Update

So it's been pretty busy here in Napakiak. But it has been great!

The kids are getting the hang of being in school...for the most part. But now they get an entire week off of school...for hunting, fishing and gathering! Definitely different than Ohio. Oh and the teachers get to go to Bethel for a week long orientation. Woo.

Also I HAVE FOOD! No more ramen noodles for me! People in this culture share food. They can't eat it all so they share it.  I was given four pounds of moose meat and a pound of cheese from another teacher.

Then a few days later the aide in my room gave me a fish. Which I still have not exactly figured out how to cook. But I have it!

So yes Mom I am eating. No I am not eating just Ramen noodles. No I am not cooking when I come home. 

Also here is a picture of a pretty sunset.

Monday Morning Blues

Monday. You dread it. I dread it. We all dread it. Mostly because it means that the weekend is over and its back to the daily drag of working and having to get up early.

Today was terrible. The kids forgot every single routine we had practiced the day before. They were wild and crazy even before lunch. And after lunch...well the site administrator (or principal) gave me a handful of chocolates on my way out of lunch because she knew it would be that bad. The aide also brought me candy to help get through the day.

I use a behavior program called Class Dojo.  Each kid gets a "monster" that keeps track of their "monster bubbles".  I can show it on my SmartBoard if I want but I don't have to.  The kids can earn bubbles for listening, following directions, helping without being asked etc... all those things that teachers want their kids to do.  They can lose points for talking, not listening, not working, hitting etc...all those things that are against the rules.  I can also give or take away points from multiple students at the same time.  The kids are trying to earn free time with the class iPads at the end of the week.  10 green (good) monster bubbles equals ten free minutes to use the iPad.

The best thing about this program is that at the end of the day when I end the class it gives me a pie chart of what the behaviors were throughout the day.  This way I can see the trend of the behaviors.  Were all the students not listening? Or were they just off task today? Did a lot of student help other kids? Were they staying on task? Were they working hard?  It also gives me a percentage for positive behaviors for the day as well as breaks down the individual offenses for each child.

The positive percentage for today was 1%.  That's it.  And it was actually an accidental click. But with this program I can see exactly what my kids were doing so that it was this low. And I can plan to fix it for tomorrow.  The student's bubbles normally get reset every Monday morning but I am resetting it for tomorrow so that they can start fresh.

Cross your fingers that tomorrow is better because I can only eat so much chocolate.

Home Sweet Home

After being here for 2 weeks I can finally say that my house (until at least May) is finally set up. If you creep on the school website I am living in Teacher Housing #5 which is about 30 yards from the school door closest to my classroom. (and I thought my student teaching commute was short)

Here are some pictures of my humble abode:

 Kitchen

 Living Room

 Bathroom 1

 Bathroom 2 (please not that my shower curtain is currently being held up by pant hangers because I'm dumb and forgot shower curtain rings. Go me.)

 Bedroom 1 (LOVE my bedspread)

 Bedroom 2

 Bedroom 3 (Gotta have some Falcon PRIDE)

The door to my second bedroom currently being used to store empty boxes.

So this is where I live.  I also have a small utility room right inside my front door before you get to the main part of the house where my washer and dryer are. But I figured that you all knew what a washer and dryer look like :)

Survival Mode

Fridays. Freedom is close. It's almost the weekend. You can taste it and feel it in the air. The anticipation of two days of no school.  As kids we loved it. As a teacher I dread it.

Not really. I still love it but I dread the students realizing that it is Friday.

On Fridays my kids are tired of being in school.  They are tired of being told what to do and having to stand in line and be quiet in the hallway and no you cannot play with the water in the sink.  They're just plain tired.

For me this means that I have to make Friday entertaining.  Art projects, centers, fun stories galore.  It's survival mode because if they're not entertained they're either gonna be grumpy or crazy, or both. I just try to get through the day so that I can make it to MY weekend plans (which probably included planning stuff for the next week but still).

But phew. I made it. Thank god for early release Fridays.  Now just an assembly and a staff meeting stand between me and the weekend!

