Module III

Essential Question: How are landscapes formed and how, in turn, are cultures shaped by their landscapes?

Explain~ I enjoyed listening to the radio broadcast that was featured on TD of Richard Glenn. I think the following quote is valuable to our mixed, contemporary culture.
"If we a have a calculator, a temperature, a ruler, and a microscope, we can learn about anything in Western science. In the Iñupiaq approach to understanding our world, we don't need any of those. They just need personal experience and trial and error and a knowledge of the medium, you know, developed over time, the stories and information from your Elders. So there's two different approaches. Is there a conflict there? I don't think so. I think they are just two flashlights shining down the same path." (Teachers' Domain, Richard Glenn: Iñupiaq Geologist)
This statement by Richard Glenn is wise. I like the analogy of two flashlights shining light ahead, because our future really is a place unknown to all of us.

Extend~ The path that Richard Glenn followed as a Inupiaq person could be similar to any path that student growing up in Alaska could follow. As an educator it is important to share with students the fact that when opportunities come your way, you need to take them. I just finished reading the book The Outliers by Malcom Gladwell. It's an excellent book, with wonderful ideas about how experiences taken or not taken shape the course of your life. As Richard Glenn decided on his path for the future he had continued contact with his culture. He spoke about the importance of that relationship in his interview with Lisa Busch on the TD site. She reports that, "His family and about 10 other Iñupiaq families in the Bay Area kept strong ties with Barrow, so he ate Native foods and heard the language beginning at a young age." Those experiences inspired him to get educated in a way that he could help his community communicate outside of their own culture. He took opportunities and molded them to fit his desire to blend his two worlds.

Evaluate~ His story has lessons that could be applied to both native and white learners. Alaska in unique in itself because if its physical location, climate, and history. Even as an adult when traveling "outside" there are situations that are very new. I traveled with a group of teachers to Boston where we spent some time huddled together trying to figure what train to take on the subway. On another trip we walked to a shopping center a few blocks from the hotel. We had planned to all split up and meet later at the hotel. When we arrived at the shopping center my friend next to me said, "I am not leaving you, please stay with me". She was unfamiliar with the streets, she was unfamiliar with being a minority and felt like she could get lost on the way back. I think that is how many Alaskan kids, both urban and rural feel when they go to get further education. For a rural person it must be even more stressful and strange!

As teachers, parents, and members of our own community it is important to encourage and support youth who are traveling and learning. Like Richard Glenn, Someday they will become our leaders!