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MAT in Special Education
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Southeast Alaska: Close to nature's heartThank you for your interest in multicultural education in Alaska! This book provides an overview of Southeast Alaska, and includes several diverse lesson plans pertaining to the region. Our content was developed through a project-based study of Multicultural Education and Alaska Studies through the UAS MAT secondary education program. The title is an adaptation of “Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” - John Muir quoted by Samuel Hall Young in Alaska Days with John Muir (1915) chapter 7
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From silt to salt: A multicultural teaching guide to Southcentral AlaskaUniversity of Alaska Southeast Masters in Teaching Students Sophia Butler, Jerry Demmert, Shaun Nesheim, Meghan O’Leary, Reuben Seidl, and Mason Shearer, have written this book for those interested in Alaska, particularly educators. It includes lesson plans focusing on place-based and multicultural education as well as a detailed introduction to Southcentral Alaska, the most populated and varied region in the state.
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Southwest Alaska: Where the sea breaks its backThe authors have borrowed their title from the title of the book "Where the Sea Breaks Its Back: The Epic Story - Georg Steller and the Russian Exploration of Alaska" by Corey Ford. Mr. Ford's title may have also been borrowed/derived from older Unangax or Sugpiat origins, though the authors were not able to verify this. The following volume is the story of Southwest Alaska. The authors make no claim that the story presented within is comprehensive; though we believe that the following pages contain a breadth of topics that will hopefully entice the curious reader to further explore the rich and sea-fringed world we have introduced. The Aleutian islands, the Pribilof, the Shumagin and much of the Alaska Peninsula are remote (to most readers) even by Alaska standards. Though parts of the Kodiak Archipelago, the south coast of the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound are less remote and more peopled, they are at least as beautiful. It is the ocean that ties these areas, and their disparate, though intermingled cultures, together. Southwest Alaska is a place where one can rarely get far from the sea. We hope within these pages you can hear an echo of long traveling, white waves crashing onto windswept, dark shores of Aleutian beaches. There, the Unangax continue to live between the ocean below and the omnipresent volcano above. We also hope that you will be able to visualize the steep-walled, glacial disgorging fjords that shelter communities of the Sugpiat and the large runs of salmon that still sustain them.
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An outsider view of Interior AlaskaInterior Alaska includes a general introduction to the geographical, cultural, and historical aspects of the region, followed by content specific lessons and activities that meet Alaska’s content and cultural curriculum standards. This resource is intended for teachers, students, and anyone interested in learning more about the great region of Interior Alaska. Enjoy!
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Arctic Alaska: Life at the top of the worldArctic Alaska takes an interactive look into the northernmost region of the United States—a place where the harsh and sometimes unforgiving environment demands a resilient spirit. In a land at the mercy of the extreme weather, with months of endless daylight and darkness, learn how the Inupiat people have thrived since time immemorial.
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Alaska's West Coast: Thriving on the tundraThis book was compiled in 2016 by students in a University of Alaska Southeast Masters of Arts in Teaching program. It features a basic introduction to the region of Western Alaska - its geography, peoples, culture, and history - and contains six detailed lesson plans intended to serve as models of culturally responsive teaching.
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Supporting the cultural identity development of Indigenous youth: Findings from an Indigenous educators' community-of-practiceResearch reveals a positive impact on educational achievement for Indigenous students when their teachers are also Indigenous. The educational value of shared identity between students and teachers manifests in the form of increased student attendance rates, grades, and graduation rates. Fewer than 5% of public-school teachers in Alaska are Indigenous, while nearly 20% of students are Indigenous. Thus, it is unlikely that most Indigenous students in Alaska will experience a shared cultural identity with their teachers—nor would it be desirable, in this age of global mobility, for society to strive for teachers and students to share cultural identity in all instances. Yet it is important to discern what teaching practices and teacher dispositions support the cultural identity development (CID) of Indigenous children. This project brought together Indigenous educators from across Alaska to critically examine their practice as educators and to seek answers to the research question. Utilizing a collaborative autoethnographic framework, qualitative data were coded and analyzed to uncover answers to the research question. Key findings from this study indicate that teaching and using the local Indigenous language, shared cultural history documented in stories, and experiences related to the Land contribute to students’ CID. Furthermore, findings reveal that micro cultural validations, fleeting interactions between teachers and students, play a significant role in supporting the cultural identity development of Indigenous youth. Findings also suggest that Indigenous teachers are best positioned to discern the teaching practices that contribute to students’ cultural identity development.
