Maybe not these days...one of my teacher friends just told me about her "instructional leader," a term that is apparently popular in ed circles these days. Makes me look for Kim Jong-Il...nothing like the infantile worship of those who occupy some sort of mamagement title. Anyway, this cretin is apparently demanding 3-5 hours a night outside of contract time plus eight hours on Saturday and Sunday. Sounds like someone should be paying overtime...on the uncompensated work time front, we spent nine hours in the school last night. Finally got home a little after 11pm. Midnight supper, after the dishes got done. We finally got our sort of day of rest today.
The weather was great today (for early October), so we went strolling along the airport with the dogs. Sunny and just a bit nippy, but warm enough that my cool new wool sweater was warm enough for the walk.
It's time for another week. We are coming into the season of the PFD, which means that there are going to be some people out here partying too hard, and some kids coming to school in no state to function. Not the most fun time of our year.
We will be going off to Bethel for the AASG meeting on Thursday. AASG is the association for student governments in Alaska, and they are coming here. I get to hang around and chaperone, and wander over to the District Office for an inservice on Friday. For me, it mostly represents a change of scenery, plus the chance to sleep on the floor for a couple of nights. Maybe I will go to AC for a real thrill. The funny thing is that I will be back in Bethel a week from Friday for yet another inservice. When it rains...
The morning awaits with laundry and new advenures...
Is there a way to involve students in real-world learning about government? Unless rural Alaskans learn how the system works, they won't be able to influence it. Learning about voting choices and then voting, is a start. It shouldn't be partisan. But-- questions about what issues are important to rural people, even why rural votes count/ not count would be something to research (demography, economics, mass media, social media, history, etc.). Harry Crawford is one candidate (Congress) willing to work with students, for example, can Skype be used to involve rural communities?
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It's a tough get in some ways-mostly, I think, because teen agers now are not that different from the '60s when I was that age. You always heard about the political folks, but most kids were just focused in an entirely different direction. I agree that the education process is crucial. I simply question if it will have the long-term effect. I believe that the decision to participate in the system comes over a longer period of time.
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