About See Stories:

See Stories is an Alaskan 501(c) nonprofit, and our mission is to build inclusive communities with film and story. See Stories works to ensure that diverse Alaskans and youth are given the media skills to craft stories representing the Alaska they know. We lead documentary film and podcast workshops for teens, empower teachers to lead multimedia projects in their classrooms, and share student-produced media with the public to foster a more inclusive Alaskan story and community.

Educator Programs Manager job description: 

See Stories’ Educator Programs Manager will primarily manage and facilitate virtual & in-person teacher professional development courses, from syllabus writing & curriculum development to coordinating guest instructors and grading teacher assignments. See Stories educator professional development classes are generally accredited through UAA’s Professional & Continuing Education Program (PACE), and so much of this role includes liaising with the PACE staff. This position is currently funded for the next 2.5 years, with possible room for growth and/or expansion. We are also looking for someone to create lesson plans that are user friendly for teachers to accompany student- and teacher-produced films & podcasts (see example lesson plan here).  

The Educator Programs Manager will support See Stories to scale up our mission by engaging teachers throughout the state and will report to See Stories Executive Director, work closely with a small staff, and manage a variety of contractors. 

Hours: Full time, defined as 40 hours per week. Specific hours worked are flexible depending on See Stories’ programs & employee needs. 

Location: Virtual except when implementing in-person teacher professional development programs. The person who fulfills this role can live and work anywhere in Alaska, although they can expect to travel for in-person teacher professional development at least once each year. 

Start date: Our ideal start date is February 1st, 2024, but we have some flexibility in the start date (either slightly earlier or later). Please do not hesitate to apply if February 1st doesn’t work for you as a start date. 

Qualities we are seeking:

In addition to the ability to complete the tasks outlined below, we are looking for someone with the following qualities:

• Empathy & understanding for what it is like to be a teacher in rural and urban Alaska. 
• A demonstrated grounding in cross-cultural communication & education strategies.
• Readiness to facilitate a learning space rather than focusing on direct instruction (you do not have to be a content area expert in digital storytelling or any other topic, but rather must have the skillset to bring area experts together to facilitate a meaningful process).
• Curiosity & ability to learn new skills & content ranging from digital storytelling to navigating digital archives and beyond.
• Flexibility to accommodate the diversity of teacher & community needs and the ever-changing landscape of creating a meaningful and impactful program.
• Communication skills are key. The ability to maintain strong lines of written & verbal communication with partners, contractors, teachers, colleagues, and others is essential.

Roles & Responsibilities:

Facilitating teacher professional development courses:

See Stories hosts ~five 1-3 credit teacher professional development workshops annually in topics that range from culturally responsive digital storytelling to using primary sources in digital storytelling, and from engaging educators in histories of Indigenous enslavement to creating lesson plans to accompany student films. Please note that we do not expect the person hired to be an expert in any of those topics, as we have a range of area experts, Culture Bearers, archivists, scholars, & digital storytelling specialists to support the content instruction for these courses. The majority of these courses are taught virtually so that teachers from throughout Alaska can participate. The Educator Programs Manager Role will:

• Facilitate & participate in monthly Steering Committee meetings to gather insight and wisdom on how to implement courses (when possible, we use a steering committee model to use the wisdom of the group to create the best programs we can).
• Learn digital technology skills for film (this is a skill we will support you to learn gradually – please do not let this scare you off!).
• Liaise with program partners to co-teach and co-plan workshops.
• Engage in culturally responsive best-practices & support educators to do the same.
• Work with other staff to advertise & recruit for professional development opportunities
• Grade educator assignments & provide meaningful feedback to educators. 
• Manage workshop follow-up, from uploading films & podcasts created by teachers to our website (with permission) to implementing post-workshop surveys.
• Liaise with evaluators (we often work with evaluators throughout a professional development course using a “developmental evaluation” model which allows us to develop goals and meaningfully measure them in collaboration with a team).
• Write reports to share about educator programs with funders & a general audience.

Strategizing & Implementing Vision for Teacher Professional Development:

While See Stories has educator programs & offerings planned for the next 2.5 years, we are also seeking someone to help strategize & grow our educator professional development programs. The Educator Programs Manager will:

• Strategize for See Stories to implement fee-based asynchronous courses. 
• Develop a vision for new teacher professional development offerings in the future.
• Pilot a national scale-up of our asynchronous offerings.  
• Share about our professional development work at conferences in Alaska & beyond.
• Support See Stories to create and launch a platform on our website that allows educators to engage with one another across the State about best practices in culturally responsive digital storytelling (there is a team of web-designers & staff to support this platform, so this role would be highly collaborative).

Lesson planning / curriculum development for website:

See Stories envisions creating a cycle whereby student & teacher films and podcasts can become teaching tools in Alaskan classrooms (and beyond). To do this, we have created a searchable database (see here) on our website, and we aim to marry each film to a lesson plan (see example here). The Educator Programs Manager will:

• Create lesson plans to accompany films (one a week would be ideal, but we can explore what works best).
• Engage educators in professional development classes in the creation of lesson plans that can be shared on our website. 

Other Duties as Assigned & Inspired: 

• Engage in passion projects that support See Stories’ mission (with Director approval). The Educator Programs Manager is welcome and encouraged to initiate ideas for courses that match their passion and skill-set.
• Grant writing or the willingness to learn / engage in grant writing. 
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications & experience:

The following qualifications are desired, but if you believe you are a fit for the job and do not have all of these qualifications, please do not hesitate to apply. 

• A Masters Degree in education or a related field, in part because you can then serve as the instructor on record for professional development courses accredited by UAA. 
• 5+ years experience in education or a related field 
• Experience working as a classroom teacher, and experience in rural Alaska a plus
• Demonstrated ability to work & communicate effectively in a cross-cultural environment, and working knowledge of cross-cultural education strategies
• Knowledge & experience in curriculum design & lesson planning
• Organizational skills essential for working remotely & ability to utilize online project management software
• People management skills & experience a plus
• Grant-writing experience a plus

Compensation

• Between $67,500 & $73,000 (depending on experience) annual salary for 2.5 years, continuation if additional funding is secured
• Up to 5% retirement match
• 8 paid holidays, 2 floating holidays, & 2.5 weeks vacation a year
• Internet expenses covered for your remote home office

How to apply:

To be considered for this position, send a cover letter, resume, and list of three professional references to Marie Acemah at marie@seestories.org. Please direct questions to marie@seestories.org or 907-308-3990. Applications will be accepted through Wednesday, January 10th, 2024.