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Looking North: Classroom engagements into the relevance and context of a rapidly changing ArcticWe need to save the Arctic not because of the polar bears, and not because it is the most beautiful place in the world, but because our very survival depends upon it.—Lewis Gordon Pugh, as quoted in Mead (Citation2022) The Arctic is emerging as an increasingly relevant and rapidly changing region of the world. A changing climate has brought increased attention to the dynamic and strategic nature of the North, but the Arctic has always been a homeland to a variety of distinct cultures and a unique ecosystem. Arctic imaginaries of an untouched and wild North continue to flourish in common discourse perpetuating colonized notions of this place. The way we imagine the North matters as we grapple with complex issues of interdependence, globalization, decolonization, extractive economies, and climate crisis. This article presents resources for an inquiry unit in which students analyze the question, “Why does the Arctic matter?” to construct an argument. Supporting questions, formative performance tasks, and primary source material are included to scaffold student inquiry. This inquiry is designed for secondary students and has been aligned to geography standards from the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards (Swan Citation2017). An inquiry design model blueprint has been included in Figure 1. Students are invited to challenge common notions of the North and to engage in thinking about the relevance of the Arctic regions while exploring examples of international cooperation and a variety of cultures through primary and secondary source documents. The emerging and accelerating unique challenges of the region make it worthy of our collective attention and exposure for students within and far beyond the Arctic.
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Limiting possibilities: The imagined futures of social studies teachersThis paper analyzes the imaginings of sustainable futures and possibilities for action toward these imaginings articulated by social studies teachers. Participant stories about a day in the life of an imagined future largely leave intact major systems and discourses including those which have actively contributed to problems they identify including climate change. I argue that weakened imaginations and aspirations of possibility function to increase toleration for the most traumatic ecological tragedies both impending and already unfolding. Importantly for the field of social studies education, this data illustrates that while teacher participants consistently articulated desires to include issues of climate crisis in their social studies classrooms, they lack robust understandings of the possibilities for action in the face of complex environmental or climate justice challenges.
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Climate futures: Classroom engagements for imagining otherwiseGiven the realities currently at hand, it is easy to imagine the worst-case scenario climate futures, to become paralyzed by climate grief or to disengage all together. Inspired by pedagogical engagements with imagination and drawing on foundational geography skills, this three-day mini-unit invites secondary students to first analyze localized impacts of climate change, and then look to examples of positive climate futures before finally imagining for their own community’s resilient climate future.
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I'm a killer whale: the process of cultural identity development from the perspectives of young indigenous childrenThis qualitative single case study examined the phenomenon of cultural identity development from the perspective of young Indigenous children situated within the context of their southeast Alaskan community. Decades of assimilationist policies have eroded cultural identity among many Indigenous Alaskans, yet a strong cultural identity is known to be a protective factor for Indigenous peoples. Building on Indigenous identity development theory, the study sought to answer the research questions: (1) How do young children demonstrate their cultural identity through interactions on the Land? (2) How do community organizations support cultural identity development (CID) in young Indigenous children? (3) What role do peers play in nurturing cultural identity development (CID)? And (4) How do teachers and families nurture CID? The primary data source was video collected by children wearing forehead cameras as they engaged in semi-structured activities on the Land; video data were augmented by surveys, interviews, children's drawings, and careful observations. These methods allowed the researcher to examine the child's lived experiences to begin to untangle the rich interactions between children, the Land, parents, and educators, and to describe CID nurturing factors. Reflexive thematic analysis was employed to discover themes and patterns in the data. Findings reveal that children demonstrate their Indigenous identity by learning and exhibiting traditional ecological knowledge, which includes intricate knowledge of the Land, subsistence practices, and core cultural values. The process of cultural identity development was supported by the community through vision and funding for cultural initiatives. Peers, parents, and educators contributed to the cultural identity development of the young participants by enacting moves to increase confidence and competence on the Land. This study has implications for policymakers, educators, families, and others interested in nurturing healthy identity development among young Indigenous children.
