Teaching Profession Video

Teaching ‘My Friends’ Kids': An Alaska Educator With Deep Community Ties

By Catriona Ni Aolain — March 06, 2024 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

As part of Education Week’s new project, The State of Teaching, educators from around the country share the most rewarding and challenging parts of their lives as teachers.

Kiminaq Maddy Alvanna-Stimpfle is in her ninth year of teaching, and works as the kindergarten immersion teacher at Nome Elementary School in Nome, Alaska, where she is teaching students Inupiaq, an Alaska Native language. Alvanna-Stimpfle attended the school where she now teaches—a deep community connection that brings big rewards, but also some challenges. Here, she shares her experiences.

sot visual stamp words only words only for inline promo

New national data on the teaching profession, vivid reporting from classrooms, and resources to help support this essential profession. Explore the Project→

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Personalized Learning Webinar
Differentiation That Delivers: Proven Practices From High-Growth Districts
Make every minute count. Proven strategies from educators and leaders driving real student growth. Save your seat!
Content provided by i-Ready, Curriculum Associates
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
From Exposure to Experience: Designing Accessible Work-Based Learning
Learn how schools can create meaningful experiences that help every student build skills, connections, and a clearer path to their future.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Webinar
A Tale of Two School Districts: Forecasting Enrollment
Forecasting enrollment is hard. Here’s how two different districts are navigating times of change with data that considers the whole picture.
Content provided by Zonda Education

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Teaching Profession Opinion No, Self-Directed Learning Doesn't Make Teachers Obsolete
When students own their own learning, professional expertise becomes more important.
Tyler Thigpen & George Philhower
•
5 min read
Collage-style illustration of a young student standing on a dotted line path that zig-zags from the bottom of the frame to the top right. The student is wearing a backpack and pointing to a yellow circle on the end of the path at the top right. At the bottom of the frame a teacher's hand is open and facing upwards at the beginning of the dotted path. Smaller yellow dots are placed along the path, near the teacher's hand and where the student is standing.
Illustration by Emily Wright for Education Week + Getty
Teaching Profession Opinion ‘Can I Go to the Bathroom?’: How Even Teachers' Smallest Judgment Calls Add Up
Teaching is a constant exercise in emotional triage.
Heidi Wells
•
3 min read
A teacher is overwhelmed by the constant decision making of an educator's job. Educational triage. Burnout.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week + Getty
Teaching Profession Q&A What Teacher Shortages Really Say About the Profession
In the new book, Ending Teacher Shortages, researcher Tuan Nguyen highlights need to move from magic bullets to a more stable workforce.
4 min read
The definition of teacher sits on teacher Leon Smith's desk at Haverford High School, in Haverford, PA on March 20, 2024.
A definition of the word teacher sits on Leon Smith's desk at Haverford High School, in Haverford, PA on March 20, 2024. New data suggest a long-term trend of higher vacancies and more underprepared teachers.
Alejandro A Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer via TNS
Teaching Profession What the Research Says How the U.S. Teaching Profession Compares to Global Peers
New data from OECD show global trends in teacher staffing and workloads.
4 min read
The Maryland governor's office reports that 4% of the state’s teacher positions are unfilled, meaning nearly 1,600 classrooms don’t have an experienced educator leading students.
New data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development finds that teacher shortages are a global challenge.
Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS