Middle school teacher Danielle Riha named 2019 Alaska Teacher of the Year

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Middle school teacher Danielle Riha named 2019 Alaska Teacher of the Year.

Our nation is fortunate to have so many wonderful public school teachers. One of these is Danielle Riha, a middle school teacher in Anchorage, Alaska. Danielle teaches math, science, social studies, English, and culture to junior high school students in the Southwest Region School District. Because many of her students are Alaska natives, Danielle has developed a curriculum that emphasizes culturally responsive teaching.

Danielle started a reading program that invited Yup’ik elders into the classroom, and she helped develop a culturally relevant curriculum for the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School. She created the Morning Gathering, and implemented Culture Week. Danielle also works on the Alaska Humanities Forum Educational Advisory Board, a group that assists new teachers in their efforts to understand and connect to indigenous culture and lifestyle. In addition, she helped create Math in the Cultural Context modules which are now being used in districts all over the state of Alaska.

For her 18 years of outstanding work in the classroom, Danielle was honored as the 2019 Alaska Teacher of the Year by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development.

Danielle was born in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in San Antonio, Texas. She originally planned to pursue a career in physical therapy. She completed coursework at North Texas University. Then she and a friend decided to work together to earn money for graduate school. Danielle sold everything she owned, took a road trip to Seattle, and found employment in Alaska’s fishing industry. While on a job in Dutch Harbor, she accepted a second job as a substitute teacher. Once she was in the classroom, Danielle was hooked on the profession, and she decided to become a full-fledged educator.

Danielle earned her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the University of North Texas in 1995. In addition, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Alaska in 2000. She earned her Master’s in Education from Grand Canyon University in 2005. Currently, she is working on her Ph.D. in Education at Cappella University.

To read more about this chalkboard champion, click on this link to an article published by Danielle’s alma mater at the University of Alaska: Danielle Riha.

Tour of US Supreme Court building makes excellent experiential learning

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A tour of the United States Supreme Court building located in Washington, DC, would make an excellent experiential learning experience for students.

Most educators agree that travel is one of the best methods of experiential learning. And one of the most rewarding destinations for travel for American students is our nation’s capital city, Washington, DC. There are many historic sites to visit in the city, and one of the most impressive is the United States Supreme Court building. This building is the work place of the United States Supreme Court, the highest and most influential court in the nation.

Originally the Supreme Court justices met in a small side chamber in the US Capitol building. By the turn of the 20th century, however, the court had outgrown the space. In 1912, Chief Justice William Howard Taft began advocating for a separate structure to house the justices. Shortly thereafter, architect Cass Gilbert designed a new Supreme Court building in the neoclassical style. Construction began in 1932 and was completed in 1935.

A visit to this impressive building would make an excellent experiential learning experience for students. While there, they can view the actual courtroom where the Supreme Court justices meet. If they time it right, they can even listen to a short lecture conducted by one of the docents. The docent will present interesting information about how the court works. In addition to the Courtroom, portions of the first and ground floors of the building are open to the public. Be sure your students see the John Marshall statue and the numerous portraits and busts of former justices which decorate the hallways.

Your class can learn more about the US Supreme Court at this website: Supreme Court. You can also view this brief 3-minute YouTube video for an overview of the building  (please ignore the commercial at the end).

As always, I urge you to teach a great day!

Interactive tour of Washington DC’s FBI building: Great experience for students

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During an interactive tour of FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC, the author’s husband, Hal Marzell, examines the desk of former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Many teachers would agree that interactive museums offer wonderful opportunities for experiential learning. One of the most unique interactive museums is the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), located in Washington, DC.

Access to FBI Headquarters is strictly protected, but your students can arrange a visit through the office of their US Congressman. The tours can be scheduled for business days 9 am – 3 pm. The building is closed on federal holidays. Allow at least one month before visiting Washington, DC, for confirmation of your visit. Admission is free. To learn more about taking a tour of the FBI building, consult this link: FBI Experience.

