guard Unit in your city or state, please visit http://www.alaskadrugeducation.com. Even though this is the Alaska site, they will put you in contact with your state’s unit.
