Sunday, October 16, 2011

There is a song beneath the song... they will learn and discern it's true meaning.

I find myself sitting at the school on a Sunday morning.  It's a usual thing to see Miss Wilson at the school after hours and during the weekend.  Reasons behind this?  1.  I am a new teacher and constantly need to complete/prepare/clean/organize/etc.  for the next day.  2.  It's the only place with internet access.  Which makes it necessary for keeping relationships back home going, as well as allowing for retail therapy.  In approximately 25 minutes I will begin the regular race to be ready for the week which I will attempt to complete before church service at 7pm.

Recently I've had people asking via social networking sites how my life has been and also what I miss from back home... so I will take a moment to answer such questions.
1.  What are you up to?:
I am teaching, tutoring, volunteer, and experiencing living on my own.  That pretty much sums up how things have been going.  I teach from 8:45 AM until 3:45 PM and then begin tutoring students that want to stay after school in my classroom.  That usually ends around 4:45PM and I run home to change into work out clothing so I can help  the wrestling coach work with his girl wrestlers.  Some time after that and/or on the weekends I go on mini adventures.  These include house visits, walks at midnight to see the Northern Lights, boat rides to other villages, and church services.  These things are kind of the everyday "mundane" things that I do... but sometimes I find myself saying in  my head... "HOLY COW... YOU REALLY ARE LIVING IN ALASKA!"
2.  What's the weather like?:
It reminds me of Indiana weather.  Not that it is warm and humid, by any means.  What I mean is the weather has a mind of its own.  It'll be frosty one morning, snowing the next, and raining another.  It has snowed 2 times since I've been here but usually there's a slight drizzle and a bone chilling wind that accompanies it.
3.  What do you miss back home?:
There's a list I'm making of things I want to do when I go home, so I'll just include those.   I miss driving to be honest.  It sounds weird but I miss the feel of the wind blowing around my hair and the smell of fall wafting into the car.  I miss being able to have a conversation with friends back home over a meal or cup of coffee.  The best I can do here is Skype which is an amazing technological tool for keeping relationships going... but still it's one thing to hear someone's voice and see them on a screen than to actually be able to reach across and touch that person's hand.  Finally I miss church.  Sounds silly, but I miss going to a church that I can easily understand and is applicable to the things I'm going through right now.  I also miss the friends and family I created.  I really look forward to going to a church service or two while I'm home.  :)
Those are the major things that I miss.
4.  Anything great going on?:
My kids are learning a lot and finally producing work.  We will be sending penpal letters this week to our friends in Indiana.  Last week we finished up a geometry unit by having a picture scavenger hunt.  I'll have to post pictures of the event.  I have been offered several puppies to help combat the "new teacher blues".  I have an awesome group of new teacher friends who I skype/text/call/ plot with regularly.  I'm looking forward to my trip to Anchorage for Thanksgiving with my aunt and friends from out here.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

I should be grading....

Here's a new post.  Life here is an adventure.  In a few words... I am constantly busy.  Hence the delay in posting.  I'm actually writing 2 quizzes for my class so I'll make this entry short and just write by topic.

Visiting the dump...
As a means of stretching our legs and blowing off work for a little while 2 other teachers and I rode a boat to the village dump.  It's about a mile upriver from here and it is quite the experience.  We were greeted by the smell of trash.  What else would you expect?  We did a bit of scavenging to see if there might be something that was once someone's rubbish and could be our treasure.  No such luck.  Although we did get some neat pictures standing on an old scale and playing a video game guitar.  After a bit of picture taking and tundra squishing we made our way back.    Here are some pictures taken on our adventure.




Interesting lessons
I feel like I should include times where I feel like I'm doing the right stuff at my job.  Sometimes in this field it's hard to see the progress/successes because "you're elbow deep in the trenches".  Recently I've seen major growth in student behavior and engagement.  It's been great to see that change because now we are able to do fun lessons like while learning about rocks and the earth's make up we created "sedimentary sandwiches" and "metamorphic chocolate chip rocks".  Some other lessons have been building polygons with straws and even drawing geographic features on an Alaskan map.  Cool stuff right?

Coaching/Tutoring
In a past post I told you all about a cross country practice that helped me feel accomplished.  I should have posted about the meet we had.  It was a great experience and totally worth all the sore muscles and tired bodies.  I got a chance to meet other students and new teachers.  I even received an offhand compliment from another coach.  Evidently the students are rubbing off on me.  Be aware that I might give you an eyebrow raise or use village lingo when talking on Skype or over the phone.  Now that that season is over it's time for wrestling to begin.  I'm not really a coach for the team, but more of a volunteer.  It's fun to see the kids work dilligently at their workouts and practices.  I'll be chaperoning and helping keep the girls going during the season.  Outside of sports, my principal has approached me about doing tutoring for my students.  I think it's a great idea and totally necessary for a majority of students.  To put it simply, I am very busy right now... and it will probably only get busier.

New Teacher Support
Last but not least, I'm super lucky to have the support system I do.  I have an awesome significant other, rocking best friends, and mentors cheering me on.  It means a ton to have everyone back home giving support, advice, and packages (HINT HINT!!!).  Aside from Indiana love, I've got my own group of friends developing right here in Alaska.  First there is Gia, my gal pal up here.  We bonded over internet grocery shopping during our first inservice.  Most recently we have come to share sushi and diet cokes at our favorite restaurant in Bethel.  I also have 5 guys that pretty much make my inservices and experience up here worthwhile.  Here's a break down of who the guys are.  Matt is the unpredictable one.   I say that with complete honesty.  For example, you never know when he'll randomly yell out "WILDCARD".  Ken is the teddy bear.  He is one of the sweetest and generous guys I've met.  I love listening to his impressions of our our favorite district staff member.  Eli... he's pretty much my brother up here.  We have become roommates that don't actually live together.  We share meals and new teacher woes.  Ben is the mastermind of all the planning for the group.  If there's something going on he's usually behind it.  I also love that he's the other elementary teacher of the group... which makes complaining about curriculum that much easier.  Finally there is Pat.  Pat is the Patriot's fan.  (I KNOW I KNOW... I shouldn't even talk to him. ;))  Aside from that flaw, he's the quiet and sarcastic one.  He's always got a comeback... usually centered around Indiana.