See Stories was awarded a grant from Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS), a partner program of the Library of Congress, to lead a free spring 2023 asynchronous teacher professional development course titled Anchored Histories. The course is designed for formal and non-formal Alaskan educators of 6th – 12th grade students and is a virtual, asynchronous three-credit 500 level professional development course through UAA’s PACE Program. Participating educators will receive support in engaging students in documentary filmmaking and how to use Library of Congress primary sources as well as local primary sources such as Elder interviews, artifacts, and photos and documents. There is no cost associated with taking this class. Alaskan teachers, librarians, and other educators of 6th – 12th grade students who are interested to apply to participate can do so at the link below. The deadline to apply is February 24th.  There will be the following scheduled sessions:

-Thursday March 2nd, 5 – 7 pm, orientation

-Thursday March 30th, 5 – 7, check-in

Instructors

Dr. Sven Haakanson

Dr. Sven Haakanson will engage participants on how to have a critical lens with primary sources and will share his own story researching his Sugpiaq history. He is an Alutiiq anthropologist from the village of Old Harbor, and currently serves as Curator of Native American Anthropology at the Burke Museum & Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington. Dr. Haakanson brings his passion for studying Indigenous cultures through archival research and finding ways to empower youth through historical research.

Rafael Bitanga

Rafael Bitanga, founder of Bitanga Productions, will serve as course documentary facilitator, and will use his experience with digital storytelling to support the documentary filmmaking process. Rafael’s experience as a 1.5 generation Filipinx immigrant will help educators with their best practices around culturally responsive best practices. He has won many awards, most recently a 2020 congressional gold medal.

Emily Lucy

Emily Lucy, Youth Program Coordinator at the Alaska Humanities Forum, will co-instruct the course. Emily previously co-instructed this course, and brings with her over a decade of experience engaging youth and communities in educational activities. Emily coordinates the Alaska History Day competition on behalf of the Alaska Humanities Forum, and will bring her familiarity with the program to participants to help prepare them to teach.

Marie Acemah

Marie Acemah, founder / Director of See Stories, will facilitate the overall course, engaging teachers in the art of documentary filmmaking and supporting participants in working with Alaska-related Library of Congress primary sources. Marie has 15+ years of teaching and teacher professional development experience, from Kodiak to Kaktovik, and from Ohio to Uganda. She has an MA from Columbia University Teachers College in International Educational Development and a BA in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College in Santa Fe.

Gabrielle M. Dudley

Gabrielle M. Dudley is an Instructional Archivist at the Emory University Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, where she partners with faculty to design courses and assignments. She also finds ways for faculty to use resources from the Rose Library in their classes, such as the extensive collection related to the civil rights era. Gabrielle’s passion for working with students with limited internet access and exposure to primary sources has shaped her lesson on crafting students’ first encounter with primary sources.

Anjuli Grantham

Anjuli Grantham is a writer and historian who grew up on a fish site on Kodiak, and serves as the Curator at the Alaska State Museum. In her words: “I am a public historian, museum curator, published writer, radio producer, former teacher and non-profit development professional. Mostly I am a chronic instigator of multi-format public arts and humanities projects.” Anjuli will lead a session about how to be a scrappy primary source researcher whether utilizing the Library of Congress digital collections or local sources, and how to use objects as primary sources.

Dr. Daren Graves

Dr. Daren Graves is an Adjunct Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and serves as Associate Professor of Social Work at Simmons University. Dr. Graves has taught with See Stories previously about how to engage students in learning that translates into positive action, and educators requested they continue to work with him. He will engage teachers in using Library of Congress primary sources to teach critical consciousness.

Dr. Liz Ross

Dr. Liz Ross is Iñupiaq, serves as a board member for the Curtis Legacy Foundation, and is a former CEO of an Alaska Native Corporation. Dr. Ross brings her expertise on the Edward Curtis collection as well as her personal story as a descendant of people photographed by Edward Curtis. She will engage the group in anti-racist / Indigenizing primary source work.