We Are Surrounded by Teachers

David Katzeek, Tlingit Elder sharing his
appreciation of the precious children we teach.

A lesson I learned while attending the Place Based Education Institute was the multitude of teachers we have in Juneau.  Juneau's teachers do not just reside in the classroom, but they surround us and share with us daily their connections to our place.  We are infinitely lucky to have Tlingit elders who carry with them thousands of years of knowledge.  The elders are now passing down their experience to the next generation, who are now becoming our teachers.  Learning from the Tlingit is a powerful experience because they don't just teach us in the classroom but use our natural habitat as our place of learning. The following photos are from some of the moments we stopped, listened, and learned infinitely more than we ever would from a textbook.

Tlingit singers and dancers singing about
Raven opening the box of light.

A Tlingit Elder showing us how to
prepare Indian Rhubarb