The first day

Phew! I survived the first day.  There were no tears (me or the kids) and everyone got through the day in basically one piece.  Now onto the tricky part...what the heck am I doing tomorrow?

Ummm anyone else remember complaining about that early childhood gym class we had to take as ECE majors? and how we all thought it was pointless cause we would never be teaching gym? Um yeah. I'm teaching gym. Every single day of the week. Not pointless.

I have two glorious 30 min periods during the day when my kids are not my responsibility, lunch and Yupik. Usually I just sit in my chair and just sit because I probably haven't sat for a few hours. Today no planning got done what so ever. Oops.

Oh well. There's always tomorrow!

Prep work

First of all...WOW! I've been in Alaska for a little over a week.  It seems like so much longer.

Now every job you have has some sort of prep work.  A chef prepares food before serving it.  A lawyer has to prepare before a big case.  And a teacher has to get their classroom ready.  You cannot walk into your classroom and poof everything is already set up and ready to go.  So for the past few days I have been bunkered down in my classroom trying to get everything ready (while also taking advantage of the free internet)

Now 'twas the night before school and all through this place
Not a creature was stirring, this was the case
The borders were hung round the corkboards with care
in the hopes that children soon would be there

The children all nestled, snug in their beds
While visions of pencils danced in their heads
With kids in their homes and I at my seat
Had just settled down to conquer a great feat

When out on the boardwalk arose such a clatter
I sprang from my seat to see what was the matter
Away to the door I flew like a flash
Threw open the doors with an almighty CRASH!

Blinded my eyes, the sun shining bright
Twas like that morning and night
When what to my wandering eyes should appear
but 8 tiny children, oh my! oh dear!

With a little child, so lively and quick
I knew it must be Amber and Eric

More rapid than eagles, running they came
jumping and shouting and playing some game

Now Timmy, now Chunky, now Amy and Madison
On Josh! On Makayla! On Thomas and Ashlyn
To the end of the boardwalk to the far away wall
Dash away dash away dash away all!

And in a twinkling I heard on the roof
A pawing and prancing, please don't be a hoof
As I drew in my head, and was turning around
the children came running, back with a bound

Nicole! Nicole! We're all in your class!
Come on! Come on! please let us pass
A pile of toys they had flung on the ground
trying and trying to just get around

Their eyes how they twinkled, their eyes so merry
their noses were read like a little ripe cherry
But I had work to do and that was that
"I'll see you tomorrow" I said with a pat

And tomorrow with come, getting close now
But I'll perform all day and then take a bow
For you know a teacher performs day in and day out
Faces smile, and grins and often a pout

Jobs are never done til late into the night
Tell me I'm lazy, I'll put up a fight
It all for the kids no matter what you say
I wouldn't trade this for riches any day.

I hope you enjoyed my poem while I'm using the internet.  I would also like you to know that I ate my entire stash of jerky from my desk while I was writing this. Oops.

Here are some before and after shots of my classroom.

BEFORE

AFTER

And here is a picture of the view when I walk out my front door.

It's pretty.


Anyway hopefully I have everything planned for tomorrow but if not

Oh the people you will meet...

With a district spread as wide and far as this one, you would think it would be difficult to meet/stay in contact with other teachers. FALSE!

First meeting people.  At the new teacher orientations we were all thrown together into dorms from two or three nights (depending when your flight got in) and thrown together all day for a multitude of activities.  Now being together day in and day out you're going to meet people and make some friends. Which is totally true.

From sitting around the pool table with our laptops to rolling on the rolly chairs (because we're lazy) I met some pretty great people. From sitting in orientations going through a ton of ice breaker-ish games to playing cards (ERS, I won. every time.) at 10 o'clock at night we bonded.

Now however we're thrown across the district, all in our own little villages, but still just a Facebook message away! And in just a few short weeks we will be reunited at district-wide inservice in Bethel!  There we will be able to share stories of our first few weeks of teaching as well as have a few card game rematches. :) Can't wait!

Food

Many of the people here live a sustenance lifestyle.  That means that they fish, hunt and gather their food from the land. Many of the villages also still have a store to buy food and other supplies as well.

