Yeesh!

Just one of those days best forgotten...I was there all day, but I don't know what I accomplished for the life of me. Who knows, maybe something will come back someday and surprise me. I'm not really all mad or anything, it just seemed kind of futile all day. I kept swimming upstream all day, but the stream was too strong.

Oh, well, tomorrow is another day. This will not get me down like it did last week, and the week is flying along, and there's chili and guacamole for dinner. Yummy and warm on kind of a raw evening. The weather came over from Russia last night with lots of wind and rain.

Tomorrow starts moose season, and some of my boys will be gone hunting. I hope that they are successful. It is very important for subsistence. A family can live for a long time on a moose.

Now that I think of it, I did get some interesting responses to the project that we have been doing in Ak Studies. Maybe it wasn't a total loss, after all...

Sunday Sunday

Just mostly lesson planning today. Trying to build up an extra bank of lessons in hand. I'm going to Anchorage this weekend for a getaway. Labor Day is coming up, and we have no kids until Wednesday the following week. I want to get ahead so I can spend next weekend looking at pretty scenery and stuff like that. I might want to take another cruise or something.

The sun is sneaking out here. The amount of available daylight is beginning to shrink quickly. In the week from last Wed. to this Wed., sunrise moves about 20 minutes later in the morning. I assume that trend will continue and accelerate through the winter solstice.

I exchanged instant messages with another member of my training cohort today. He seems to be doing well, and it was good to hear from him. The reporter who interviewed me in June wants to do a followup. Maybe when I'm in Anchorage...

Oh, and Another Thing...

For all of you who have asked, the Buddha is quite well, thank you. He likes to go for walks over to the airport, although his little legs sometimes get tired. He got quite excited last week when he saw some sled dogs being trained. They are leashed to four-wheelers when there is no snow. He got right up on his toes, and started trotting himself. I may enter him in a toy sled pulling contest, if there is such a thing...

Busy

Worked on grading and some classroom tweaks yesterday. Today is lesson planning. Some kids will be gone moose hunting this week. Not sure how to adjust for that. hmmmm...

The Weekend Is Mine!!! (sort of)...

MMMMM...Saturday morning.....coffee...breakfast....catching up on the phone w/friends and loved ones...oh, s---, LESSON PLANS???? Oh well, everything is relative, temporary, and fleeting. The sun is out, despite the weather forecast that says mostly cloudy, and it's a nice day for a stroll to the post office. I went to steam with the fellas last night, and that was fun for sure. We had a new visitor (at least to me), and he proved to be an extremely lively conversationalist (a change of pace) and very funny. Post-steam, yummy tacos...a good night's sleep...mmmm..

Now it's morning, and time to deal with the world. We need to have a meeting of the high school language arts department (two people) to discuss the SBA reading and writing scores and how we can address some fundamental shortcomings in student understanding. I need to write lesson plans in the next two days for the upcoming week. At some point this week, I will want to plan for the short week after Labor Day, because I will be in Anchorage over the holiday weekend. My first focus is going to be how to place all of this in some sort of organizational framework. For my first week here, I was doing a lot of reacting. Last week, I started to try to get out ahead of events, with better success as the week went on. My next goal is to sit back and come up with a long range set of targets and goals.

It is a challenge, but it is one that is beginning to interest me, not intimidate me. I see that as a hopeful sign. This might turn out to be fun after all...

Well, well...

It's Thursday night. I am tired and want a short nap. Another good day. Halfday w/kids tomorrow. Now I know why teachers look tired sometimes. Sometime in the next couple of days, I'm sure that I'll have something more substantive to say, but right now, I just want those folks who follow along to know that things are ok...

Mildly Curious...

As to what the rest of the week will bring...the VPO and VPSO (I'll explain later) were out enforcing curfew tonight. There have apparently been a lot of kids out late partying and coming into school late, or hung over, or many other delightful types of altered. Some behavioral pathologies definitely exist...

Still Better...Hmmm...

Two good days in a row. Doesn't mean it was two easy ones. Something turned my head and my attitude around. I've been rockin' and sockin' em for two days straight. I know that may not seem like much to you, but it means a lot to me. I didn't have two good days in a row last week. I'm not sure yet that I had two good days.

