Iditarod Conferences for Educators

The Iditarod Education Department holds two conferences in Alaska each year. The Winter Conference is held the week prior to the start of the race, and the Summer Conference is held the week before the Volunteer Picnic each June.

2008 Winter Conference – February 26 to 29, 2008

Head north in February to discover ways to impact instructional practices using Iditarod as a theme. Conference sessions and event speakers will inspire you as an educator and challenge you professionally and personally. Meet the Teacher on the Trail and finalists for next year's teacher.

Discover standards-driven curriculum connections for classroom instruction and strategies that help students be academically successful. A bonus of attending this four-day conference is the opportunity to attend the Musher Drawing Banquet, the start, and the restart of the race. University credit is available at this conference.

• Download Registration Form (33k PDF)
• Download Conference Agenda (227k PDF)

2008 Summer Conference – June 22 to 28, 2008

Pack your bags for camp – Idita-Summer Camp for Educators! Join us for a week's worth of Iditarod and Alaska summer camp adventures. Spend three nights sleeping at an Iditarod musher's kennel. Listen to the dogs howl in the early morning hours as you begin your day's activities which have been designed to provide opportunities to learn, first hand, about raising and training sled dogs as well as running Iditarod.

Field trips, authors, Iditarod speakers and mushers will provide "teacher-campers" with knowledge to build engaging classroom curriculum. Teachers will depart after a week-long conference with the ability to harness a dog and keep a classroom engaged with a "sled bag full" of important information and renewed sense of teaching enthusiasm! University credit is available.

• Download Registration Form (21k PDF)
• Download Conference Agenda (383k PDF)

Why Attend a Conference?

The Iditarod Education Department strives to assist educators in connecting the Iditarod to content and cultural standards required by each state and according to NCLB.

We are dedicated to empowering educators to use best practices of education using research based instructional methods, develop quality standards driven lessons, create units of study that engaging students in the learning process, encourage them to practice basic skills, and to encourage the use of technology as a teaching tool and a tool for students to use as they complete lessons and projects.

Iditarod is a tool of instruction that leads students to academic success. University credit offered through the University of Alaska, Anchorage. Although these conferences are intended for teachers, race fans are welcome to attend as well.

Contact Information

Diane Johnson, Director
djohnson@iditarod.com
(605) 228-6071

Iditarod Education Department
1412 South Melgaard Road
Aberdeen, South Dakota 57401