A. Nothing could be more adventurous than helping students learn to teach themselves. As I watch them in school each day, I see students trying to make sense of the world so they can understand who they are, where they fit, and how they relate to their fellow man.
Q. What is the most adventurous event that has occurred in your teachng career?
A. In the classic sense of adventure, every Alaska teacher probably has a bear story or a bush plane story to tell. Once when I was teaching grades K through 12 with my husband, Ned, in a two-room school in the remote village of Akhiok, we set off from Kodiak Island in a bush plane heading for the city of Anchorage, 250 miles away. Shortly after we took off, the heavy snow in front of us caused the pilot to turn around and head back to the village. Unfortunately, by that time the fog had closed in behind us, and the pilot couldn't see anything in any direction. Fortunately, we were in an eleven-seater amphibious plane called a Grumman Goose, and the pilot just set the plane down on the ocean for an hour to wait out the storm!
Q. What classes do you teach?
A. I teach a little bit of everything for all the students in the school, every subject and every grade level from K - 10.
Q. How many students are there in your school and your classes?
A. The school usually has about 36 students with 3 or 4 in each grade, and about 12 in each multi-grade class.
A. I was nominated by a parent in our village.
Q. What was the criteria for selection?
A. Candidates for the National Teacher of the Year should inspire students, should have the admiration of students, parents and colleagues, and should play an active role in the community. The National Teacher is released from the classroom for one year to travel and speak throughout the country and world.
Q. What is a normal day's routine during the school year?
A. On a typical day at Chiniak School, you would see me arrive with a smile on my face, happy that my commute is only a 30 second walk accross the boardwalk. Many different students are doing different projects and studies throughout the school building. Some are reading, designing a recreation of Tenochtitlan, working on the computers and the Internet, or debating different topics.
Q. What is your school's yearly and daily schedule?
A. Same as lower 48 schools.
Q. If you could change one thing in the teaching career or the field of education, what would it be?
A. I would like to see all students attend schools of 500 students or less, where they could be valued as individuals.
Q. What advice would you give to new teachers?
A. My message to Americans is to glory in the ragged edges of our spontaneous enthusiasm. Don't wish for a unilateral answer to our educational dilemmas. There will never be a single solution that will be a perfect fit for our diverse society. Instead, we should work toward partnerships of families, communities, and educators who enjoy the process of problem solving.
Q. What is the biggest problem in education today?
A. In order for students to maximize their own particular strengths, they need to be known by their teachers , so class size is critical. Even if we could solve all the problems that currently stand out and demand our attention, new ones would appear to take their places. Therefore, we need to attract the best thinkers we can to the teaching profession, supply them with adequate time to become teacher-researchers, and give them the power to make changes.
Elaine Griffin answered most of these questions directly via fax but, questions 6, 9, and part of 10 were derived from her National Teacher of the Year application.
Photo courtesy of Elaine Griffin.