"What will it be like living and teaching in Alaska?"  That was the question.  "Alaska Studies for Educators" answered the most fundamental aspects of it, in the areas of geography, history, education, and the social and legal aspects of Alaskan Native cultures.  It gave me a foundation for understanding the Native cultures of the students whom I teach--as a substitute teacher now, and as a contract teacher in the future.  In relation to the themes of this course, many questions remain to be explored to complement my existing knowledge.  

On the theme of place, or the social and geographical features of Alaska's regions, I still crave a "walking tour."  My map project was a tremendous learning experience that lay the groundwork for the rest of my learning.  Videos from the library also provided memorable images and personalities from various regions.  Still, I'd like to learn more about the food-gathering practices of people in each region of Alaska.  Hunting, fishing and gathering laws are still fuzzy for me, both for my own practice and to understand the urban/rural law system here.  A social aspect that I'd like to know more about is the home life of students--both here in Sitka, and in the Mt. Edgecumbe High School students' villages and cities.  What kind of family unit makes up the students' households, and are divorce/step-families common?  What do their houses look like, and what happens in a normal day?  How do Native traditions work today?  Finally, I need to expand my content area knowledge to include more Alaska literature that students would enjoy.  Filling in these blanks will give me a better-rounded sense of place, and the places all over Alaska.   

Now that I know about the "five stages" of Alaska history, future experiences can add to that base.  My first remaining question is why there aren't six (or more) stages of Alaska history in the textbooks, with the first one being the Native histories.  What relationships--or rivalries--existed among Native groups, and how did each one come to live where it does?  I would like to  hear many perspectives and a general summary.  What is, or was, each tribe and clan's self-told story?  Are they secret?  Do many of them start in images such as Raven creating the world?  Spiritually,  how do/did various tribes relate to the world, and what public and private ceremonies did they do?  Shaman masks are so common--how did they do their work?  Practically speaking, how do/did tribes gather and craft the resources they need?  How do the Inupiaq haul in those big whales?  Did hunters and berry pickers go out in small or large groups?  How do the Athabaskans make those birch bark baskets?  What is the sewing technique for making (Aleut?) parka seams watertight?  These questions have to do with traditions.  What will come of the ANCSA and ANILCA legislation that was meant to settle Native land claims and help them survive?  What is the future of traditions, and Natives' relationship to their traditional lands?  These are some of my questions about Native cultures.  The other historical topic that I have questions about is the people who came here to seek their fortune in the 1800s, such as the miners, prostitutes and fishing/fish processing people.  What was happening in the rest of the world to set them loose to come here?  Was this the end of the wave of Irish and German immigration that hit the U.S. in the 1800s?  What are the non-Native ethnic communities of Alaska?  How do Alaska's mixed-ethnicity communities get along now?  Over the rest of my life in Alaska, I will explore some of these historical questions as they arise with the people I meet, in the media, and when visiting museums and traveling.