Tag Archives: Traveling Teachers

The intrepid Hannah Breece describes teaching in the Territory of Alaska

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I always enjoy reading stories about adventurous teachers who have taught under the most unusual circumstances. One of these is Hannah Breece, a teacher who spent nearly a decade and a half educating Athabascans, Aleuts, Inuits, and Russians in the Kodiak Archipelago in the Alaskan frontier before the Territory became a state. I recently read about the exploits of this remarkable trailblazer in her memoir, A Schoolteacher in Old Alaska: The Story of Hannah Breece.

Hannah Breece was born in 1859 in Pennsylvania, where she inaugurated her career as a teacher. She also taught for a time in the Rocky Mountains. When Hannah first set foot on Alaska soil in 1904, the territory was a remote and lawless wilderness inhabited by indigenous peoples, prospectors, bootleggers, and Russian priests. Over the next 14 years, this intrepid teacher struggled to educate her students (and their families and communities) in the harshest of environments, and sometimes with the most limited of resources. Along the way, she carefully recorded the details of her work in her powerful eye-witness account, amply supplemented with her personal photographs. In addition, the volume contains maps, commentary notes, and an introduction by critically-acclaimed historian Jane Jacobs. Jacobs is the grand-niece of Hannah Breece.

Working in the poorest and most primitive communities, Hannah often provided her students necessary grocery supplies when food was scarce, and offered instruction in basic hygiene principles and homemaking skills, in addition to her innovative lessons on a variety of elementary-school subjects. Although she often expressed a condescending attitude toward native Alaskans—which reflect the prevailing attitudes of her day—Hannah’s commitment to her students was genuine and unwavering. Her adventures included dangerous encounters with snow storms, forest fires, and wild dogs.

Hannah’s spellbinding account, published in 1997 by Random House Books, can be found on this link at amazon.com.

Visiting the Statue of Liberty and sharing the experience with students

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Educators are well aware that travel is one of the most meaningful experiential learning opportunities available for both themselves and for their students. And Winter Break is a great time for travel. Earlier this month, my husband Hal and I traveled to New York City, where we visited the Statue of Liberty. We spent several hours there, wandering among the exhibits and taking in the views. An exploration of this place offers an excellent opportunity to incorporate a history lesson about this important place into the classroom curriculum.

Author Terry Lee Marzell and her husband, Hal, visited the Statue of Liberty in December, 2024. The visit prompts ideas about how to share this experience with students. Photo credit: Hal Marzell

“The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World” was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886. Since then, the statue has become a universal symbol of freedom and democracy throughout the world. Liberty Enlightening the World was designated a National Monument in 1924, and has been operated under the auspices of the National Park Service since 1933.

Hal and I took the Statue City Cruise (the official ferry, and the only one that lands on the islands) from the Battery to Liberty Island. There we self-toured the pedestal area, a full ten stories up. The views from up there, at the feet of Lady Liberty, are amazing. We were unable to climb to the crown because tickets for that part of the statue sell out four months in advance. Keep that in mind if you plan to escort your students there. After touring the pedestal, we entered the museum and learned all about the creation of the monument.

After touring Liberty Island, we re-boarded the ferry, which carried us to Ellis Island. Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the country. During the years from 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 million immigrants arrived on American shores and were admitted to the country there. Ellis Island became part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1965. I was surprised to find a research center providing information about immigrants who were processed at this processing station. We were thrilled to find information about Hal’s maternal grandfather that we hadn’t known before! We also viewed displays of fascinating artifacts brought into the country by various groups of immigrants, and some displays of the costumes they wore in their native countries.

All in all, our visit to the Statue of Liberty spanned an entire day, for it was well after dark by the time we returned to the Battery. But we were well-satisfied with our visit there. If you are not able to visit the site in person with your students, you can direct them to the resources available at the Statue of Liberty website. You could also share this very nice virtual tour and explanatory video about the monument on YouTube:

Visit to 9/11 Memorial and Museum offers opportunity to remember Chalkboard Heroes

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Teachers know that travel is one of the most meaningful experiential learning opportunities available for both themselves and for their students. Winter Break is a great time for travel. Earlier this month, my husband Hal and I traveled to New York City, where we visited the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. We spent several hours there, wandering among the exhibits and reliving our own memories of that tragic day. But an exploration of this place also offers an excellent opportunity to incorporate a history lesson about this important event into the classroom curriculum.