However one of the things about a sustenance lifestyle is that they share the food.  At orientation today we were given the opportunity to try some of the food such as dried salmon, pilot bread, seal oil and many other types of dried and cooked fish.

Here is a picture of some of the food we got to try.

 I tried everything (I am my father's daughter after all) It was all really good! And I even won a raffle to take some pilot bread and peanut butter home!

Getting started...

Currently I am sitting in Sackett Hall in Bethel, Alaksa.  This is where they house all the new teachers, in dorm style rooms, for orientation for two days.  Today was day #1 and OMG so much information. Between learning about some culture and meeting more people at the school, my brain is fried.

Oh and we danced. Yes danced.

Now I can march high step down the field while playing the fight song in my sleep (and probably have) but my coordination was called into question with Yu'pik dancing. The tempo increases the more you dance and it was great.  But it was so much fun!!

I have met some really great people too. Everyone here is really nice and always willing to help. The age range for the teachers is outstanding.  Some like me have just graduated college while others are coming to teacher here after retiring in another state.  Others still have left wives and older kids at home to come here for a year or two for an adventure.  But we're all here for pretty much the same reason: to teach and to have some adventure at the same time.

One more day of orientation tomorrow and then its back on the plane tomorrow back to Napakiak. (A 7 minute plane ride by the way)  I cannot wait to sleep in my own bed. *sigh*

Oh and I broke down and bought a new phone :(

Lesson of this post: Paying for your own phone is no fun at all!

Travels

Currently I am sitting in the Anchorage airport with a three hour layover until I go to Bethel, Alaska (my final destination for the night)

This adventure all started this morning at 6am when my sister grunted good bye to me (a typical Becca greeting before noon), I gave my dogs one last hug and set out for the Cleveland airport with my parents.  After checking my bag (just about exactly 50 lbs, phew) and saying good bye to my parents, I was on my own.

Now...I haven't flown since I went to Disney World...when I was 10. Crap. And now I'm supposed to navigate through three different airports and catch three different flights. Uh oh!

Well as luck would have it (and also thanks to my chatty nature, even at 8 am) I sat next to a couple heading to Bethel while waiting for my first flight. The wife was born and raised in a small village, just like the one I'm heading to.  Her husband was in the military and met her in Bethel.  I even found out how they met! They met at a dance in Bethel and he told her that he wanted to take her back to the military base with him.  She said "That's what they all said but low and behold 52 years and three kids later here I am still married to him".  They were the sweetest couple and were actually sitting right next to me on the plane (crazy right?!?!).  They sort of took me under their wings and made sure I was alright on the flights and caught the connecting flight in Seattle (which was conveniently the same flight I was on).  While I wasn't sitting next to them on this flight, we connected when we landed and made sure that the three of us knew where the next flight was leaving from.

So now I'm sitting here waiting and killing time until I can hop on one last plane and be done traveling (for today).  Only a few more hours and I will be in Bethel.  Someone is going to meet me at the airport and then tomorrow I'll be in Napakiak! (until later tomorrow when I fly back to Bethel for orientation)

SO MANY PLANES! (but look at this view from the airport window!)

How this all started...

I graduated from Bowling Green State University in May of 2013.  This next school year I am going to be teaching Kindergarten and first grade in Napakiak, Alaska.  But getting this job started out a little bit differently than normal...


Picture this. It is 11:55pm after a long day of student teaching in a kindergarten class.  The only reason I'm still awake is to sign up for the Teacher Job Fair at midnight along with the rest of the senior class of the college of education and people who graduated already. All I know is that I wouldn't mind moving out of Ohio. So midnight hits and it is a mad internet dash to see who can get an interview slot before they all fill up.  I clicked on any interview that wasn't in Ohio, including one that said AK.

Now remember that I had been teaching kindergarten all day and it was about 12:15.  I was exhausted and just wanted to go to sleep.  My sleep addled brain processed AK to mean Arkansas.

It's not. It's Alaska.

Either way I kept the interview and it went great.  Now I am moving to Napakiak, Alaska in less than 24 hours! This blog will keep track of my adventures (and I'm sure misadventures too)