I think it was just Betty telling me that I was heading in the right direction. It doesn't have to be perfect. I can need improvement. I know that I need improvement. That's ok. I just need to have an idea that I'm not totally lost. That positive reinforcement can be hard to come by with a classroom of rowdy, cynical kids. They have seen a lot of people come and go through here, and I can see why they are that way. I just hope that with a dedicated crew that we can make some sort of impact in some of their lives. This is a real tough beat. I have great respect for those who make it out here.

And all of you should, too. 'Cause like I told someone else last night, "If you ain't here, you don't know."

Ask, and Ye Shall Receive...

Well, I asked for help, and I got it. Holy shit, did I get it. I am stunned (why?) and amazed. And, I am very, very grateful to a number of people.

That includes Betty Walters, from the State of Alaska mentoring service, my principal, the GF, pretty much all of the rest of the faculty, and to the kids in my classes, who are slowly and very painfully helping me to see some different realities. I am humbled.

Thank you all.

Because I Can-Some Cute Pictures of My Dog..

Semi-Refreshed...

The nap thing was definitely a good idea-I needed it badly. The sunshine keeps playing tag with the clouds and rain-it's been like this a lot lately. I've come up with a couple of other lesson plans for this week. Some are short, some are multi-day extravaganzas.

I'm getting myself in the frame of mind for this week's grind. I have to remember that I'm here for the students, and that it's hard to tell when or how they're going to need you. We need to get H(his alias) on the road to high school, and I need to set up an after school schedule with him. I also want to get after-school availability for some of my HS students that were gone last week and are behind in the book.

Then there's that SIOP stuff, and the cooperative learning group that I'm supposed to work with, etc., etc.

Ought to be enough to keep me out of trouble-? By the way, all my clothes are fitting better in the past week or so. Having said that, I've been promised cookies today, and I intend to collect.

It's Sunday, and It's Not Raining...

Maybe a walk? I've got one set of lesson plans yet to submit. I put together a bathroom cabinet yesterday and did other lesson plans. Maybe a nap...hmmm, that sounds like a good idea...

Tired...

My day off...so what to do?? Work, I guess...yay.

Yet Another Obligatory Posting About Alaska...

The Sun Is Out...

Ah...a good night's sleep, a couple of days off, some lesson plans to write...maybe a walk-the day has possibilities...

Some Good News

Got my Praxis II scores tonight (look it up for yourselves-this is not a full service blog, and besides, this is the Internet, dammit...), and they provided a bit of light in my day. 199 points out of a possible 200. Needless to say, that is a passing score in Alaska. I am now "highly qualified" as I understand it, for this content area. Thank you, George W. Bush...

Lucky Number Forty

This is post number 40 on this trail of tears, and it sees us through the first week of school for our intrepid hero, who is desperately trying to figure out how exactly he got here. The struggles of the beginning teacher are legendary in this business, and yours truly is no exception. What exactly I am going to do with these children next week remains a mystery to me. I hope that by Monday some of that mystery has cleared itself up. I hope, I hope, I hope...

I am trying to get quickly grounded in the district progress model, so that I can figure out a course to chart for my students beginning this week. I spent the first week just playing the survival game, truth be known. That will not work for the long run. Cutesy lessons about biographies and reading out loud to my classes will not get it indefinitely. And, to top that off, I have apparently volunteered to help with a cooperative learning implementation exercise. Oh, joy...


Mostly, I feel that I have no idea what I am doing, and why exactly I am doing it. My days feel more like exercises in crowd control than anything remotely approaching teaching. The kids seem bored out of their minds and resentful that they are asked to control their whims for an hour or two at a time. Maybe it will get better...

All That, and Cashews??

Class photos, mandated writing assignments, and parent-teacher conferences-WOW what a busy day. My cold has shaken hands and settled in comfortably to stay for a few days. There's no particular good reason to or method of shutting myself off and feeling sorry for myself, so I might as well work...the laundry is done and put away, and it's about 10:00 PM-time for a little reading before bed. I'm finishing "The Dynamite Boys," an account of the Atomic Energy Commission's plan to detonate nuclear weapons in the Arctic in the name of peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Didn't work out for them, but the story makes for a good read. Seems like they thought they could muscle over a group of Inuits living in a very isolated area. They were wrong. What a shame...

Coughing and Sneezing...