If students can gain admission, they can learn about the Bureau’s history, their work, and internal operations. Tours are led by FBI agents, retired FBI agents, or employees and are very knowledgeable. Many of the exhibits are interactive, and include a wealth of multi-media content and numerous artifacts. I enjoyed searching for the location of the hidden surveillance camera, sitting in the front seat of a genuine New York police vehicle, examining the desk of former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and viewing the display of artifacts recovered from Ground Zero. The museum even offers some kid-friendly exhibits!

Best of all, I think, is the emphasis placed throughout the tour on potential employment opportunities offered by the FBI. This is especially great for students who might be giving thought to future careers.

A tour of the US Library of Congress offers a great experiential learning opportunity

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The author standing in front of the Jefferson building of the US Library of Congress located in Washington, DC. Photo credit: Hal Marzell

Undoubtedly most educators would agree that experiential learning is one of the best ways for students to learn. And one of the best ways to create meaningful  experiential learning experiences is travel. An especially great place to travel to is our nation’s capital city, Washington, DC. In a city chock full of historical sites and fascinating museums, one of the most interesting is the US Library of Congress.

The Library of Congress was founded by Congress in 1800. At that time, Congressmen felt the need for access to a reference library which would contain “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress — and for putting up a suitable apartment for containing them therein…”

The Library of Congress was established with a $5,000 grant approved by Congress. The library’s collection was housed in the new Capitol building until August 1814, when invading British troops set fire to the the structure, burning and pillaging the contents of the small library. Within a month of this devastating loss, retired President Thomas Jefferson offered his personal library as a replacement. Jefferson had spent 50 years accumulating books, “putting by everything which related to America, and indeed whatever was rare and valuable in every science.” His library was considered to be one of the finest in the United States in his day.

Today, the Library of Congress houses more than 38 million books and other printed materials; 3.6 million recordings; 14 million photographs; 5.5 million maps; 8.1 million pieces of sheet music; 70 million manuscripts; 5,711 incunabala;, and 122,810,430 items in the nonclassified (special) collections. That’s a total of more than 167 million items!

A tour of the institution makes an invaluable experiential learning oportunity. Like nearly all museums and government buildings open to the public, admission to the facility is free.

You can access the website of the Library of Congress at this link: LOC. You can also view a five-minute You Tube video which here.

Visit the US Holocaust Museum as part of Holocaust curriculum

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The author’s husband, Hal Marzell, at the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.

Many teachers include Holocaust education is a part of their educational curriculum. There are many ways to incorporate lessons about the Holocaust into a lesson plan, but one of the best would be a visit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum located in Washington, DC.

My husband and I recently spent an entire day exploring this extensive museum. The institution holds a collection of more than 12,750 artifacts; 49 million pages of archival documents; 85,000 historical photographs; a list of over 200,000 registered survivors and their families; 1,000 hours of archival footage; 93,000 library items; and 9,000 oral history testimonies.

When your students enter the permanent exhibit, they will be given an identification card which tells the story of a random victim or survivor of the Holocaust. When they exit the elevators on the fourth floor, they will walk through a chronological depiction of the history of the Holocaust. The depiction starts with the Nazi rise to power led by Adolf Hitler, and additional exhibits explore the topics of Aryan ideology, Kristallnacht, Anti-Semitism, and the American response to Nazi Germany. More exhibits explore Jewish ghettos, the Final Solution, and the liberation of the concentration camps, among other topics. The exhibits conclude with videotaped survivor testimony.

One of the most moving places in the museum,in my opinion, is the Hall of Remembrance. This hall is the USHMM’s official memorial to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust. Here visitors can memorialize the event by lighting a candle, visiting an eternal flame, and reflecting in silence in the brightly lit hexagon-shaped space.

To regulate the number of visitors occupying the space at one time, it is recommended that visitors obtain admission tickets in advance. Tickets are distributed outside the museum beginning at 9:45 am for visits at specified times throughout the day. The museum is open every day except Yom Kippur and Christmas Day. Admission is free.

To learn more about this museum, you and you students can click on the link USHMM.