Week 3 - The Big Boat

So, week 3 started off much like week 2 did.  Although now I'm starting to settle in more and I have a better idea of where the curriculum is heading.  I signed up for several committees at the school including the: Celebration of Education, Christmas, Graduation and the End of the Year BBQ.  In addition to those, some of my colleagues and I are interested in running a Math Olympics and a Career Fair.  This is in an attempt to get the kids interested in school and to be more aware of what their options are.  Hopefully it will all give them something to work towards.

On Wednesday there was a boat that came into the harbor.  It wasn't the usual cargo ship though, it was a passenger boat with people who are on a Northern tour.  Our village was one of their stops along the way.  This sort of thing is apparently pretty rare and we ended up closing the school at 2pm so the kids could go and check things out.  I've noticed that not much goes on around here so the kids are generally extremely nosey when something is going on, even if it is something minor.  There was a little thing going on at the community center, so the tourists headed over that way after they had a tour of the village.  There were a couple of girls throat singing and we watched a video from the National Film Board on the Annanacks which is one of the dominant family names here.  In the main hallway the people from the town actually set up some tables to sell the things that they have made.  There were carvings, these odd looking knives, parkas, caribou skin gloves and hats.  Some of it was okay and some was extremely well made.

Here's a picture of some of the carvings that they had for sale.  They were made from stone or horn/bone.  I found them interesting, but not worth buying considering the fact that my father's work is far superior.  I may end up getting something eventually though so that I can support the local economy.

Thursday was a pretty normal day, but the kids were a little off.  I think it may be due to the boat being here and the fact that they had an early day on Wednesday.  Friday was actually an excellent day, but strangely I didn't do much teaching.  We had a firedrill just before lunch.  After lunch my class watched a movie with some of the other senior classes called Stand and Deliver. I had never seen it, but it was a fantastic movie about math in an Eastern LA school.  We're hoping the kids got the message that if they try and are committed to learning they can succeed!  I also realized that South Park did a spoof on the movie in Season 12 in an Episode called "Eek a Penis."

Today I'm going to go for a Hike with a few of the other teachers.  Hopefully I will be able to pick some of the blackberries and then I can make a filling out of them for some danishes.

Next week one of the education directors is coming to check out the school.  This is why we're going to be having the Celebration of Education event.  It will run from around 6pm until probably around 8 or so.  Should be interesting.  Definitely going to take some pictures of that so stay tuned!