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Teacher's Journal
Hi! My name is Maggie Hamilton and I am thrilled to be starting my journey as the 2025 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail(TM)! I am a 5th grade teacher at Burris Elementary School in Mitchell, Indiana, and I will be starting my eighth year next month. In my spare time, I enjoy life at home …
Iditarod family, this is my last post as 2024 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail. It has been a wonderful ride and a life-changing experience for me. I have so many people to thank: Terrie, Jane, Linda, Erin, Jim, Whitney, Emily, Nicolle, Jennifer, Debski, Josi, Angie, Sara, and many others who took care of me and …
If you’re like me, you’re happy as a dog with two tails to be on summer break! It’s a great opportunity to refresh and dream of how you will use the Iditarod in your classroom next year. While we teachers have hung up our dog tags for a few weeks, future sled dog champions are being born this month! Go ahead and follow all the mushers on …
Now that the 2024 Iditarod is in the books, mushers everywhere are enjoying the summer with their dogs. Mamas are giving birth to adorable sled dog puppies. Mushers are traveling with their dogs to provide glacier adventures to tourists or getting additional training in the far north of Alaska. If you visit the Iditarod Headquarters …
The end of the school year is SO busy! If you are done with your school year, I hope you are enjoying your well-deserved summer break! If you are like me and have 4 and a half days to go, we can do this. The key to a successful mission, whether it’s to complete the …
With the end of the year so close, everyone is feeling all the big feelings—excitement, anxiousness, relief, impatience, and even a tinge of sadness. Our students are definitely feeling this energy too! In this classroom culture post, I want to share some ways that I’m bringing my team to the finish line with activities and …
This year’s Iditarod is notable for a scary moose encounter. Champion Dallas Seavey was coming down a hill around a blind corner between the Skwentna and Finger Lake checkpoints and a moose was in his path. This is not the first time moose have attacked sled dogs on the Iditarod Trail. During my time on …
The second question people ask me about my time on the Iditarod Trail, after “did you survive the cold?” is usually, “Did you see northern lights?” My answer is, yes, sort of. On the second night in Galena, a checkpoint along the Yukon river, a faint swirl of northern lights appeared in the sky. It …
This year’s Iditarod has come and gone, with lots of great stories, memories, and lessons. One of the things that stood out to me after watching mushers come into checkpoints was how they carried and located their mandatory gear. What is mandatory gear? Rule 16 of the 2024 Iditarod Race Rules states: Rule …
Have you seen Dallas Seavey’s video about the boots he created for the Iditarod Trail this year? The six-time champion shared his new footwear system shortly after the race concluded. In the video, he talked about the types of problems he hoped to solve by rethinking the entire concept of footwear on the trail. Seavey …