The fog crept in on little cat feet

Here I sit in the Yute Air terminal. There are about 8 moms and babies, very patiently waiting for a plane to take them home to villages. No complaining, just watching Native fiddling and singing gospels loudly and out of tune on the TV. The smells are fresh popcorn, brewed coffee and unclean bathroom that opens directly into the main waiting room. Most of the children have fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion from getting up early and entertaining themselves.

Last night there were 5 mentors weathered into Bethel. Four of us stayed at the LKSD district office on mattresses and cushions on the floor. The superintendent, who comes in very early, made fresh coffee for all takers. The gals stayed up late talking about our work. We’d all gone to the VIP Restaurant for dinner. The food was good and everyone was very friendly. The sushi maker described the “heartburn” sushi….jalepeno peppers with spicy fish and cream cheese. The sushi looked as good there as anywhere.

My family treated me very well on my birthday. My daughter sent me some good books and bought me a junk mail reduction service. They search mass mailing sites for my name and take me off. My son called at midnight on skype and I met his students who sang “Happy Birthday” to me. My husband bought me some Alaskan adventure books, including one with local trails and canoe routes and a copy of Final Draft- play writing software. I’ve been planning to write a play for several years. Now that I have time, I wish I’d downloaded it last night- it has an internet registration. My mother sent me an I-Tunes gift card and my mother-in-law gave me the “gift that always fits”- money. All-in-all, a very nice birthday.

I thought since I have some time, I might describe my work more thoroughly. You probably already know that I work with first and second year teachers in schools. The teachers were assigned to me, basically by geographic grouping. I am tasked with visiting each of them monthly and talking to them via skype, phone or email (in that order) on the non visitation weeks. I have marginal success on being productive on email or phone through no one’s fault. Everyone is very busy, including me, so finding a scheduled time without creating more stress is difficult. Some of the work requires more hands-on to accompany the conversation.

So, what do I do? When I meet with teachers, I discuss with them their successes and their challenges and problem solve on where to go next…with or without my support. I work with them on professional goals. We look at student work to analyze student needs and ways to differentiate. I might co-plan a lesson. I can also work with them on classroom management issues, making or finding resources, modeling a lesson or strategy, work with individual or groups of students. The purpose of my work is to assist teachers in becoming more reflective so that students learn.

I also meet with principals to find out schoolwide direction and any other pertinent topics. I don’t evaluate or report any specifics of my work. I might show the tools (program forms) to the principal to show them the direction of our conversations, in very general terms. Some principals want some specific professional development for their staff or the teachers with whom I collaborate, and if I can, I help with that. If other teachers ask for me, I meet with them and support them any way I can.

The TV just went off- I guess my prayers were answered. My “chill” box is outside sitting in the snow to keep cool. In December, my bags were bumped and I didn’t see my food box for 4 days. It had an inch of slime in the bottom from unrefrigerated meat and veggies. I hosed it down and salvaged some of it.

The atmosphere here at Yute is congenial. I’ve met a few people and even held a baby. The “gussaqs” are thinning out- they are either working for the YK Health Corp ( a dietician) or the school district (social worker, voc ed teachers). The two guys that left worked for the post office and the other guy worked on capital construction projects in Eek (it’s spelled iik and means eyes in Yup’ik). Everyone else in the room is Yup’ik and headed home. Most of them have relatives here to stay with if they are weathered in.

The fog is as thick as ever. I hope Brothers Pizza is open for lunch. That would be a nice respite.