Delayed Entry

For those of you who can't go to bed without reading my blog, I apologize. I've been in NW Arctic School District and they block blogs. I'm sure if they knew the quality of some blogs they would rethink it, but in the meantime, it's Valentine's Day and I'm home.

The picture on the bottom is the AC Store (remember the Macy's reference- earlier blog?) in Kotzebue. It has everything you need and lots you don't. Lots of people from surrounding villages come in to do all their shopping there. It has good prices and meat, produce, dairy, bakery....and lots and lots of candy (ies).

I flew into OTZ on Monday morning and overnighted in the Special Ed room. During the day, I visited classes, taught a math game and had many engaging conversations. By night, I met a teacher at my favorite restaurant, the Empress (see picture at the top). I had sesame chicken and it was nice and spicy. Hyung Hee came over and joked around with us. In spite of the good food and fun, we got some work done.

The next day, I flew to Buckland. The principal picked me up in her Hyundai and I got right to work upon arrival. The teachers feel like old friends now and everyone says hello. The kids are polite to a stranger and will make conversation at the drop of a hat. Lunch is eggrolls, fried rice, peaches and green beans. One of the cooks is Thai and is spreading around her specialized cooking skills. That night, I went over to the store and out for a walk. The sky was beautiful and big, as only can happen in treeless country.

The eggrolls made me very thirsty and I headed across the cafeteria for a cup and before I knew it, I was flat on my back on the floor. Just like the banana peel gig. The well buffed floor had been mopped and I didn't notice. A couple of Tylenol and I was new again. It's a good thing I know how to fall. Experience is a good teacher.

The next day, Wednesday, my collaborating teacher and I were nose to the grindstone. I taught PE- stretches and a basketball drill and Making Words. The kids seem to like it and it is a good way for kids to improve their divergent thinking and spelling skills. He taught everything else and it was a long day.

Everyone all over the state is struggling to comply with RTI, Response to Intervention. It's the latest answer to individualized instruction, not a new concept. But the gist of it is that every student ends up with their own learning plan. Short of every student working on their own at their desks with different packets, new teachers are asked to differentiate all day long-without a clear model or idea of how that could work. Or, even, diagnostic tools to use to develop these plans. This might be an example of a good idea without a clear understanding of how it can be done.

As usual, the incoming plane was not going my way due to bad weather in Deering, so I flew into Kotz thinking that my chances were better of getting to coastal Deering from there. I called the assistant principal and she walked over and met me at the school. I stayed in the elementary wing because there were teams in every wing of the high school and jr. high. They came early for the tourney that starts after school. In Kotz, the games are all AFTER school...academics come first. I stayed in a 4th grade room (thanks, Sue) with smells of Valentine cakes and cookies...but I didn't take even one.

The next day, I waited at the airport until my flight was cancelled, ate breakfast at the Bayside Inn, then walked around town, met with district people, went over to say hi to my collaborating teachers, made some phone calls and decided to cut my time losses and come back to Fairbanks. At 3 when I left, Deering was a mess, and a storm was coming into Nome, my other destination.

I met some interesting people. One lady, Flora Green, originally from Kiana and now living in Kotzebue told me that she loved going to her fish camp on the ocean in May. They once caught so many whitefish that it took a couple of hours to pick the net. She needed help cleaning and cutting them all. Last year wasn't like that. She said that as she goes inland though in her boat, she wonderful smells of plants and berries. She says it just fills the air when she gets away from the coast.

Living by the ocean reminded me of when I lived on the floating logging camp, Gildersleeve Camp, anchored up in Tolstoi Bay, near Thorne Bay on Prince of Wales Island. It was a raft of logs cabled together about the size of 2 football fields covered with trailers for families with 2 houses- one for the Camp Owner and one for the Bullbuck (crew boss). There was also a bunkhouse and cookhouse for the single guys. It was anchored off shore to keep the bears away. Mail came once a week and the little store had pretty much only cigarettes and candy and pop.

We sent our food order in by mail with cash inside an envelope taped on the outside for the postage. The post office would give change in stamps, sending it back in another envelope. We sent in the order one week and received the food for the month a week later. If we wanted something specific, we would have to be very specific with our order. Sometimes we'd just say something like: 3 different kinds of vegetables, about one pound each, not more than $1.99/lb or some such. Othertimes we might say: Constant Comment tea, no substitutes. We had an account with the store which we paid by check monthly.

The kids wore life jackets outside of their houses all the time unless they passed the swimming test or were 12. When I went into town (Ketchikan) once, my son (under the loose supervision of his father) took the swimming test. He jumped into the ocean off the camp raft (38-40 degree temps) and swam out to the stiff arm (the breakwater log) and back. In total, it was about 1/2 mile. Then he had to climb out unassisted. The little guy must have been absolutely blue, but he was triumphant. I'm glad I wasn't there to see it, even though the whole town came out to watch.

I taught in the one teacher school, grades 1-12, about 12-15 students, varying during the year. I had one aide who pretty much worked with the 1st grader. In March, my husband was hired to help out. The school was on its own concrete floating base and was cabled to the rest of the camp. The three bedroom teacherage was up above. There was no TV or radio or telephone, but there was a marine radio. For entertainment, we could listen to half of the conversations.

After school every day, the kids all got together to play a form of capture the flag. Everyone played, from the 1st grader to the senior. They all went home to drop off their stuff and met up on the playground. They hid and hunted for hours until it got dark and then went home before curfew. Because the loggers got up so early to go to work, the strictly enforced curfew (for anyone under 18) was 8 pm with quiet.

Other things kids did (besides read) was to ride their bikes on the boardwalk across the logs. One kid flew off the raft almost daily, retrieving his bike before it sunk in the ocean. Some of the kids had skiffs for rowing around or caught fish off the side of the raft. Another fun thing to do was to put meat scraps in a sock and hang it into the water with string. As it was slowly brought up, they put a net under it and when the shrimp got close to the daylight on the surface, they dropped off into the net. Ben never caught very many but it was fun to watch.

We all (including me) enjoyed a sleepover at the school. The whole downstairs was school and we played flashlight tag and watched "The Scarlet Pimpernel" ad nauseum. Then everyone would just sack out in their sleeping bags in the 3 rooms of the school. I wasn't so happy about it when the garter snake escaped, but it was finally captured after about 3 weeks on the lam. I was surprised to find it on the floor in my way up to my house.

The kids competed in Battle of the Books and brought home trophies. They had to skiff to Thorne Bay to use a phone to compete. It was an all day event. The Camp Boss, Mr. Gildersleeve loaned the crew boat for the trip.

The kids also competed in cross country races. To practice, they ran indoors in the trailer shaped gym. 84 laps made a mile. After 42 they turned around and went the other way. When they were on land at the meets, they couldn't believe that they didn't have to turn and just ran and ran. Our team won lots of ribbons. We used that same skinny gym to roller blade and sometimes it was open to the community.

We would often see black bears along the shore, walking along turning over rocks. And, during a storm, the raft would slowly rise and fall with the swells. It was okay unless you looked out the window and saw the land going up and down.

It was a beautiful place, but one teacher for all those grades was pretty difficult. The camp sold out many years ago and the school float is anchored up somewhere else, maybe Naukati. I have many memories of that year, when our daughter was away in Russia and our son was outside playing.