Making A Difference Carrie Bitterwolf

West Park Elementary School in Moscow, Idaho 25 years in education

The 16 fourth-graders in Carrie Bitterwolf’s class don’t enter a school room each day; they enter the wolf’s den.

The wolf cubs, as they are known, learn and play in a room filled with wolf posters and stuffed wolves that “can be hugged or played with as needed,” Bitterwolf said.

Bitterwolf, who in 1994 became the first Idaho teacher to be nationally certified, said her creative approach improves classroom discipline.

“We talk about how it’s special to be a wolf cub, how they care for each other, how they respect each other in nature,” Bitterwolf said. “Based on this idea, the kids take responsibility for themselves and their actions. If somebody acts out of line, they talk to their friends about why a wolf cub wouldn’t do that.”