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! :)

One month down!

When I was getting ready for school this morning, I happened to look up at my wall calendar and realized that this week was my 4th week in Alaska!

Who would have thought the time would fly so quickly...and tomorrow is already September.  

This last week has been a great week and I am finally starting to get comfortable and into a routine of planning and teaching.  I am also getting to know the students better and I am in awe of their brilliance!  There have been many moments this last week where they surprised me with their knowledge and wit.

We had a staff meeting today and I learned that our total enrollment(K-12) for this year is 248, which is up from last year.

After school today our school hosted a cross country meet. Seven schools flew into Kwethluk during the day and we had three races(elementary, junior high, and high school).  There were nearly 130 kids from Kwethluk, Newtok, Akiak, Tuntutuliak, Atmautluak, Akiachak, and another that I cannot remember).  I helped out by recording times.  It was great fun to see community members and teachers from other schools out supporting the students!

The sports scene is a little different than I am used to in the midwest.  Unfortunately, Kwethluk does not field a football team.  We do, however, have a volleyball team, which I have been asked to help coach this year! The head coach is our secretary and asked today if I would be interested in assisting.  I was also intrigued to find out that due to the low number of students, volleyball is co-ed here! She said the season begins in the middle of September so I will keep you informed on how that adventure begins!

Above is a picture of the district and some of the schools in the district.  Akiak and Akiachak are not in LKSD, but they are up river from Kwethluk.  This next week we do not have school because of the District-Wide In-service in Bethel.  The entire KAMS(Keta'cik and Aapalluk Memorial School) staff will fly to Bethel on Tuesday afternoon and stay until Friday.  The first year teachers will stay in Bethel until Saturday for one extra day of in-service! I have to say that I am quite excited about traveling to Bethel and getting out of Kwethluk for a little while.

I am sure I am forgetting to mention little things and go into details about where I am. Please feel free to ask any questions you have about where I am and what specific things are like here.

I think now I will head home and enjoy the rest of my Friday night!

Have a great weekend. :)

Way back when...

Good morning!

I hope you're all off to a great week.  Just wanted to share a picture that my dad sent after he read my post on Sunday night.

This was taking at least 10 years ago when Dad, Chuck and I went on an adventure to the bog near my Grandma's old house.  I showed this to some of my students yesterday and they though it looked a lot like the tundra! It is quite amazing how similar places that are this far apart can be.  Maybe we will have to take another trip out there this year.

Have a great day!

Picking (not throwing) the nature!

This is a picture of me after picking berries(which are in my coffee can) with the Kwethluk river in the background.

Let me preface this post with a little story about the title I am using.  Some of you may know that I have been thoroughly involved through camping, counseling, deaning and working at Placerville Church Camp in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  This name comes from one of the many favorite experiences of mine as a counselor in Faith Explorers.  I believe that this happened in the summer of 2007(I may be off..the memories merge).  

A large group of campers and counselors were hiking to the top of Perrin(probably the most challenging of camp hikes) and I recall being exhausted.  After quite a few warnings to campers about not picking up rocks, sticks and other various items on the hike, I was at my wits end! I may add that I believe this was near the end of the week of camp, and I was exhausted and patience was running low.  I loudly exclaimed to the nature offenders that they were to "STOP THROWING THE NATURE!!" 

Looking back at this moment if life, I have learned many things.  One, I should have more patience. :) And two.  Let the kids be kids, as long as their safety and the safety of others is not in danger.  I can now laugh at this moment of frustration I experienced along with the counselors, and hopefully any campers that I hollered at can laugh also.  I hope if any of you are reading this, you also get to experience the joy of counseling and learning to control your emotions with junior high adolescents.  :)

After that long story, I will get to my newest nature experience!

Yesterday, our neighbor Cindy invited us to go berry picking! Specifically blueberry picking, but I saw many other berries.  My students had spoken of berry picking, which is a common activity in the summer in this area. And I have been looking for an opportunity to go. After a half hour boat ride we climbed up the bank of the river and saw this incredible view!

I have to say these remind me a little of South Dakota.  The ground in South Dakota is much drier than the tundra here.  It reminded me of the bog my dad took my brother and I to which was near his childhood home.  The ground seemed to shake if you jumped!

We arrived around 4:30 and picked blueberries until 6:30! I was definitely not as good at picking the blueberries as our neighbors or the other two teachers that went with.  But it became much easier for me to spot the low-growing berries as I picked.  We were there to mainly pick blueberries, but there were also cranberries and blackberries(different than the ones I knew of).

The first two pictures below are of blueberries.  The one in the middle is of a bunch of cranberries.  The lowest left picture is of blueberries with cranberries, and the lowest right picture is of the blackberries.

Below is an unripened salmonberry which is my favorite of the tundra berries I've had.  They are very sweet!  You can see it kind of looks like a bunch of fish eggs.

Me picking berries!

I am wearing my rain boots because the ground was VERY wet and soggy!  The weather was really nice while we were out and there was a breeze that kept most of the mosquitos away.  I also saw a plane flying over while we were picking.

After picking for a few hours, my coffee can was half full! We got into the boat and went over to Cindy's mother's fish camp.  Fish camps are set up in the summer, where families clean and cut the fish they catch.  Here are some pictures of the one we visited.

Most of the pictures are of the fish hanging to dry.  The last picture is of the maciq(I may have spelled that wrong) which is a steam house.  Most people in the village steam as their means of showering because there isn't running water.

The fish hanging to the left is from the beginning of this summer, and the fish hanging to the right are salmon strips from fish caught this week.  These were in a shack smoking.  Cindy told us that there was a brown bear that broke into this shack a couple weeks ago.

The last thing we did before leaving the fish camp was pick a few more berries.  I can't remember the name of the berry on the left side, but I tried just one bite and it was the most sour and bitter tasting thing I've ever tried.  We also found some wild raspberries.  They are a little different than the ones we have back in South Dakota, but taste just as delicious! :)

Lastly, I took a picture of the fireweed which has beautiful pink flowers and a vivid red tassle at the top.  Pauline explained to me that fireweed is the named as such because it is the first plant that grows back after a fire. 

After a great day outside in the sunshine (which we haven't seen much of lately) I was exhausted.  

I will end with a picture of my first blueberry harvest! And a photo of the blueberry muffins I made this morning. I used the package my friend Sarah sent last week, but I spiced it up with some fresh blueberries!

Thanks Sarah!

I'd also like to end with a shout out thank you to Vonnie who funded my last packages from my mom! It is so wonderful to receive mail. Feels like Christmas :)

I am now 2 for 3 on the packages I (my mom) sent to myself before I left.  Hopefully that last one comes this week! 

I'm sure I'm forgetting something else I had meant to tell you all about, but I guess that will just be more for next time. :) Please email me or comment if you have any questions.  I will try to update this once a week or so. But I'd better get to my planning for this week!  Have a good one :)