Each January the Iditarod Education Committee seeks to identify three highly qualified educators to via for the position of Target® Iditarod Teacher on the Trail. Applicants from around the world are invited to submit an application document and portfolio by December 1 of that year. The committee selects from the application pool, three finalists who come to Alaska prior to the start of the next Iditarod, to continue the selection process, participate in personal interviews, and participate in a variety of activities that are rated and scored by the committee. The result of the week long interview— the selection of the ‘next’ Target® Iditarod Teacher on the TrailTM.Meet the finalists for Target® 2010 Iditarod Teacher on the TrailTM:– Nikki, Herb, and Linda.
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For middles school students at Fort Braden School, Social Studies is more than a required subject, it is an adventure in learning because Nikki Allen brings the subject matter to life through her creative teaching techniques.
The cover of Nikki’s application document was entitled, “Living the Dream”. That title is more than a title for a portfolio. It is symbolic of the true philosophy behind Nikki’s teaching. Nikki believes the best way to learn is through experiencing first-hand the topics in American History and World Geography.
Nikki attended Florida State University. She was a cheerleader and track & field athlete. (pole vault) Nikki enjoys reading, working out, visiting Florida’s beaches, attending Florida State sporting events, and spending time with her pets, her dog, General and cats Curtis and Boo. Nikki loves to travel and experience other cultures. She has traveled to Mexico, the Caribbean Islands, Scandinavia, Russia, Estonia, Poland, and Israel. Nikki attended the Iditarod 2008 Summer Camp for Teachers.
“It has become my goal to be the 2010 Teacher on the TrailTM not only to succeed with a personal challenge, but also to be a representative of the Iditarod Trail Committee in helping teachers use the Iditarod theme to enrich their curriculums and to engage their students in developing the skills necessary for successful learning.” Nikki teaches Social Studies to 7th and 8th grade students at Fort Braden School in Tallahassee. Her area of expertise is Social Studies, an area she teaches with passion, creativity, and dedication. She believes a key to academic success for students is to make the learning real and applicable. Through her teaching strategies, she demonstrates the importance of academic success.
Nikki attended the 2008 Summer Camp for Teachers. Nikki says, “The theme can be effectively incorporated into numerous lesson plans for subjects touched on such as: character education, native heritage, concern for global climate changes, and physical fitness.”
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Before becoming a teacher, Herb experienced several different occupations: a machinist, tool and die maker, welder, farrier, blacksmith, and sawyer. Herb considers those occupations to be fortunate experiences because he is able to incorporate them into real world situations to use with his students.
Herb teaches environmental education and technology K-6 at the Southern Fulton School District in Warfordsburg, Pennsylvania and has been at that school for 10 years. He began using the Iditarod with his second grade students and from there, expanded the activities and lessons with other students. Being a tactile learner himself, wanting to know as much as he could about everything, he recognized that real life experiences an important way to learn, leading him to building a sled and to attending the 2008 Iditarod Summer Camp.
Herb received his BS in Elementary and Environmental Education from Shippensburg Universtiy in Shippensburg Pennsylvania. Five years later, he received his MA in Curriculum and Instruction from Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Herb has 3 of his own huskies. He bikejores with the dogs and enjoys the exchange of energy and exercise between his huskies and himself.
“I am applying for teacher on the trail to further my life-long desire for learning and adventure so that I can share my enthusiasm in a way that will motivate my students to seek their own adventurous learning experiences.” Herb teachers Environmental Education and Technology at the Southern Fulton Elementary K- 6 school in Warfordsburg. He attended the 2008 Summer Camp for Teachers. Prior to being a teacher, Herb had a number of occupations: machinist, tool and dies maker, welder, farrier, blacksmith, and sawyer. “I consider myself very fortunate to have had so many different occupations since I can now take these experiences and incorporate them into real world situations for my students.” Being a tactile learner himself, he recognizes the need to bring real life experiences to students and guides students to learn through experiences.
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Linda is not just a teacher, but she is a teacher’s teacher. She is also a mother, a wife, a life-long learner, and a Harley riding adventure seeker. With twenty years of teaching experience and instructional coaching, she has left the traditional classroom behind and is a school-based reading coach at Pompano Beach Middle School and a Teacher Trainer for Broward County Public Schools, the 6th largest school district in the nation.
As a reading coach, Linda creates weekly critical thinking curriculum and leads the professional development for 75 teachers. This allows her to reach more than 1,000 students with the Iditarod Theme.
Linda’s experience includes being a nationally recognized presenter of cooperative learning strategies, classroom management practices and techniques, differentiated instruction methods, and standards/benchmark aligned question writing skills. She has been recognized on an international level through drug awareness curriculum that she wrote for the Vitebsk, Belarus School District where she was a guest teacher, presenter, and coach for 31 days. She attended the Iditarod 2008 Winter Conference for Educators.
“The Iditarod is a gold rush of spirit. The camaraderie of the mushers, volunteers, and fans is a fire that stays with your forever.” This is the same spirit that Linda lives each day in her ‘life’ as a teacher’s teacher and facilitator for Broward County Public Schools. She is ‘like the Iditarod’, a rush of teaching spirit…. It is the ‘camaraderie of the teachers, the entire staff, parents, and students themselves’ that must work together to bring about quality education, an absolute dedication and goal in Linda’s professional and personal life.