Looks like I've fallen prey to the curse of the first year teacher-sniffle-which is going to make two hours of reading aloud kind of a pain in the throat...but we're out early for parent-teacher conferences. We'll see how that goes.

A little light...is it the train???

It's Wednesday night, which means that we're over the hump for the first week of school. The past two days have been really bad and really good at times, often in quick succession. The important thing, I suppose, is working through the problems, or perhaps more importantly, thinking through them.

As all the teachers in the audience know, or at least as they have been telling me, the beginning is the hardest time. I hope that they're telling the truth. There is a tremendous amount to absorb and process. I guess what makes me optimistic is that I feel as if the process has started already. With any luck, or a little effort, it will continue.

Things are better. I'm glad about that.

Wait a Minute...

So, let me get this straight...I have to do this all over again today???

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!! It's The First Day of School!!!!!!!!

Oboy, oboy! It's here today! Or more accurately, it was here today!! The first day of school!! What fun!

We started the day out with two or three power failures in the village, which made getting organized that much more fun. I told my junior high students that today's vocabulary word was "improvise." There was an assembly that was long and hot. This pretty well shot the first two class periods. Then I have my high school reading and writing for two periods. Time to walk the tightrope. I did the thing where I let them interview me. We will then compare the results to the first poem in Out of The Dust.

The junior high kids actually did pretty well during the assembly, and I was proud of them. It was tough to be crammed in there, and it was hot as well.

My high school reading and writing is a little tough, but they did want to participate in reading the book, and interviewing me for their writing assignment.

After lunch is easier. I've got a math assist, a prep period, and a quick silent read before I go back to the high school for Alaska studies. I think that one will be my late day salvation.

Anyway, I got through the first day. Only 179 school days left.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!! A BEAAAAR!!!!!!!!

Admit it...you all have been wanting this one for a while...P.S. : It's in Barrow, fer Pete's sake...

Jeez, Where Did The Time Go?

...then I looked at the clock and it said 10:39...a couple of long stints at school today, but things are shaping up. I'm trying to help out with other classrooms, because I'm going to be drifting from place to place during the day. I also helped put up a couple of bulletin boards to get the place looking a little better for Monday.

We have had a couple of firefighters visiting the village to do some training, and they have been staying upstairs at the Napaskiak Hilton. Here are a couple pictures of some of the training. They didn't seem too interested in setting a building on fire or anything. Those would have been some good pictures...

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...

A late sleep, some breakfast, and now off to work for a while-need to look at some final lesson plans, and some new ones for AK studies for next week. More as time permits.

The Good, The Bad, and The No-See'ums...

A lovely steam session tonight, it's midnight, and the gnats are swarming in my house. It's very still tonight, and there is apparently another hole in a screen to fix. I took care of the bedroom the other day, but I think there is one in the window in the spare room. Oh, well, another project for tomorrow...

Help Me, I Think I'm a Teacher!!

Well, it sure has been fun...we have been spending the past two days in the school frantically attempting to get ready for Monday's madhouse. It seems like it ought to be good and crazy, too. I have changed part of the material that I will be teaching, and I think that will be a good thing. I have switched from teaching science to doing Alaska studies, which has more of a social science/history aspect, which is what my background is. I have kind of ended up as a man without a country, though. I will spend part of the day in the junior high, and part of it in the high school, without any real fixed address. Oh, well, as Joe says, it's all good, because tonight we're going to steam. Yay!

Inservices and Fun getting Home...

It was back to Bethel today for more inservice meetings-that is a total of five in the past two weeks. We will be working in the school tomorrow, and holding various meetings among ourselves in order to prepare for the students that will descend upon us on Monday. The sessions today included suggestions for lesson plan outlines, one on blogging in the classroom (I have been designated as the site expert based on this paltry effort), and some more of the mysterious and sinister SIOP training.

We finished the afternoon, and the two-day session, with a nice talk from Alaska's Commissioner of Education, who tried to inspire us all. Oh, and by the way, the Governor (no, not that one-she quit, remember??) came by to visit after lunch. We didn't get the Secretary of Education after all, as the Secret Service apparently decided that 400+ teachers in one spot was too much of a security risk. (Maybe I'm being a little bit snarky here...)

