Ecerpt:

"Teaching students whose exposure to English has been limited and in some cases is a second language poses many problems for the teacher. The staff at the Rural Transition Center in an attempt to strengthen the English and Social Studies skills of the students decided that if a more relevant approach was created, the students' progress would be greater than the traditional classroom approach.

"Upon this premise, Mr. Brett Erb, Language Arts teacher, and Mr. Guy Fisher, Social Studies teacher at the Rural Transition Center, decided that a student-published book would be a good vehicle to this end. Mr. Erb and Mr. Fisher wrote up the project and applied for a mini-grant from the State of Alaska and were awarded a grant for materials and publication costs in the amount of $1,500.

"It was at this point that the teachers carefully presented the idea of writing a book to the students. The student response was overwhelming in favor of the project, and with some guidance from the teachers the format began to take place. After much hard work on the students' and teachers' part, it was decided that the book should contain four general areas: Village Profile, Interviews of Native People, Life in Anchorage for the Students' Viewpoint, and Life in the Village.

"The book is an initial evolving program. It will continue to be a measure of effectively recording Alaskan History, using a multitude lo Language Arts skills, and helping younger people record the history of their culture.

"One of the gratifying results for both the teachers and the students was an evolving respect for the past. They definitely found a unique respect for their pre-snowmobile, pre-airplane village. Initial problems involving students who use English as a second language became less gross with each interview. Most impressive of all were the individual interviews conducted in the latter part of the year. Students made telephone contact, established time tables, selected photographs to be taken, and then completely wrote up the interviews for the book.

"There could also be many benefits for the rural communities; the elementary students reading the different articles and looking at the various pictures would get additional exposure to Anchorage. Essays describing differences between the rural and urban community also would further enlighten younger students.

"The students involved in writing this book were all ninth grade students at Romig Junior High, under the direction of the Rural Transition Center. Their suggestion that in future years cameras and tape recorders be provided to students when they return to the village for holiday vacations will try to be met. A host of Native legends will probably be our next addition, plus a more details revision of existing articles"

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