Akiak's First Science Fair in Many Years

These photos show teachers, parents, and students interacting and learning with my students and their science fair projects. The projects were created with my help, during science class. The method we used was highly structured, but students ran the experiment and did all the writing and thinking about their experiments/projects.

Summer Feasting

During the summer I feel like a medival character eating huge meals, gorging on all the things I've missed. How do I maintain in this situation. The lure of fast food is so strong.

Famous Peeps

A recent project that was spawned by a poorly thought out writing prompt on the ipt testing has really taken off. The prompt asked what famous person from history would you like to be and how would you change history. No student in my class could name a single famous person from history.

The project is a book containing profiles of famous people from history. We research the person and draw them. We write about their place of birth and time. I tell a story about something they did or play a movie. Then the kids write about what they learned. These profiles have hatched great discussions.

I try to do 2 males and then 2 females for gender equity.

Charles Darwin was first because it was close to his birthday. We talked about where humans came from, and how animals change.

Gandhi

Cleopatra we talked about how kings are appointed by God, but Pharaohs are gods.

Joan of Arc - When one girl found out Joan recieved messages from God she wonder how they were received. Then how loud was God's voice. My answer was so loud, Joan had to do whatever he said.

Archimedes of Syracuse - Kids were amazed that a single man held off the Roman army for 2 years using only MATH. Heh heh!

Thomas Jefferson

Frida Kahlo - Girls were most impressed by her Tom Boyishness and her gangrene. Teacher: One artist called her work a bomb wrapped in a ribbon. Student: "Why would you wrap a bomb in a ribbon?" Teacher: To make it look pretty.

I think either Eleanor Roosevelt or Queen Elizabeth are up next.

Signs

Last weekend during a training in Bethel, I was chatting with a teacher from Akiachak. He is Aleut, but also very knowledgable about Yupik culture. We got into an interesting conversation about Yupik observation.

Yupik people have a lot of non-verbal communication, and are historically quiet people. Therefore they require other means of evaluating people than by what they say. Yupik people instead watch each other for signs. There are different signs for men and women.

For men it is important that you pee outside. It is not okay for men to fill up the honeybucket at home. They should go out and "check the weather" a euphemism for relieving yourself. Men who pee inside too much catch slimy fish.

Men must take care of their crumbs and scraps when they finish dinner. If they leave it, they will not make a good husband.

Yupik women have all sorts of rules and taboos. Especially, pregnant women. They must not tie knots, knit or crochet during pregnancy (it may tie the umbilical cord around they baby). One that was really cool was about not walking around things in your way. Women must kick things out of their way when they are pregnant to prepare the baby for going straight for their goals in life.

Anyway I told the teacher, my grandpa pees outside so much he doesn't catch any slimy fish. In fact, he doesn't catch any fish at all.

Bethel Trip

The MacKenzie's took a trip to Bethel the other day. We went via the ice road. The river was very rough traveling. There had been a lot of thaw and cracking and refreezing. We went with a number of other teachers in the school suburban. One teacher was bounced around so much in the back she got car sick. Marlowe fell right to sleep of course. We had one or two frightening spin outs, but our driver was pretty good. The two in the front keep worrying about getting lost or the firmness of the river, but it has been so cold there was no need. The trip took over an hour. Most of the sliding was were there had been overflow of water and refreeze.

We got to Bethel safe except for the traumatized teacher in the back who, actually hit the ceiling at one point. Our first stop was lunch. Our school counselor wanted to buy. We talked her into the Shogun. The Shogun is one of the best places to eat in Bethel. It is Asian owned with mainly Japanese staff. Like most restaurants in Bethel they don't let the fact that they have a Japanese name stop them from serving all kinds of food. The menu includes: American, Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Sushi, and Japanese. They have a crazy burger called the Shogun Burger that among other ingredients includes a fried egg. Supposedly the biggest burger in Alaska, but I doubt it. The sushi chefs hailed us in Japanese as we entered. They were offering a buffet that included sushi and tacos. We went with that. Oh God they had some delicious unagi (eel) rolls and the fajitas were good too. We all gorged ourselves (excepting the car sick teacher) while the Japanese waitresses doted on Marley. They loved his blue eyes,

The restaurant owns two turtles and M. was fascinated by them. The owner tried to tempt him with her little white fluffy dog, but he preferred the watching the turtles swim around.

