Paw Print = Maryland

Exploration Feeling = Appreciative

Live Your Values with Iditarod

What can I say about my experience as a 2023 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail Finalist?  How can I conclude this incredible voyage in one final post?  There were so many powerful moments that this last post makes it difficult to wrap it all up, however, I know newly developed friendships with educators, colleagues, and family are looking for more.  So here it is ~ the power of living your values.  Have you ever had an amazing adventure of a lifetime and do not want it to end?  Well, that was this journey for me.  I am so appreciative to have “lived my values.”  Living my values with the Iditarod has allowed me to be the most authentic version of myself both on paper and in person.  I realized that many of my traits;  optimism, creativity, curiosity and enthusiasm affected those whom I met in Alaska and in turn, has allowed me to grow personally and professionally.

As I left Alaska, I saw this overpowering visual out the airplane window.  It was so breathtaking and yet it drew me in to the reality of how fitting the accomplishment of being part of the Iditarod became a new accolade for me.  Building teacher capacity and student leaders to be successful while I was in Alaska was just the beginning.  The day-to-day interactions while living my values through the Iditarod allowed me to establish new relationships similar to the peaks and valleys I saw out my window that last day.  Peaks and valleys are really just a state of mind.  I appreciated what I had experienced and longed to share it with others.  I truly enjoyed peak moments while I was part of the Iditarod experience.  I also tried to learn from those valley moments that crossed my path.  This visual also makes me think about Anna Berington.  I was in COMMS (Race Communications Room) when we got the call to have a new sled brought to McGrath for her.  When I arrived back at my school, my class got to watch the video of Anna and Kristy share the story of how they had to problem-solve to create a new gadget to keep her sled together until she got to McGrath.  It made me think of so many peaks she must have encountered that first day on the trail, yet she still needed to work through challenges or valleys.  Just like I did. 

Insider subscribers can hear Anna Berington’s story by clicking on the video link below.

https://iditarod.com/video/anna-berington-adjusts-to-a-broken-sled/

The Iditarod has also allowed me to build many students as leaders.  When I was gone, my 4th graders worked with the 2nd graders to continue following the mushers on the trail.  This large bulletin board of all the Iditarod checkpoints includes every musher that participated this year.  Students monitored musher progress every morning and moved each musher to the checkpoint that they were at that morning.  The smaller footprints represent all the students at one of my schools that enjoyed participating in the history of the Iditarod, as well as researching and learning from a variety of mushers.  I am so proud that my students will never forget the Iditarod.  They lived the Iditarod through me and because of me.

Zooming with Joppatowne Elementary School 2nd and 3rd graders felt like they were there in Alaska with me.

I also enjoyed ZOOMING with my two schools while I was in Alaska.  It was very rewarding seeing them as I shared stories of my adventures, chasing down a musher with his dog in the lobby, and of course making them all feel like they were there in Alaska at the Iditarod with me.  I hope everyone that got to see all my pictures simply took my face out and put their face and eyes in my place.  My purpose for posting pictures was for my followers to feel like they were also part of this experience.  My wish was for everyone that read my posts feel like they were part of this adventure with me.

Ring Factory Elementary students cheered as first and second place mushers arrive in Nome.

Even though I left Alaska, I brought a lot of the Iditarod home with me.  I loved showing my students, and entire school the live videos that the Iditarod Insider shared.  This picture of my class watching Brent Sass and Dallas Seavey come into Nome was thrilling.  We all cheered as each musher crossed under the Burled Arch of Nome.  We talked about all the feelings that these two mushers must have felt when they arrived and the many volunteers that helped them get there.  As I headed down to the Kindergarten and 1st grade POD, all I heard was cheers and excitement from the students as they also watched these two mushers and dog sled teams cross into Nome.  One teacher said, “It was like the 4th of July in my room.”

1st place winner Brent Sass arrives in Nome on Tuesday, March 15, 2022 with lead dogs Slater and Morello, (photo by Anchorage Daily News)

Dallas Seavey arrived  in 2nd place shortly behind Brent on March 15, 2022.  Dallas is seen here with his daughter Annie. (photo by Alaska Public Media)

As I reflect on my last post to my Iditarod followers, I realized that there was one common theme relating to my feelings during this journey.  The word appreciative comes to mind.  Everyday I was truly thankful, reflective, brighter, insightful, enlightened, motivated, challenged and united because of this unique opportunity.  Being able to live my values made me appreciate those that inspired me.  I also appreciate the support that I received from Harford County Public Schools in Maryland, Meridith Dunlap, Jacqueline Fisher, Jeff Gipprich, Peter Carpenter, colleagues from Joppatowne and Ring Factory Elementary, and of course my family, the waffle of my ice cream cone.  The Iditarod family will always be in my heart because of the impact they have made on me and on so many others that I shared my travels with.  My students are stronger because of my experience.  Educators I work with are more motivated to step outside their comfort zone because of my adventures.  My quest came at a time that teachers just needed some glimpse of hope and validation for their reason “WHY” they became an educator.  Most importantly, I lived my values and that is pretty cool!  I am currently reading Champion of Alaska Huskies by Katie Mangelsdorf.  In this novel Joe Redington Sr often said, “live and learn.”  Well, I can honestly say that I did, I really did!

Teachers:  Think about how to live your values and more importantly how you can teach your students to live by their values.  Begin with a mini-lesson to help your students understand what values are.  Define values as a personal inventory of what they consider most important in life.  There are so many examples of mushers that have demonstrated their values while on the Iditarod trail.  Pick one musher to do a deep dive project based-learning activity.  Research that musher and see if students can identify the force behind their values.  What or who was the driving force behind building those values with that musher?    

I am thrilled to continue my Iditarod education with Jen Reiter and Annie Kelley through the I.C.E. (Iditarod Certified Educator) course.  Feel free to visit my first checkpoint – The Debski Challenge.  Kathleen Thompson – The Debski Challenge