Linda believes that there are three things that are yours forever: education, experience, and faith. She enjoys skiing in the Rockies, exploring on her ‘97 Harley Davidson Fat Boy, or reading as well as traveling with her family. “I want to be the 2010 Target Teacher on the Trail to demonstrate how one topic as captivating as the Iditarod can be a tool for both professional development and character education.”
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The Iditarod Education Department recognizes that these highly qualified educators, Nikki Allen, Herb Brambley, and Linda Kal Sander represent the best of the best in the world of educators and proudly welcomes them to the Iditarod family of educators.
Nikki, Herb, and Linda, congratulations on your hard work and on demonstrating your dedication to education, students, parents, and your community. We celebrate your success and wish you the best!
Way back on July 23, 2008 I posted the first two of my four part, Iditarod themed character education program, using the acronym RACE for the Last Great Race on Earth. The “R” stands for respect and responsibility, the “A” for attitude, the “C” for compassion, and the “E” for excellence, personal excellence. We can see all of these traits exhibited in the mushers and their relationships with their dogs and each other. It is also evident in the many volunteers that help make the Iditarod happen.
So, after this message you will find the compassion and excellence pieces of this program. They have accompanying songs and lists of Iditarod Insider videos showing that particular tenet. I have had success using this program in a one-week summer camp, highlighting one tenet a day, Monday through Thursday, then reviewing by making the RACE necklace (July 23) on the last day. And it is equally successful using it in the regular classroom in a three or four week study.
During the compassion piece of the program, we encourage creating a service project. For example, the three pre-k classes at my school visit an assisted living community each month of the school year. The children sing five to seven songs about their recent studies to the residents and then go around and give hugs and handshakes, introducing themselves and wishing the Grandma’s and Grandpa’s greetings of the season, “Happy New Year,” “Happy Valentine’s Day”, etc. Every class in our school has their own special project. The kindergarten works with the Humane Society, the second grade is in charge of the weekly recycling for the entire lower school, and the list goes on. Compassion has no boundaries.
Most recently I have been blessed beyond measure by the compassion of my school. My principal, Claudia Sherry, sets high, but loving standards for our lower school in so many ways. She is quick to assess a need and develop a plan. Not long after I told her of my cancer diagnosis, Claudia whipped up an action plan that offered families in my school the opportunity to pour out compassion on me (and my family) in a very tangible way. She sent a letter to lower school families telling them of my diagnosis and that my oncologist was out of my insurance network. She went on to say that my church would be taking care of any meal needs my family required so if they would like to help with medical costs, the school would be happy to collect donations on my behalf. To date folks have given an extraordinary $9,000. Of course, I cry happy tears at every deposit, but the last deposit really released the floodgates. The father of one of my colleagues-a man I have never met-donated an amazing $3,000! May we all be encouraged by the selfless compassion of such a heart.
Summary: This lesson(s) will focus on the third tenet of the acronym RACE, compassion. Through song, reading, video, discussion, drama, and a service project students will identify and demonstrate compassion.
Download Lesson Plan: Compassion – Character Education
Download Lesson Supplement: Compassion Song
Summary: This lesson(s) will focus on the fourth tenet of the acronym RACE, excellence. Through song, reading, video, discussion, and drama students will identify and demonstrate personal excellence.
Download Lesson Plan: Personal Excellence – Character Education
Download Lesson Supplement: Personal Excellence Song
Summary: Here are the lyrics to The Iditarod Checkpoint Song. Write them on a song chart or overhead transparency to help students learn the names of the checkpoints as they sing aong with the music. (See the link on the left hand menu bar for the music.)
Download Lesson Plan: The Iditarod Checkpoint Song
We all marvel at their toughness. How do the men and women who compete in the Iditarod Sled Dog Race do it? Certainly these are uncommon people, these athletes we admire for their tenacity and spirit; for their love of their dogs; and for their passion for the wild side of Alaska. And we are more than fans; we are incredible addicts, race junkies. We know
Then there are a few mushers we also know for their personal battles with disease. The stories of how they fought for their lives show us how the same traits that make them outstanding people and mushers helped them cope, hope, and persevere while battling cancer. Four Time Iditarod champion Susan Butcher fought a long and valiant fight with leukemia, passing away in August of 2006. She was an amazing woman and admired worldwide. Lance Mackey successfully battled throat cancer and has won the last two Yukon Quests and Iditarod championships. No one else has accomplished this feat. And then there is the lady who is easily identified in a crowd by her pink parka-DeeDee Jonrowe, a breast cancer survivor.
DeeDee’s story is particularly inspiring to me because I am facing challenges similar to those she overcame in 2003. I was told I had cancer in late September and had a radical hysterectomy at the end of October; it took the better part of two months to recover. I then began chemo and radiation therapy three weeks ago, with three weeks left to endure. It is not fun, I promise, but neither is it permanent. I should be finished with my treatment schedule by the end of January. Then near the end of February, I am supposed to go dashing off to Alaska for a month to fulfill my duties as 2009 Target Teacher on the Trail.
Right now in the midst of nausea and weakness and drowsiness from medications, I can’t imagine it. But I’m going to do it, because so many others have shown me the way. And if DeeDee can race the Iditarod so soon after surgery and chemo therapy, then I can monitor and report on it. I’m going to do it. Teacher on the Trail coordinator Diane Johnson (what an encourager!) and her wonderful team are committed to my going forward with it, and they will be there to help. I’m going to do it.