After lunch we crowded back into the rig and drove to Caroline's Caselot. We had never been there before. It is a little grocery store, but it sells in bulk. Mainly dry goods some milk and butter. Lots of good deals. We spent several hundred, plus we had to pick up snacks for the school. Next we went to the autoparts store to get lights and other important parts for the school vehicle. We also went to Swanson's another grocery/whatever store. We bought a lot of produce and some porkchops. Again several hundred dollars in groceries. By the time we made the return trip we had the rig filled to the gills with boxes. Luckily the queasy teacher was able to catch a flight with the basketball team, and only had to suffer a long wait at the airport.

On the way home we all gossiped about other teachers. We saw some mushers from various dog races on the way home and got caught in a doggy traffic jam when we turned into Akiak. One of the races was resting and getting ready to go out again.

No Water, Yes Ukeleles

In Akiak sometimes things go badly. Yesterday a leak in a water main drained the cities water supply. Water was off for a day. School was cancelled. Water service has been returned, but as always when the lines have been empty, there is silt in the water. Bath water is brown. Marlowe drinks it anyway. He loves to eat shaving cream, scarf dogfood, and drink bath water. Today, he peed on his potty for the first time. Yay!

Back to the water. It is growing clearer now, but some houses are still with out water, due to subsequent freezing of the pipes. Anyway at least we have water.

The extended day is not as cool as I thought. I do not have enough guitars to teach the class, I have to keep my class the whole time, and there is no time for collaboration. I feel this last is the greatest loss. I really wanted to collaborate with Mrs. Jackson our Yupik teacher. I feel like it is just less time I get to spend with my family and the benefit to the kids isn't being fully realized. Lame. My plan-b is to put in a purchase order for a class set of ukeleles (pronounced oo-koo-le-le). I think I can teach this as easy as guitar and storage will be much smaller. Space is a real issue in our school. It is small, and teacher's weird ideas pile up unused in every closet. This is my fear about the ukes. Will it be another dust collector? If I ever leave. Hmm hard to know.

Twelve Days of Akiak Christmas (slightly un-pc version)

Twelve Days of Akiak Christmas

On the twelfth day of Christmas my honey gave to me

Twelve pfd checks

Eleven jugs homebrew

Ten cans pepsi

Nine quarts of akutuq

Eight fancy kuspuks

Seven smelly stinkheads

Six rounds bingo

Five tanks of gas

Four beaver knuckles

Three bags of dry fish

Two bowls of moose soup

A ptarmigan in a birch tree

Update too Late

How many people have reached this point in their blog. Where you realize you haven't posted in a year. I may go an back date some entries. I even had to change the name of the blog because it is now my second year teaching.

Last years class is up to its shenanigans with a new teacher. She is doing well with most of them. What did I impart to them? High test scores in general. They love reading. Even the ones who refused to pick up a book until the middle of the year. They really like books. I think I just gave them the time they need to try books. I read a lot of good books to them. Little House in the Big Woods. The Graveyard Book. A Series of Unfortunate Events. Wizard of Oz.

This year's have been tough. Two kids in particular are troubled. I thought this year would be easier emotionally, but the truth is knowing more about the tragedies of my students' families, makes it harder.

I've had some successes with a lot of help. One was a Curriculum Night that I planned. Attendance was poor, but that is the time of year. It was October which is hunting season. We had an all elementary Family Math Night and we had over 70 people attend. Kids spent time with their parents playing number and math games. It was really fantastic.

Failures: I intended to do a genealogy project with the kids and it really bombed. Parent involvement is less than I hoped, my fault mainly.

What is upcoming? Arlicaq is going on an extended day schedule and I will be teaching guitar lessons. I am going to try to work with our Yupik teacher to incorporate Yupik lyrics into the performance based class. Additionally I an going to try to begin a tradition of district-wide spring science fair. These kids don't even know what a science fair is. So unfair.

