RECENT NEWS
- BP announces 2019 Alaska Teachers of Excellence
In its 24th year, company-sponsored award recognizes top talent in classrooms statewide ANCHORAGE – BP today announced the winners of the 2019 Alaska Teachers of Excellence, an award that for more than two decades has recognized the state’s top educators. This year, the group is…
Read More - BP Teachers of Excellence surprised in Anchorage
On Thursday, three teachers from the Anchorage School District were surprised with news that they have been named 2019 BP Teachers of Excellence. They are three of five Anchorage teachers who received the honor. “Over the last few months, students, parents and colleagues have been…
Read More - Head of the Class: Lem Wheeles
Campaign races and politics are the subjects of national conversation right now — with some believing that political rhetoric is dividing America. In a classroom at Dimond High School, democracy is alive and well and the rhetoric doesn’t make it through the door. “My goal…
Read More - Nenana teacher keeps BP Teacher of Excellence Award in the family
NENANA — Jens Jacobsen is the not the first teacher at Nenana City Public School to be honored as a BP Teacher of Excellence. His wife, Mindy, won the award just two years ago. They both teach in the rural community of Nenana, just south of…
Read More - North Pole choir teacher honored
FAIRBANKS — Top honors from the BP Teachers of Excellence program went to music teacher Bruce Hanson at a banquet Tuesday at the Wedgewood Resort. Hanson, choir teacher at the North Pole High School, was named the top teacher of the region covering Fairbanks and…
Read More - Colony High’s Brian Mead wins 2018 BP Teachers of Excellence Award
WASILLA — Colony High School English teacher, Brian Mead was recognized as the Mat-Su Valley winner of the 2018 BP Teachers of Excellence Awards on Thursday, May 3. “I did not expect this,” Mead said, as he held the handmade trophy. The Settler’s Bay Lodge…
Read More - Outside the classroom, school staff and volunteers motivate Alaska students
Each morning, students are greeted by two familiar faces as they walk through the front doors of Ocean View Elementary School. One belongs to Principal Dayna Durr. The other, crossed with a wide smile, is that of Elementary Building Plant Operator Edward Scott — or…
Read More - For this Juneau math teacher, every day is homecoming
If there’s one thing Lexie Razor enjoys as much as solving a puzzle, it’s helping someone else crack a challenge of their own. “I like seeing light bulbs come on,” she said. “It makes everything worth it.” Razor spends her days helping “light bulbs” come on…
Read More - Inside the data-driven classroom, where every student is an individual
Tracking student progress? Analyzing class behavior? Drilling down on reading skills? There’s an app for that — and it’s probably already being used in Eric Rush’s third-grade classroom. Rush teaches at Ticasuk Brown Elementary School in his hometown of North Pole, and when it comes to…
Read More - BP announces 2017 Alaska Teachers of Excellence
ANCHORAGE– BP once again will honor a select group of teachers from across Alaska for their exceptional performance in the classroom, dedication to students and contribution to the state’s future. For 2017, the BP Teachers of Excellence program will recognize 29 teachers statewide with a…
Read More - Studying the sea: How one Mt. Edgecumbe educator works to prepare students for life
It all started more than 20 years ago in Ron Doubt’s biology classroom at Kodiak High School. For Michael Mahoney, a lifelong Alaskan, something clicked. The class was interesting and funny. Mahoney still remembers it. Doubt was a “great teacher”—one who set him on the…
Read More - At Cottonwood Creek Elementary, a lesson in the power of perseverance
Years ago, when Jennifer Bleicher’s children were still young, she watched construction crews building Cottonwood Creek Elementary School. The Wasilla school was just a few minutes away from Bleicher’s family home, and she just knew her own kids would become students there one day.
Read More - The Hometown Hero: How an Alaska-grown educator makes math fun for the next generation of Fairbanks students
The Golden Heart City has held a place in Christopher Benshoof’s heart for as long as he can remember. He grew up attending schools in the area, and after graduating from Lathrop High School in 2001, he went on to pursue a degree from the…
Read More - At Seward Middle School, a teacher opens windows to the world
As a girl growing up in Germany in the 1980s, Myla Liljemark watched history unfold before her eyes — an experience that helped spark a deep curiosity about the world around her. More than 15 years later, in a harbor town on the Kenai Peninsula,…
Read More - Fairbanks teacher-turned-principal has a flexible game plan
If Fairbanks’ Denali Elementary School were a football team, Principal Deborah Hall could play every position. Sure, she’d coach — help her players work toward achieving their full potential by evaluating performance and providing feedback with a balance of constructive criticism and motivating messages. But…
Read More - Around the state, 2016 Teachers of Excellence use creative ways to help students learn
Every August, Madrigal Brown is known as the “mean teacher” at Nuiqsut Trapper School, for her strict rules and the fact there are no Movie Fridays. But by the time the last bell rings in May, students leave with increased literacy and math skills, and…
Read More - A teacher, a storyteller, a champion
For Ben Colson, a high school history teacher, everything is a story. Or at least everything starts as a story, then morphs into an opportunity to learn. An anecdote about using a bathroom at a famous hotel turns into a yarn about how the term…
Read More - A classroom full of drones, roller coasters and excitement
Jacob Doth, a middle school science teacher in Nikiski, uses textbooks a lot. He uses them as ramps off of which to launch homemade cars for engineering lessons. He uses them as backboards for rogue ping pong balls in demonstrations about laws of motion. He…
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