Brief Summaries of
Practioner Examples for
Middle/High School Level
Describing Aleknagik:
Middle-Schoolers Write a Book about Life in Their Alaskan Village
Middle school students at the PK-8 school in Aleknagik created a book about their community which was eventually presented to the Smithsonian's Museum of the American Indian. Teacher Brendan McGrath had previously taught at Clarks Point (see previous story) and was involved in the community history created by those students. It seemed natural for him to inspire Aleknagik students to engage in a similar process. Students interviewed community elders to document the traditions of the Yup'ik subsistence lifestyle. McGrath worked with them to improve word choice, sentence fluency, and ordering of ideas to make their writing more engaging. Each student has also contributed a dedication and author biography to the published edition.
