Short days and volleyball..

I apologize that this has taken me quite awhile. I hope life has treated you well the last couple of weeks. The weather is changing here in Kwethluk! It is getting much cooler and the days are getting amazingly shorter. I didn't realize the difference until I was walking to school yesterday morning. Here is a picture  I took at about 7:15am on Monday.

Along with the increasingly short days, my days have become much busier. This week also marks the beginning of our Mixed 6 volleyball season.  I am so thrilled to be coaching! We have 6 girls and 2 boys signed up to play so far. I had originally signed up to assist the returning coach, but she has decided to "retire" for the last time so I am working with a gentleman who is an RTI specialist to coach. We have practices at 7:30 as the other two sports (wrestling and Native Youth Olympics) need the gym earlier.  The season is young, but I can already see improvement. We are hoping to travel to Aniak, Akiachak and Tuluksak this season and the kids are thrilled to have a volleyball team after not having one last year.

Things are still great here in Kwethluk and I am becoming more involved in the community. It reminds me of Redfield when I walk down the street and so many students and community members say "Hello Miss Paulson!" I hope your lives are going just as well! 

Inservice and Big Purchases

Hello again!

I hope you have all had a great couple of weeks. It has been busy around here and I haven't had a chance to post, so this one might be a little on the long side.

My last post was completed right before I flew off to Bethel for a week of inservice. Below are a couple of pictures of the nearly 500 teachers and administrators in the Bethel High School gym.  It was pretty inspiring to see all of the teachers who are here to make a difference in the lives of our students.

I attended sessions on integrating technology, foldables, Kagan interactions, the grading system, and many more over the 4 full days in Bethel.  I also learned more about our health and math curriculum.  It was also interesting to be on the student side of learning again.  The whole week helped me to realize how important it is to make the learning worthwhile for our students.  Especially when they have to sit in class for the entire year as opposed to 4 days! :)

It was also nice to catch up with some other new teachers and see how their year was going.  Every one that I talked to is enjoying their school, colleagues, and students, which affirms for me that we are all in it for the best reason, to help our students.

I also thought it was interesting to see the Bethel High School which is a little bigger than Redfield.  Here are some more pictures of their gym.

 






Bethel does not compete against the other villages in the district in most sports.  The picture on the left shows banners for each of the schools that Bethel plays. 

Another interesting aspect of the district-wide inservice is that it was scheduled during moose season in this area.  I am not completely positive on the season length, but I understand that it lasts for approximately 10 days, depending on when the moose harvest reaches 75.  One of the teachers explained to me that this week normally has the lowest attendance during the year because so many students are out hunting with their families! It reminds me a little bit of deer season in South Dakota.  I was told that killing a moose can save a family $2000 on groceries! Thinking about the economic situation here, it is understandable that subsistence sometimes outweighs schooling in this area of the world.

My last inservice day was Saturday.  After we finished, Jeff(our English teacher) and I flew back to Kwethluk.  I must say I missed my home here a little bit.
Our plane for this flight was the smallest I've been in (only 4 seats)!  But for some reason, I felt much safer in this one than the first one in to Kwethluk.  Here are some pictures from the flight.  You can see how the tundra is starting to change colors, like the leaves on the trees.

 

 

 My last piece of news for this post is that I finally got my first paycheck! It is so exciting to see my bank account grow rather than shrink :)  I also feel that my hard work in the classroom the last month has paid off.  So, for my first big purchases, I have bought tickets home for Christmas and a snogo!

Yes, I am in the process of buying a snowmobile from the last math teacher.  I thought that the long winter might feel a little bit shorter if I could get out and enjoy the snow.

 It's the blue Polaris with the cover. I was too lazy to hop the chain fence to uncover it for the picture, so I will keep you checking the blog for a better picture. :)

I was told that winter is on it's way by a gentleman I spoke to at the store yesterday.  The temperatures here have begun to drop and the boardwalks are covered with frost in the morning.  Hopefully I won't have to wait to long to take the snogo for a ride!

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and a great week to come!

  

Quyana

Just wanted to post a quick "Quyana" (thank you) for those who have sent me cards and packages.  I came back from the post office today with 3 more cards and 4 packages!!

Special shout outs to the Smith family (Jay, Sherry, Sydney, Chelsea, Annie, and Kinley), Lois Stemper, Mikki Permann, my aunt Rita Lunney and my Grandma Ila Mae. Thank you all so much!

You have no idea how incredible my day is knowing that people are thinking about and praying for me! Thank you thank you thank you!! :)

For those of you who have had my grandma's homemade cookies (ginger snaps and chocolate chip), they taste even more delicious after you've been waiting for them for a couple of weeks!  I've had special requests for her recipes also.

We will be off to Bethel for in-service in the next hour.  Hopefully the rain and wind let up a little so it's an easy trip! 

Have a great rest of your Tuesday!! :)

What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy Labor Day!

I hope you are all enjoying a day off. I have been working on lesson plans up in my classroom and thought I could put together a quick post.

The title for my post today is in reference to one of the most important things I have learned while teaching here - facial expressions.  As I was talking to my parents on Saturday night (via Skype because I am not currently in possession of my cell phone), I was explaining to them the huge differences between my student teaching experience and my first-year of teaching experience.  One of the topics we discussed was the eye contact and facial expressions I have noticed.  Below is an excerpt of an article written by a teacher who taught in Tununak, AK a few years ago.

  

I would not have guessed reading that article before I began teaching here would be one of the smartest things I did! This describes exactly my experiences in the classroom with my students.  I also have noticed that I look more at my students' faces trying to recognize their eyebrow lifts.  

The students here are very good about verbally answering yes because they are used to new teachers, and especially new teachers who do not look for their eyebrow lifts.  But, I also think that this difference I am adjusting to is proving helpful in me getting to really see my students.  I am becoming more adept at recognizing confusion and understanding simply through facial expressions like furrowed brows and wide-eyed looks.  It is incredible how much I relied on verbal clues before this point.  This difference in my classroom is something I hope all new teachers would have the opportunity to experience because so much of the communication in the classroom is non-verbal.  Now that I think about it, this could be useful to non-teachers as well! Recognizing facial expressions is something that everyone could use a little practice in! :)  It is especially interesting that I am also finding myself raising my eyebrows more often when I say "yes" to someone.

Have a great rest of your weekend! :)