DEED Spotlight on Rural Teacher Support, AKRISE Network

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges for educators across our state, and the nation. Teachers have been hard-pressed to rethink traditional classroom teaching and learning. Alaskan teachers were asked to quickly transition to distance education last spring, and now many are navigating long-term distance learning this school year. Perhaps the biggest trial is distance learning in rural communities without reliable internet connectivity. Distance learning isn’t as simple as hosting Zoom classes or utilizing Google Classroom. Smaller rural districts have had to find innovative ways to bring learning into students’ homes, including paper packets, phone consultations, and devices pre-loaded with educational content. AKRISE, the Alaska Rural Innovation & Student Engagement Network, is available to help support rural teachers as they pilot a new frontier of student learning. 

AKRISE was created to bring together educators from small, rural schools across Alaska to collaborate and connect to improve teaching and learning. A sub-network of the regional NWRISE network, the mission of AKRISE is to promote engagement through collaboration and innovation for teachers and students in rural areas of Alaska to increase equity, learning, belonging, and well-being. 

Traditionally, AKRISE meets in-person twice per year to engage in joint work and collaborative learning that strengthens instructional practice and impacts teacher and student engagement. With the COVID-19 pandemic posing especially unique challenges for rural teachers, AKRISE saw the need to provide more than their typical twice-yearly convenings. After the upcoming two-day Virtual Convening this October, the network will begin holding monthly virtual gatherings to support rural educators. Rural educators are invited to join each month to connect and share ideas in job-alike groups or in specific interest areas. The convenings will provide a platform to brainstorm and problem solve. Finding ways to connect and grow as professionals is especially important now as we face the challenges of education through a pandemic. 

Rural teachers, you don’t need to be a member of AKRISE to participate! Sign-up by October 1^st for the two-day Virtual Convening on October 16-17, or email Jeffrey Smith if you want to engage in monthly meetings. 

Thank you, AKRISE, for supporting Alaska’s rural teachers and students!