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rc12 1/28/2010 20:45:22

General Session - Conference Presentation Only (no formal paper)

//Kayt Sunwood, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, kayt.sunwood@alaska.edu//
 * The Last Frontier Meets the Next Frontier: Culturally Contextualized Synchronous Support and Professional Development**

Alaska is often proclaimed "The Last Frontier" due to its vast stretches of wilderness, its distance from the "rest" of the United States, its rugged landscape, its extremes of weather and climate, as well as its diverse peoples and far flung settlements. While many celebrate these "Last Frontier" aspects of Alaska, these aspects also present great challenges for those providing professional development and support to teachers in rural, beyond the road system schools. In our Math in a Cultural Context (MCC): Lessons Learned from Yup’ik Elders Project, the Last Frontier meets the Next Frontier, we provide culturally contextualized synchronous support and professional development, online, to teachers throughout Alaska who are teaching MCC standards-based problem centered math modules. Stop by for a frontier jumping journey. Find out how MCC meets the challenges of providing hands-on culturally contextualized synchronous professional development and support to teachers in remote rural schools. What we’ve learned in Alaska holds great promise as we all move towards new virtual frontiers.

All Audiences online professional development hands-on standards-based math constructivist teaching and learning