The 9/11 Memorial honors the 2,977 people who perished in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center site, near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon, as well as the six people who were killed in the World Trade Center bombing on February 26, 1993. The exhibits include a variety of authentic artifacts, media, and personal narratives.

The photographs of 2,977 people who perished in the terrorist attacked of Sept. 11, 2oo1, are shown in an exhibit at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City. Photo credit: Terry Lee Marzell

At the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City, author and retired educator Terry Lee Marzell examines the names of three Chalkboard Heroes who tragically lost their lives in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Photo credit: Hal Marzell

While we were there, I examined the exhibits for mention of the three teachers who perished in the crash of Flight 77, the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. The crash killed 125 souls on the ground and 64 souls on board the plane. Three of those individuals were Sarah Clark, Hilda E. Taylor, and James Debeuneure, teachers from Washington, DC. The three were selected by the National Geographic Society to escort a group of  elementary students on a field trip to Southern California. This field trip, known as the Sustainable Seas Expedition, gave underprivileged urban students the opportunity to  spend time at the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, where they would work as junior marine biologists and study oceanic life. Tragically, the lives of all three exemplary educators and the students they were escorting were lost that day. I found the names of each teacher inside the museum in a display of the 9/11 victims, and also on the memorial outside.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to escort your students on a field trip to New York City, you will find the museum on the former site of the Twin Towers at 180 Greenwich Street. Otherwise, you and your students can explore the resources about the event provided at the museum website at National 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Teachers can also consult the website Facing History & Ourselves for additional resources.

Sweden’s Vasa Museum offers lesson in maritime history

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Author Terry Lee Marzell explores the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. This museum is where the historic Swedish warship known as the Vasa is housed. Photo credit: Terry Lee Marzell

Summer is prime time for teachers—and students—to incorporate travel into their vacation plans. Many people, both young and mature, know that travel, in addition to being fun and intellectually stimulating, is one of the most meaningful learning opportunities available. Last month, I was able to enjoy the fun, stimulation, and learning opportunities to be gained from a tour of four Scandinavian countries.

Scandinavia is a region that abounds with watercraft. When Hal and I were there, we indulged in numerous cruises, and we visited a number of maritime museums. One of these included the Vasa Museum located in Stockholm, Sweden. This museum was built specifically to house the Vasa, a mighty ship of great importance to the country’s nautical history. The vessel is one of Sweden’s most popular tourist attractions. In fact, more than 35 million people have visited the ship since the Vasa Museum opened in 1989.

The Vasa was a warship that sank in Stockholm’s harbor on her maiden voyage on Aug. 10, 1628. In fact, the ship went down immediately after she was launched for the first time. After 333 years lying hidden on the harbor seabed, the ship was salvaged, fully intact. Today, the Vasa is the world’s best-preserved 17th century ship.

The Vasa was armed with 64 bronze cannons and was magnificently decorated with royal and national symbols, carved and painted in dazzling colors. Photo credit: Terry Lee Marzell

The man-of-war was built on the orders of Sweden’s King Gustavus Adolphus as a weapon for his military campaign against Poland and Lithuania. Constructed between 1626–1627, the Vasa was armed with bronze cannons. In fact, she was one of the most powerfully armed ships in the world in her day. In addition, she was magnificently decorated with royal and national symbols, carved and painted in dazzling colors.

Unfortunately, the king ordered the last-minute construction of an additional deck and the installation of extra cannons. The Vasa had not been designed to carry this extra, upper-deck tonnage. The weight made the ship dangerously top heavy, and therefore precariously unstable. But nobody wanted to incur the ire of their impatient and short-tempered king, so despite her lack of stability, the ship was launched anyway—amid much fanfare and celebration. Shipwrights pushed the vessel out to harbor and held their breath, hoping for the best. Their worst fears were realized. With the first strong gust of wind, the Vasa promptly tilted, swamped, and sank. The sinking not only represented a significant financial loss, but also cost the lives of numerous Swedish sailors—plus their womenfolk and children who were aboard to celebrate the inaugural voyage.

Among the many exhibits in the Vasa Museum are the remains of numerous individuals who went down with the ship. Photo credit: Terry Lee Marzell

In 1956, the vessel was located on the bottom of Stockholm Harbor, and in 1961, after 333 years underwater, covered in the rich silt of Stockholm Harbor, the Vasa was raised. In the years that followed, she was painstakingly restored. Then the Vasa Museum was built around her, and the facility was opened in 1989.