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The Bias, Stigma, and Social Construct of a Disability Label: A Meta-SynthesisThe current climate in education is moving toward more inclusive education which means more and more students with a special education need are attending class in the general education classroom with a general education teacher. Sadly, many general education teachers in these inclusive classrooms are not prepared to have students with special education needs in their classroom because they do not have the knowledge or experience teaching these exceptional students. Research suggests teachers hold a bias toward students with a special education label and have preconceived notions of how these students will perform in their classroom. It is unfortunate for these students because at this time is when they need help the most. School is not only about learning what a person needs to know, but also when children learn about themselves and their peers. Research suggests that students given special education labels tend to have more difficulty due to the label they are given. This presumption of a label sets students up to interacting with teachers based on the label. This meta-synthesis of the literature on labels, bias, stigmatization, and the social construct of the disability label investigates how students with special needs, and the people around them, respond to the special needs label.
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Autism: An Evolutionary Etiology: A Meta-SynthesisThis meta-synthesis attempts a detailed look at how Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) evolved from Kanner’s initial identification in 1943 to today’s current understanding. Emphasis will be placed on characteristic change, prevalence increase, causality, and evolution of treatments, techniques, and methods. Equal weight will also be placed on what the best overall treatments, techniques, and methods should be used with an individual with autism.
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The Fundamental Disconnect Between Understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder Cognition: Implications of Empathy: A Meta Synthesis.This meta-synthesis reviews literature on the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in relationship with empathy. Specific areas addressed within this meta-synthesis include perspective taking, Theory of Mind, affective vs. cognitive empathy, mirror neurons, imitation/mimicry all in how it relates to those with ASD and their understandings to those typically developing. This meta-synthesis addresses those with high-functioning ASD more so than those who are lower functioning as research and literature did not have a significant amount of information on those lower functioning. The goal is to provide a better understanding of the disconnect that we share from one to another.
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Building Resiliency: A Meta-SynthesisThis meta-synthesis of the literature on children who experience trauma, and what we can do in the school setting to support children and teach them to build and shore up their resiliency factors. It takes a closer look at what is working, what educators can do to support children, and assist their families overcome the impact of trauma in their lives.
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Writing Difficulties of Students with Learning Disability: A Meta-SynthesisThis meta-synthesis of the literature of special education students with handwriting difficulties analyzed factors that affect handwriting. A number of students with learning disabilities have handwriting difficulties. Legible handwriting continues to be an important skill for children to develop in elementary school and difficulty with this area can affect any child’s proficiency at school work. Many factors affect handwriting proficiency. Many areas of the brain are accessed when handwriting activities take place. With purposeful and sequential handwriting instruction including occupational therapy as well as evidence-based practices was the key areas that helped students improve their handwriting skills in addition to on-task behavior. This meta-synthesis of the literature on special education students with handwriting difficulties investigates the challenges of handwriting.
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People with Disabilities and the Justice System: A Meta-SynthesisIndividuals with disabilities are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. This meta-synthesis explores the experiences of juveniles and adults with disabilities in the criminal justice system. Topics discussed include rates and characteristics of offenders with disabilities in the criminal justice system, experiences of offenders with disabilities within the justice system, recidivism risk factors for offenders with disabilities, and recommendations and needed changes for the criminal justice system.
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Response to Intervention and Students with Emotional and/or Behavior Disorder: A Meta-SynthesisThe reauthorization of IDEA in 2006 mandated RTI programs would be implemented for students with academic and behavioral problems. The multi-tiered approach uses assessments, data collection, and observation to develop and employ appropriate supports and interventions. Students with EBD benefit from RTI data collected using PBIS. Professional development is essential for the success of PBIS. The data collected from RTI using PBIS helps IEP teams who provide support to students with EBD, to develop goals and objectives by designing instructional strategies to help students develop pro-social behaviors. This meta-synthesis of the literature of RTI/PBIS and students with EBD reviews the ways data collected using these interventions are used for professional development and instructional strategies