The real fun came when we tried to catch the boat for Napaskiak. Several of us came upriver in the morning with Father Victor (see yesterday's post). We were going to come back down at 5:oo with him, but the connection failed somehow. My cell phone battery decided to fail at about the same time (for you English majors, and my masters at the EED-see the personification??). Fortunately, there were LKSD (my school district) types crawling all over the waterfront, which consists of a gravel road, and a muddy river bank. We were able to catch another ride from there with one of them, and set about formulating Plan B.

Remember the title of this little blog. It's either water, ice, or air. There isn't a 4th alternative. There isn't a bridge. There isn't a tunnel. We would be stranded without Plan B, and my puppy dog would have to go to bed hungry. As it turns out, there were additional seats on the Yute Air plane to Napaskiak. Two seats. But things weren't that simple. Some folks decided to bring their antique anvil collections with them. Therefore, we needed two planes to get everyone back, because otherwise the single plane would have been about 500 pounds too heavy.

For those of you who are white knuckle fliers, I heartily recommend the flight from Bethel to Napaskiak. It takes about five minutes, and doesn't get much more than 300 or so feet off of the ground. It is, however, a little bumpy when the wind is kicking up, as it was today.

All went well, and all of us got back, as did the pizzas that the District Office sent home as dinner for all of the sites. Yummy, and we start earnest preparation tomorrow. Meanwhile, it's chilly and blustery tonight. Time to close the windows and turn up the heat.

More Inservices...

Up to Bethel this morning in the fog (and I mean it) for the first of two days of additional inservice. Some of it involves tech info, and some involves a concept called SIOP. No, I'm not gonna tell you what it is. Look it up. Besides, it sounds much more sinister that way. Something dark, involving the Illuminati and the international one-world government conspiracy. I will be in a session on blogging tomorrow, which might mean that my posts will get better. Or maybe not. I want to learn more, so that I can get some of my students into blogging and maybe talking with other students around the country and the world.

Travel tip: if you have to go up a very twisty river in the fog, it's nice to have a priest at the wheel. Thanks to Father Victor for the safe passage, and to Teddy for the trip back this afternoon.

Tomorrow: the Secretary of Education faces a group of skeptical teachers in Bethel, Ak.

Some More Pictures of Tundra Flowers...

'Cause they're pretty...

Some Pictures of Tundra Flowers...

Hey, you can't expect all of this stuff to be witty all the time...

Monday Morning, Catching Up...

Time for an update. First, an answer to a couple of burning questions:

1) No, they didn't...
2) No, I didn't...

Hope that that clarifies a few things.

Now, on to the steam bath on saturday night. First, I appear to have survived with my skin pretty much intact, although I did have some interesting marks that faded by Sunday morning. Here's how it works: The steam house has two rooms. The outer room is for hanging up your clothes, getting naked, and cooling off when you can't take any more heat on the inside. The inside room is where the real torture business takes place. There is a fire going, with rocks suspended on a metal grate over the flame. The rocks get hot, and it's only the kind thing to do to pour some water on them to cool them off. Guess what happens next??

So far, you're thinking this sounds like a sauna, right?? The answer would be: sort of. These guys (and the guys apparently like to show off) like it hot. REAL HOT. The first go-around is not too bad, really. The fun stuff comes on the return trips, as the room becomes hotter and hotter. I was convinced at one point that my hands were about to burst into flame. I left shortly thereafter.

On the outside, you cool off and B.S. with the other guys. Then each maniac regains courage and plunges back into the pits of Hell. (Not a literal representation.) Eventually, I would convince myself that it wasn't REALLY that bad and wander back in for more masochism. When I was inside, I would sit in a Lotus position (picture that, kids...) with a hand towel over my head to keep my ears from igniting spontaneously, and concentrate on breathing through the heat. This would generally work through a pour or two, but sooner or later, the heat would get to be too much, and it would be time to bail out again.

The funniest parts of this exercise come when someone bails out, or when someone goes back in. Both events are usually accompanied by muffled grunts, exclamations, or curses. It is, of course, funnier when the noises in question are being made by someone else. When another pour is made over the rocks, the discomfort becomes more intense. It will pass if you can take it, but some jokester will eventually decide to make that one last pour that sends you (and maybe him) heading for the door as fast as you can.

When we have all had enough, we go back into the hot room with soap, scrubs, and razors to shave and clean up. The amount of funky sweat that comes out of the body is incredible. I did not want to be around the towel that I had on my head, because it smelled so bad.