The museum houses a collection of over 40,000 artifacts, including the intact warship herself, six of the ship’s ten original sails, and two of the original 64 bronze cannons. In addition, the exhibits include the skeletal remains (encased in glass) of at least 15 individuals who went down with the vessel and some objects belonging to those individuals, including clothing, tools, coins, weapons, and cutlery.

Learning about the Vasa would make a great lesson in European history, geography, ship design (and design flaws), the technology used to raise the ship intact, or the science behind her natural preservation in the Scandinavian harbor. If you choose to fit a lesson about this historic ship into your curriculum, you and your students can learn more by visiting the museum website. A virtual tour of the ship is also available.

As always, teach a great day!

Today’s journey to Norway’s Kon-Tiki Museum connects to fifth-grade memories

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I was just a fifth grader when I discovered, quite by chance, a stack of very intriguing books on the back counter of my teacher’s classroom. The books were a class set of Kon-Tiki, an internationally well-known memoir authored by Norwegian archeologist and explorer Thor Heyerdahl.

The original Kon-Tiki raft constructed by Norwegian explorer and archeologist Thor Heyerdahl. He and six others daringly sailed the raft 4,300 nautical miles of open sea from Peru to Polynesia in 1947. Photo Credit: Terry Lee Marzell

The front cover depicted a photo of a group of men bravely riding out a storm at sea on a primitive raft. The situation appeared precarious, as the waves were high and the raft was nearly submerged. Flipping the book over to read the summary on the back cover, I learned that the volume described a daring adventure by Heyerdahl and five others—modern-day adventurers. On April 28, 1947, the group of men sailed from Peru on a raft they built from balsa wood, bamboo, and hemp. After three months and 4,300 nautical miles on the open sea, they finally sighted land. The next year Heyerdahl published his account of that daring voyage. Translated into sixty-five languages, Kon-Tiki became a classic, inspirational story of modern-day daring and courage—a saga of mere mortals and their triumph against the power of the untamed sea.

My fifth grade teacher never assigned this book to our class. In fact, she never even mentioned Thor Heyerdahl or his explorations to us. Over the decades that have passed since I left elementary school, I’ve barely given a thought to the book or the explorer I briefly discovered in elementary school. That is, not until earlier this month, when I unexpectedly found myself standing in front of Heyerdahl’s actual, real-life Kon-Tiki, housed in a maritime museum located in Oslo, Norway. Instantly transported back in time to my fifth grade year, I was once again intrigued by the story of this amazing explorer and scientist.

The author Terry Lee Marzell examines the original Kon-Tiki raft and other exhibits at the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway. Photo Credit: Hal Marzell

My first impression was that the Kon-Tiki was much larger than I previously envisioned. When you hear the word “raft,” you picture something about the size of a dining room area rug. By contrast, the Kon-Tiki  is an impressive 45′ x 18′, with an incorporated cabin that measures 14′ x 8′, and a mast that is 29′ in height. I suddenly realized that if you were going to travel 4,300 miles across the Pacific Ocean, with food and water and other necessary supplies for six men, you would need a raft bigger than an area rug!

My second thought was how delicate the Kon-Tiki appeared to be. Remember that today, the raft is 77 years old, and it has survived a 101-day oceanic voyage, not to mention it crashed on a reef in Raroia in the Tutamotu Islands, and then was towed back to port. Furthermore, the raft was originally constructed of split bamboo over lightweight balsa wood logs that were lashed together with hemp ropes. The cabin was constructed from plaited bamboo and roofed with banana leaves. Materials chosen because they are lightweight and sturdy, but ocean-worthy? I would personally be reluctant to would trust them.

But wait! There’s more! The museum also houses Heyerdah’s reed boat, the Ra II. This vessel was constructed of papyrus and was launched from Morocco in an attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean. In addition, there are exhibits that detail stories about the famous scientist’s journey to Fatu Hiva, together with his wife, Liv; expeditions to the Galapagos and Easter Island; and details about the explorer’s Tigris voyage. The museum is a treasure trove of information about this amazing archeologist and scientist.

You can learn more about Thor Heyerdahl, view more photos of his raft, and explore the Kon-Tiki Museum with your students at this official maritime museum website.