Petersburg’s first day of school for most students is Tuesday, Aug. 25, which means that teachers are busy preparing for the year ahead. There are several new instructors joining the district this year.
KFSK’s Taylor Heckart spoke with incoming middle school English teacher Eric Wolford about his background as an educator. Wolford holds a Masters in Library Science and is certified in teaching English as a second language.
He said that, although he’s new to Petersburg, he’s not new to teaching in small communities.
Listen here:
TRANSCRIPT:
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Eric Wolford: Throughout my educational career I have taught throughout Alaska. [I] spent the first three years in a few remote communities, two years in Kalskag, which is about 80 miles upriver from Bethel. I also spent a year in Teller. Then for the past five years I taught over in Unalaska (Dutch Harbor).
So with my background, I’ve had the opportunity of teaching a variety of different students from a variety of different communities.
Taylor Heckart: Well, then my natural next follow up question is why move to Petersburg? Why did you want to come here?
Eric Wolford: A lot of it was logistics. Unalaska, it’s an amazing community, and I loved my five years of living there. But, one of the biggest challenges anywhere in the Aleutians is just transportation. To get from Anchorage to Unalaska round trip [is] roughly about $2,000. So for me, it was just, sadly, logistics.
Taylor Heckart: You’re going to be teaching English. What are you looking forward to most about this school year?
Eric Wolford: One thing I love about teaching English is just all the different ways English is expressed in literature and in writing.
When I choose a lot of nonfiction and fiction texts, a lot of times I like to try and include something with a historical component. For instance, when I taught seventh grade English, one of the books I had my students read was Karen Hesse’s “Aleutian Sparrow” which is very relevant to their community because I have students who are of Unangax̂ ancestry. So learning about what their ancestors had to go through during World War II when they were sent off to this part of Alaska forcibly by the government allows students to really connect with their history.
And it helps them understand that what they’re learning in English is something that’s relevant to them. It’s not Mr. Wolford having them read Shakespeare and stuff because Mr. Wolford just wants to have them read that.
Also, one of my favorite units is poetry. It’s great because I can expose students to a variety of different poetry from a variety of different mediums, and it’s a nice way for students to exercise the artistic elements of English language arts.
Taylor Heckart: What brings you the most joy when it comes to teaching?
Eric Wolford: What brings me the most joy is really seeing students progress and grow throughout the year.
When I was teaching [in Unalaska] I had the opportunity to teach middle and high school. Two of my students I worked with since they were in fifth grade, now they’re sophomores in high school.
To see them grow and mature, and to really become their own people, and see [what] amazing people they are growing up to become, it’s one of the greatest moments I think any teacher and any person could have when working with our next generation.