This operation took about four hours. My understanding is that the women do it differently, and I will leave that up to any guest commentators who wish to post a description. I felt great. This is apparently going to be a weekly event for the men of the faculty who wish to participate. I plan on being there.

A Quick Update...

For any of you who might have wondered, here is the new, post-rebuild bike. Snazzy, huh? Also, I have a hot date (literally) for a steam in about 1/2 hour. More on this if I survive...P.S...the salmon was fantastic...

Home at Last

I'm starting my second day here. Yesterday was the cultural part of our program, and I enjoyed it, down to our sad attempts at Yup'ik dancing. As we progressed into the early afternoon, the interruptions began to come fast and furious, because many of the people in the new teacher group had to catch flights for some of the outlying areas. In order to get some idea of what I mean, you might wish to go to lksd.org, and look at the map on the home page. We have new teachers all the way from Mekoryuk to Bethel, and points in between.
For myself, I made a mad dash to the grocery store, caught a cab back to the cultural center where we had been working, grabbed my stuff, and headed to the waterfront. I got picked up by Joe Bavila, our site secretary, and rode down the river to Napaskiak.
I'm kind of settled in today, although there is still unpacking to do. Two of the teachers, Eric and Adam, went out fishing with Joe today, and caught 40 silver salmon. The afternoon found a group of five of us cutting, wrapping, and bagging fresh fish. There are some steaks sitting in the fridge now. Some local kids gathered around to watch and kibitz, mostly telling the kass'aqs (white guys) how they were doing it wrong. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

I like this place. It has a way of stealing your heart.

And the Rains Came...

It's definitely more on the muddy side today. The August rains have come in earnest, and perhaps to stay, if I understand the weather around these parts. I walked over to the AC (Alaska Commercial) store at lunch with a couple of other new teachers, to browse the selection of aspirin, fishing tackle, milk and produce, and 4-wheelers. Ya gotta like variety.
We had a good day, focusing on reading strategies and resources. I got to play around with my new Macbook Pro for the first time in earnest. Holy Moly. If a computer can be beautiful, this is it. The touch pad is really cool. If you use two fingers, it automatically scrolls up and down the screen. You can even turn the images on their sides and upside down. You can zoom in and out like with the iPod touch. Impressive. So, I am, of course, typing this on my old faithful Gateway. I have to get the new machine set up. Probably this weekend.

I will apparently be back here Monday night for more meetings starting Tuesday. Cabinet officials are coming here on Wednesday, I believe. We shall see if photo ops present themselves.

We also had some interesting food choices today, including agutuk, and salmon jerky. I like both. I have not made my mind up about seal oil, however. I will keep an open mind. The locals say that it'll cure what ails ya...

And on The Sixth Day, He Created In-Services...

Just kidding...don't want to sound sacreligious...about in-services...Today is the first of three this week, with two to follow next week. Very busy. However, they are feeding us well, and that's a good thing. We have reliable transportation, but I am learning my way around town on foot as well. Not many paved roads here, and it's flirting with rain, so the surface fluctuates between dusty and muddy. Tomorrow is another day.

Hi Mom, I'm in Bethel!

Well, here it is! The big move is on! After much fun and festivity, I find myself at the LKSD District office this morning writing this entry. In truly imoprtant news, I found where the coffee is kept. I have been told that I need to go to the library and get a teacher number and get books. I am also currently dog sitting, in a lazy and semi indifferent fashion, and it looks like lunch may be making an appearance. Cool. Spent last night in the biggest dive that I may have ever seen. Slept in my clothes. Good news-I am done with flying and sitting in movie theaters for a while, so the swelling in my legs is getting better. The infection in my leg doesn't look as red and nasty as it did last week. Time for more coffee and maybe some picture taking.

More to follow.

Well, This Is It...

Today is the big day. The film fest fun ended last night. Today, it's clean up, pack, load, and off to Chicago for the flight to Anchorage. After a short overnight, I'm off to Bethel on the 7:00 A.M. flight Monday morning. I'll post more as I get the chance on the way. I've got some pix from the last couple of days at the Film Festival that I'll post after I find the camera cables from one of the legion of flat rate boxes later this week.

Suffice it to say that I am now moving from the abstract to the concrete. It's a little bit unsettling.