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.

Ticasuk Brown: Alaska Native and remarkable educator who advanced the cause of multicultural understanding and racial equality.

There are many examples of talented educators who have advanced the cause of multicultural understanding and racial equality. One of these is Emily Ticasuk Brown, an Alaska Native who was also an elementary school teacher, poet, and writer.

Emily Ticasuk Brown was born in 1904 in Unlakleet, Alaska. Her Inupiaq name, Ticasuk, translated into English means “where the four winds gather their treasures from all parts of the world…the greatest of which is knowledge.” Ticasuk came into the world an Alaska Native with blended heritage. Her grandfather, Sergei Ivanoff, was Russian, and her grandmother, Chikuk, was Yupik Native. Ticasuk’s parents were Stephen Ivanoff and Malquay.

As a young girl, Ticasuk attended elementary school in Shaktoolik, Alaska, a village co-founded by her father. After her graduation from high school, she earned her teaching credential in Oregon, and then she returned to Alaska where she accepted her first teaching position at an elementary school in Kotzebue. The course of her life quickly changed, however, after she witnessed the numerous health hazards in her village. To address this concern, she moved to Washington to study nursing. There she met her husband and married. Later Ticasuk and her husband returned to Alaska, where she taught for two years, until his early death. She returned to college in 1959, earning two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Alaska, and then her master’s degree in 1974. Her master’s thesis, Grandfather of Unalakleet, was republished as The Roots of Ticasuk: An Eskimo Woman’s Family Story in 1981.

As an Inpiaq educator and supporter of bi-lingual education, Ticasuk created a curriculum based on her native tongue. She also worked extensively on the creation of an encyclopedia of the Inupiaq language. She is widely recognized by Alaska Native people as a writer of articles that further understanding about Eskimo cultures and education. In addition, this talented teacher organized the Alaska Heritage Writers Association.

For her efforts, Ticasuk was given a Presidential Commission by President Richard Nixon, and she was in line to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Alaska. Unfortunately, in 1982 Ticasuk passed away before the honor could be conferred. She was 78 years old. In 2009, this talented educator and writer was inducted into the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame.