Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Cup'ik Christmas Program
These are my students Eskimo dancing at our Christmas program. Pretty sweet gym, huh? Notice the rock wall in the corner!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
So, what have you been up to?
Yeah, yeah, I know. We haven't posted anything in a long time. Truth is, there's not much excitement to report. We work. A lot. When we're not working, we're eating, sleeping, or watching tv. The Daily Show, and That 70's Show, if you must know. We have been really lucky to make some good friends here and we try to get together a couple times a week. Mainly for potluck's and game nights, but we have had the occasional birthday and Halloween parties, too.
Here are some quick updates, mainly of the teacher-sort:
Way back in August, our village hosted Tundra Fest, a week-long native dance festival for the surrounding villages. It was in our very small city hall and so crowded you could see the steam leaving the doors and windows. Here's a picture of some dancers from Chevak.
About a month ago, I had my government classes do some research on the issue of drilling for oil in ANWR. We watched a documentary called Oil on Ice, read a bunch of articles and websites, both for and against drilling, and then each student had to take a stance on the issue and support it in letters to our three state representatives. It went perfectly with our study of the first amendment right to petition the government and participation in the democratic process. All three representatives responded to each student, which was quite a surprise. Along the way we made posters to hang around the school and I took these pictures.
We've had a few dances and open-gym nights at the school on Friday nights to raise funds for the class advisory groups. Since I'm a high school teacher, I get recruited to chaperon. It's usually a lot of fun and gives me something to do.
Another project I was very proud of had my government classes researching the presidential candidates and creating presentations to give to the elementary students before they participated in the student mock election. Each group of high schoolers was assigned an issue and they researched each candidate's plan regarding it. They then created PowerPoint presentations to educate the little ones without revealing which candidate they were discussing. The younger students would then decide whose plan they preferred, the "red" candidate or the "blue" candidate. After all the issues had been presented and the kids had made their choices, we revealed who was who and they knew which candidate their opinions most aligned with. We had laptops setup in the classroom and my students helped them cast their votes. By the end, we were able to bring in the 2nd, 3rd (Amanda's), 4th, and 5th grade classes. Our school's votes were combined with others from across the country and the nationwide results had Obama winning in all states but 4.
We had a door-decorating contest for Halloween. Our students decorate the doors and they're judged by some of the staff members. My door won.
Oh, and I went ice fishing on the river. Caught about 5 tom cods, which was pretty pathetic. Everyone around me had piles of fish. Oh well, it was fun.
Here are some quick updates, mainly of the teacher-sort:
Way back in August, our village hosted Tundra Fest, a week-long native dance festival for the surrounding villages. It was in our very small city hall and so crowded you could see the steam leaving the doors and windows. Here's a picture of some dancers from Chevak.
About a month ago, I had my government classes do some research on the issue of drilling for oil in ANWR. We watched a documentary called Oil on Ice, read a bunch of articles and websites, both for and against drilling, and then each student had to take a stance on the issue and support it in letters to our three state representatives. It went perfectly with our study of the first amendment right to petition the government and participation in the democratic process. All three representatives responded to each student, which was quite a surprise. Along the way we made posters to hang around the school and I took these pictures.
We've had a few dances and open-gym nights at the school on Friday nights to raise funds for the class advisory groups. Since I'm a high school teacher, I get recruited to chaperon. It's usually a lot of fun and gives me something to do.
Another project I was very proud of had my government classes researching the presidential candidates and creating presentations to give to the elementary students before they participated in the student mock election. Each group of high schoolers was assigned an issue and they researched each candidate's plan regarding it. They then created PowerPoint presentations to educate the little ones without revealing which candidate they were discussing. The younger students would then decide whose plan they preferred, the "red" candidate or the "blue" candidate. After all the issues had been presented and the kids had made their choices, we revealed who was who and they knew which candidate their opinions most aligned with. We had laptops setup in the classroom and my students helped them cast their votes. By the end, we were able to bring in the 2nd, 3rd (Amanda's), 4th, and 5th grade classes. Our school's votes were combined with others from across the country and the nationwide results had Obama winning in all states but 4.
We had a door-decorating contest for Halloween. Our students decorate the doors and they're judged by some of the staff members. My door won.
Oh, and I went ice fishing on the river. Caught about 5 tom cods, which was pretty pathetic. Everyone around me had piles of fish. Oh well, it was fun.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Winter's a-comin'!
We woke up today to a snow covered view and the lake is covered in a thin layer of ice. It's October 4 and already down to 23 degrees.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
SeaWeek 2008
So, those of you who know us well may recall our reference to our fondest memories of Tonga as Peace Corps moments. Generally, the term was reserved for those special times we found ourselves in the middle of an experience so unbelievable that it forced us to stop and appreciate how truly lucky we are to have been there. As you well know, we are now addicted to such moments and continue to seek them out wherever they hide. However, since we are no longer in the Peace Corps, I decided we needed a new term. The best I've come up with so far is NatGeo Moments, short for National Geographic, of course. It seems to capture all the feelings of visiting remote locations, doing adventurous deeds, and learning about different cultures. I'm not sure if it'll stick but its the perfect description for the subject of this post-SeaWeek.
