Are you an Alum of the Educator-Cross-Cultural-Immersion (ECCI) program hosted by the Alaska Humanities Forum? Are you interested in a free, virtual 1-credit Professional Development course that would support you to reflect on the impacts this program has had on you, your students, your classroom, and your school? Register here for a one-credit course where you will learn how to create a Ripple-Effect-Map about your experience, and exchange impact stories. As educators, we so rarely get the chance to slow down and reflect. This class will create space for reflection, in an encouraging, culturally responsive space, and also support you with a needed credit. Ripple-Effect-Mapping is also a tool you can bring to your classrooms so your students can conduct their own meaningful research projects!

This free, virtual course will meet over zoom on Saturday, April 23rd from 9 – 4, on Wednesday, May 11th from 4 – 6, and on May 21st from 9 – 12.

Instructors

Dr. Kate Hohman Billmeier

Dr. Kate Hohman Billmeier will support our Ripple-Effects-Mapping work in this course. Kate is co-founder of Wellspring Group Consulting, and believes that local voices should help determine, design, and control projects that enhance the well-being of their communities. In founding Wellspring Group, Kate envisions working with communities to build on their existing ssets to connect, strengthen, and grow their capacity to do good work.

Clara Amidon

Clara Amidon (Yup’ik & Unangan) will serve as Cultural Advisor for the workshop. Clara’s grounding in culture, and career as an educator will inform her support of ECCI alum who participate in this course. Clara has taught at the Alaska Native Charter School for the past 15 years, and she has previously served as Cultural Advisor and co-instructor for the ECCI program. She is inspired to work with the ECCI course for the same reasons she wanted to teach at the Alaska Native Charter School: “What drew me here was, as a teacher working in a traditional public school, I saw that Alaska Native students are culturally so quiet that they are almost unnoticed; they just kind of slide through the system” and in response to this, Clara works to support her Alaska Native students so that “their heads are tall because they know who they are.”

Marie Acemah

Marie Acemah will serve as instructor-on-record for this course, and bring her passion and experience working with students and educators to support the ripple effects mapping and story sharing process. Marie is Founder and Director of See Stories, a nonprofit that builds inclusive communities with film and story. She has also served as ECCI course instructor for the past 6 years.