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By Jesslyn Kuekan
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Terri Hanke |
Eau Claire Association of Educators member Terrie Hanke has been named Iditarod’s 2006 Teacher on the Trail (TOTT).
A physical education teacher and coach at Eau Claire’s North High School, Hanke will spend the next year making public appearances and writing standards-driven lesson plans to meet curriculum needs and help educators address the content standards for the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
During the Iditarod sled dog race in March 2006, Hanke will be flying the trail by bush plane with the Iditarod Air Force and reporting on her experiences. She will also handle sled dogs and volunteer at checkpoints throughout the 1,150-mile race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. Hanke will post her lessons and journal entries about her activities on Iditarod’s Web site throughout the year.
“Terrie Hanke is an educator dedicated to student achievement and the development of life skills that lead our youth to not just academic success, but to becoming lifelong learners and healthy, successful citizens," said Iditarod’s education director, Diane Johnson. “Her professionalism, technology skills and dedication to quality lesson design, as well as her ability to recognize what makes students and athletes successful, are but some of the qualities we noted in the selection process.”
“The greatest reward of coaching is to watch young athletes set goals and strive to maximize their potential,” Hanke said about her two WIAA State Championship golf teams. “Iditarod has become a teaching tool and symbol for the character traits students and athletes must develop to be successful. By following the Iditarod, the golfers have learned that ‘together we succeed’ and that ‘attitude is everything.’”
Andrea Auf der Heyde of Bloomington, Indiana, initiated the Teacher on the Trail Program in 1998. She created the program because the focus her school placed on skills like perseverance, effort, organization, patience, initiative, sense of humor, cooperation, flexibility, problem-solving, curiosity, common sense, courage and caring. Hanke is the eighth educator to receive the honor.
For more information, visit www.iditarod.com.
Posted August 31, 2005