Each year, during the the second week of the school year, the high school goes out for SeaWeek, a 4-day camping trip to the tundra. This year, I was lucky enough to tag along. We loaded up 8 boats with around 35 students, 4 teachers and 7 drivers and headed downriver towards the coast. After 2 or 3 hours, we pulled over and setup camp.
We spent the next day right around our campsite- traipsing along the spongy tundra, picking wild berries (a variety of blackberries and raspberries), and manuqing (fishing with a stick and line). I caught three and was pretty proud of myself until I learned that one of my students caught 23 in the same time period. Rehardless, it was a very relaxing day.
The next day was much more exciting as we went on a seal hunt. All 8 boats, crowded with students, had 1 or 2 shooters on the bow and worked together to track down the seals. Basically, we waited until they ran out breath and came to the surface, then whoever was closest shot at it until someone "caught" it. Once a shot was landed, the boat driver would speed up next to it and sick it with a harpoon to drag it in. We caught 6 spotted (50-150 lbs) and 1 bearded (200-300 lbs) seal that day, which was a very big deal around here. A few of the catches were the hunters' first, so according to tradition they were gifted to the elders that accompanied us on the trip. Catching a bearded seal is one of the rights of passage required to "become a man," so my two students who got it are now men and I am not! You can also catch 5 of the smaller seals or one bull moose, so there's still hope as I have been invited to go moose hunting.
The last day we headed for home home, but ran out of gas due to the longer than expected seal hunting. The smallest boat had enough to make it back and filled up tanks and returned to deliver fuel to each of the bigger boats. It was a very long, cold, rainy, hungry day.
If there are any teachers reading this, can you imagine a field trip like this? Over 4 nights? Hunting with guns? on boats? Only in Alaska... and I'm loving it.
All geared up and ready to go:
From Day 1
Making a manuq:
My first catch:
Cleaning the fish:
Berry picking...
Blackberries are everywhere:
Laverna's Raspberries
Duck Hunt, better than the video game...
Plucking birds
Elder Cecelia plucking and telling stories:
Somebody caught a swan:
Hanging around camp:
My home on the Tundra:
Playing on a sand bar:
Day 2
My students on the hunt:
Harpoon hunting:
The bearded seal:
Each year, during the the second week of the school year, the high school goes out for SeaWeek, a 4-day camping trip to the tundra. This year, I was lucky enough to tag along. We loaded up 8 boats with around 35 students, 4 teachers and 7 drivers and headed downriver towards the coast. After 2 or 3 hours, we pulled over and setup camp.
We spent the next day right around our campsite- traipsing along the spongy tundra, picking wild berries (a variety of blackberries and raspberries), and manuqing (fishing with a stick and line). I caught three and was pretty proud of myself until I learned that one of my students caught 23 in the same time period. Rehardless, it was a very relaxing day.
The next day was much more exciting as we went on a seal hunt. All 8 boats, crowded with students, had 1 or 2 shooters on the bow and worked together to track down the seals. Basically, we waited until they ran out breath and came to the surface, then whoever was closest shot at it until someone "caught" it. Once a shot was landed, the boat driver would speed up next to it and sick it with a harpoon to drag it in. We caught 6 spotted (50-150 lbs) and 1 bearded (200-300 lbs) seal that day, which was a very big deal around here. A few of the catches were the hunters' first, so according to tradition they were gifted to the elders that accompanied us on the trip. Catching a bearded seal is one of the rights of passage required to "become a man," so my two students who got it are now men and I am not! You can also catch 5 of the smaller seals or one bull moose, so there's still hope as I have been invited to go moose hunting.
The last day we headed for home home, but ran out of gas due to the longer than expected seal hunting. The smallest boat had enough to make it back and filled up tanks and returned to deliver fuel to each of the bigger boats. It was a very long, cold, rainy, hungry day.
If there are any teachers reading this, can you imagine a field trip like this? Over 4 nights? Hunting with guns? on boats? Only in Alaska... and I'm loving it.
All geared up and ready to go:
From Day 1
Making a manuq:
My first catch:
Cleaning the fish:
Berry picking...Blackberries are everywhere:
Laverna's Raspberries
Duck Hunt, better than the video game...
Plucking birds
Elder Cecelia plucking and telling stories:
Somebody caught a swan:
Hanging around camp:
My home on the Tundra:
Playing on a sand bar:
Day 2
My students on the hunt:
Harpoon hunting:
The bearded seal:
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Chris' Classroom
From the door
From opposite
View of the lake, hills, and teacher housing from my window
From opposite
View of the lake, hills, and teacher housing from my window
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