This week, educators from all around Alaska and the world will be in Juneau for a conference to learn more about culturally aware approaches in classrooms.<\/p>\n
The conference, called “Our Cultural Landscape,”<\/a> is sponsored by the Sealaska Heritage Institute and other organizations in town. This is the second conference that the nonprofit has put on, and SHI Education Director Kevin Shipley said this one will be much larger than the one last year.<\/p>\n About 150 people attended last year, Shipley said, and as of Monday there were 220 attendees confirmed. People are coming from as far away as Denmark and New Zealand, according to a list provided by SHI.<\/p>\n Despite the conference’s global reach, Shipley said about half the attendees are from Juneau and Southeast. Juneau School District principals and educators will be involved, and members of the Board of Education have been invited as well. Topics at the conference will range from the rejuvenation of Alaska Native languages to addressing broader challenges educators face, such as relating to children dealing with trauma.<\/p>\n “This will give something to teachers and administrators,” Shipley said. “It will give them opportunities to add to their repertoire of being able to deal with students successfully and ultimately help those students achieve and that’s what our goal in education is. It’s just an availability to let teachers have the most recent available information and make it available to them.”<\/p>\n