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Heidi Sloan 2018 Teacher on the Trail
What a great conference we had! Learning how to incorporate the Iditarod into STEM, primary source research, literacy, writing, math, and art was the emphasis for this incredible professional development weekend. Jen Reiter, 2014 Teacher on the Trail™, led the educators in activities involving the history of the Iditarod Trail and working with primary sources, giving everyone strong …
Paws Along the Trail: making a mental Iditarod picture Do my students understand what multiplication actually represents? For example, that 8 x 42 is 8 rows of 42, or 8 groups of 42? I want them to learn to form mental images when they see math symbols. Day 1 goal: give a thinking/doing problem to establish a …
Paws Along the Trail with Lhotse, the Mom Dog Athlete Shaynee Traska was all smiles and the first rookie musher to sign up for the 2018 Iditarod at Iditarod Headquarters in June. She and her husband, Jeremy, have been building their kennel of sled dogs and training toward their dream of running the Iditarod Trail. Talking with …
Paws Along the Trail with Adoption What happens to sled dogs when they are retired or when they just don’t have the heart for pulling? Mushers keep them or find new, loving homes for the dogs. Heidi: For two summers at Iditarod Educator’s Camp, I loved seeing Copernicus in the dog yard. He appeared to be …
Back when I began following the Iditarod and the EDU website, I read about 2004 Teacher on the Trail™, Jeff Peterson. I remember thinking, “Wow! I would LOVE to do that!” The dream began for me, but it seemed beyond reach. As the years passed and I used the Iditarod more and more as a tool …
Paws Along the Trail with Character As you get your class list, do your eyebrows go up at certain names? Do you feel a twinge of joy seeing other names? Whether we are thrilled or not, those students are our team this year. As the teacher, or musher if you will, it is our job …
Mushers are allowed to ship supplies ahead so they can replenish their “people” food, dog food, and gear such as boots, gloves, dog booties, and more. They may send three 50-pound “drop bags” per checkpoint. The bags are labeled with their names and A, B, or C. The bags are flown into the checkpoints and …
It’s teacher work week or close to it, and we teachers are scrambling to ready ourselves for a new school year. It’s sometimes overwhelming just to teach our required standards. More and more is piled onto our proverbial plates each year. However, here are the benefits I see when incorporating the Iditarod into the curriculum: Student engagement …
Summer is a great season to spend time with family. Through working or playing together, skills and interests are definitely passed on to children. We see a variety of second-generation careers: movie stars, business people, mechanics, farmers, and in my case, teachers. Apparently, mushing falls into the generational gene pool. In Fairbanks’ Daily News-Miner, Dan …
We all know that sled dogs stay in shape during the snowy, winter months when training for long distance runs. But what happens now, in Alaska’s summer? And yes, there is summer in America’s northernmost state. Summer exercise varies. Some mushers work with their dogs guiding tourists on glaciers. Others give trail rides to …