New Years

We are in Kodiak now with Dana and Shannon, my Aunt and her husband, but soon we will be headed back to Akiak. Jamie, I think would prefer to stay in civilization. Dana and her family have been such great company, for Marlowe especially. We have been spending like mad shoppers. Groceries, tourist items, electronics, craft supplies, games, books; I think we have single handedly become a boost to the economy here. Someways even here in Kodiak, people have little idea what it is like to live in the Bush. I feel like the things we need to do are confusing to people and alien. The postal clerk didn't get why we would have to ship spagetti sauce to ourselves. It is bizarre. I wonder how much this experience has changed us.gs

We are half way through with the year, but there is much ahead. State testing is coming up and other high stakes assessments. Our district office is really under the gun to improve these scores. Teachers I know in the lower 48 are saying there will be more rifting going on next year and no highering. I am grateful to have a good paying job. If we are here next year. It will really be like we are raising Marlowe in the Bush. This idea is frightening. With health care and being able to buy things he needs.

My class is shaped up some. Still needs work, but I think we can begin to work together. There is so much that I would like to be doing with them, but I haven't figured out how yet. Things that kids in other schools would come ready for, are virtually from another planet than the kids in my class. Asking questions? Working together. Doing research. Using imagination. Writing about something you've learned. Thinking of a story. I have had many little victories, but I am still a stranger in a strange land.

My resolution is to fit into my class better, and improve my teaching skills.

The houses

This is a fairly accurate drawing of a house in Akiak done by one of my students. The second story windows are wrongish because most all houses are single story. One new house built by Amish volunteers working for FIMA has a second story. Houses are on stilts because of flooding and snow. All new houses should be built at a certain height to avoid flood damage.

Our house has oil and electric heat, but many still use wood. 2/3 have running water. Most all have power. There is phone and internet service, but most villagers have cell phone service through GCI.

Beginnings

"Things are getting worse here," was something a longtime non-native resident told me yesterday. I know what she means. Its loss self-respect, confidence, sense of place. But, I won't dwell on this in my first entry.

My class:

10 boys

2 girls

Those ten boys are like ten Huck Finn's wild, free, in trouble a lot, smear of dirt on the cheek, ready to fight, spit, cuss you. Well, they're hard to love, but they are lovable all the same. If not in school they would play all day on the dirt trails and sandy river banks, torture water bugs in a puddle, break windows in abandoned houses, and occasionally swipe the family 4-wheeler to do stoppies and wheelies until 2 in the morning.

In class they are never quiet, almost. I was told Yup'ik culture makes talking quietly and being quiet a virtue, but these boys are never that. They shout, they moan, they flop on the floor and scream. "I won't do this!" "I don't know!"

I am told the children of the other villages in our district will cuss you and throw a chair. At least it isn't that bad.

I am frustrated a lot, but they are also great in some ways. Its almost as if school brings out the worst in some of them. They will always help you. "Help me carry this box home from the p. off please." They do it. They want work to do. Many have never picked up a tool. They are fascinated by weed whackers, fishing rods, computer games. They love cleaning. At the end of the day I will have kids who prefer cleaning the room to playing a game.

They love the structure of a good worksheet. Many would rather do that than the most exciting hands on math that you can think of.

Kids always want to know about you. Your name, your dog's name, your baby. What are you doing? Where are you going?

My class has endured a lot of tragedy. Really hard stuff. Often they live with grandma or grandpa or auntie. They have brothers or sisters who have died as infants do to bad health or accident.

Somedays it is hard to remember all this as a teacher. Somedays you just want to be angry with them, but  then you get a reminder of why your here and how badly your kids need help not hollering.

Teaching Acrostics

I wrote these acrostics to help me think about the teacher I aspire to be and the teacher I sometimes allow myself to be. Teaching can be like a battle or i can be something more uplifting like creating a quilt with some friends or painting your first landscape.

T ired
E dgy
A gitated
C ranky
H aggard
E xhausted
R eady for the end of the day

T uned in
E nthusiastic
A ltruistic
C ourageous
H aving fun learning
E mpowering
R eady to begin again tomorrow