The meat order finally came!! Look at all that food! Steaks, chicken, pork, ground turkey, ground beef, buffalo, reindeer, roasts, ham, Cornish game hens, two turkeys, stew meat, ribs, vegetables, plus the salmon we stocked up on already. All set for the winter! The ham dinner we made for friends was awesome! One of the best hams ever! I have been in the library for the past 4 days and managed to get fiction moved over and the new books added in. Huge project because books were every were and no room to slide books in, so I had to remove them and move the books and re-alphabetize them since the books were chaotic. Fiction is done, but young adult fiction is not. Maybe I will get to return soon. I also got the library and trophy cases dusted. Today, a man came in with 3 trouble little kids, the vice principal had this man bring them in to the library. I knew it would end badly. I say this because there is a reading room full of pillows. Maybe 18 pillows. Three wild kids. Guess what happened? Pillow fights and pillows thrown everywhere and the kids would not listen to him. They did however, listen to me when I told them to pick up the pillows and put them back. The VP had to come and carry one boy out of the library, though.
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I will make a real post tomorrow. I am so exhausted from this week. Those teenagers have run me ragged! 3/4 evenings I have fallen asleep while reading or something around 5pm. Only for 20 minutes, but still. I rarely nap or doze like that. Not a bad week, it is just hard work keeping them in line and trying to teach them about the Columbian Exchange while getting through a 90 minute movie and 65 question worksheet. One class finished and every kid who turned in their work got a 100%! So the majority of one class actually listened to me! I feel proud. Of the ones who did not turn work in; one never turns anything in and the other I believe crumpled it up in a tantrum. But I could be wrong and it could appear Monday.
My boyfriend comes back tomorrow morning instead of today because of flight issues and such. He has to stay the night in Bethel. Yuck. And I am unsure if he can get internet and cell service because he is staying with some guy and cell service in Bethel sucks. So I am kind of in the dark about when the flight comes in tomorrow. Today was day one of substituting for my boyfriend while he is in Anchorage. He is the person who was selected to go to this training about the new evaluation system and then train the principals and staff here in the village, plus some of the school board people who travel a lot and are here for a week or so. It is a good training to go to, he just was not ready to leave the village so soon, especially right before midterm grades are due. I mean, it is two plane rides to get to Anchorage. You spend half the day traveling and with the weather, flights are always delayed. But it is paid for. We both wished that I could have gone, but tickets to Anchorage are around $1000 round trip at this moment. Plus guaranteed sub teacher work/pay for me is a god reason to stay. I make over $100 a day AFTER taxes just working at the school. I think subs for teachers make more. I have mostly subbed for the aides so I have not seen a pay stub yet for what I make subbing for a teacher. But the aides prefer to sub for their teachers for the extra money and stop talking to a teacher if they are passed by for the opportunity. This applies to elementary school mainly because the second floor barely has any aides working in the rooms despite needing them for some students.
My boyfriend and I did not get too much of a goodbye today. He came in the morning to show me what to do with the kids for PE then flew out. But even just hugging and kissing in a chaste manner caused a ruckus from the sixth graders. I mean, I am already asked 50 times a day when we are getting married or girls wanting romantic stories. The kids are obsessed. But you cannot get them started because then they never stop. I confiscated a sharpie marker in gym class from a student and forgot to give it back at the end of the day. He came by my house looking for it. That is how it is here. Kids just come by. I also had girls come by wanting to draw pictures for me. Possibly for money, I am not sure. Kids come by selling crafts. Adults come by selling crafts. What I really want is being sold by a teacher and it is carved chess board made from whale bone with ivory pieces. But is is $1500. My boyfriend and I both drool over it though. The crafts the native teachers sell cost more than the people who come to your door. The day went pretty well for the first half. Kids worked, no one called me a name, no one asked me a sex question. I did lose one 7th grader and did not notice until the special aide teacher came by, asking me what I wanted done with the student having a melt down by the stairs. Oops. I needed the tech guy to fix the projector, so when he had the door open, a bunch of kids tried to run out to the hall. That is how she snuck out. I would not let a kid go to the bathroom and wash off a giant jaw breaker he dropped on the floor during the movie. He responded by knocking all of the papers off of the table. I took away the bathroom pass for one class because they would not settle down and do the movie worksheet. If the kids are good, they get skittles at the end of class and sometimes students who are working get them during class. All morning most students got skittles. The kid who knocked my papers down did not get any. Kids who were really tardy did not. If the kid did not do much work they got maybe one depending on if they were quiet or disruptive. Actually one 7th grade was perfect the entire hour. In the afternoon, one the grade class got no skittles for anyone because as a whole, the class would not settle down. I could not keep kids in seats and they wanted to run around during the movie or sit in the window. Tomorrow I might start adding more names to the detention board. It was funny because I had 7th graders wanting to stay in my class for another hour because sometimes the special ed kids can go work elsewhere if they are having a rough day. So I had kids keep coming back. The last 6th grade class started off doing well and got skittles. Part of this was because I sent a problem child downstairs to work. He came back and then everyone went nuts. I had kids trying to steal batteries from the remote, trying to take stuff from the desk, kids stealing other kids homework, etc etc. So I denied them skittles as an entire class. This led to papers being crumpled up and thrown, trash thrown in general and whining about how mean I am. They actually were so upset that they did not finish cleaning up. Each class earns check points that go towards a pizza party. They need 100 checks. If a class is nice and cooperative with me, they will get 10 points automatically. If not, they get zero. I seriously have to keep everything in my pockets. I cannot leave out dry erase markers or pens or the remote. They write on desks daily so need to keep pens away from them. They start writing on the board if they get a marker. And now i guess they steal batteries. I am better with discipline, but when it is 3/4 of a class, you cannot send the entire class to the office. Today I worked with second graders. It actually went well and I did not lose any kids! I walked boys to the bathroom multiple times and they walked in a line and did not run, screaming down the hall! Progress! I even walked a kid to the office and he did not cry or scream or avoid it. One kid peed on another kid, which was the main drama of the day. Had to find extra pants and the vice principal had to figure out the discipline measures for peeing on someone. Thankfully, I did not laugh until I was home, just because it was such an odd issue! After my shift was done, I hung out with the six graders in my boyfriends class so I could see how much time he gave them for different assignments. Those kid were nuts! There was chair throwing (well, knocking over in a mad manner) and homework being crumpled up and general disruptive behavior from almost all! Yikes! They got through maybe 8 minutes of the video. It was madness. I actually feel a tad better when every teacher experiences days where the kids go nuts, so it is not just me being unable to handle them. It is frustrating because the the graders are so behind right now. Not even just because of behavior, but because school has ended early multiple days for sport or meetings or in-services, so the last two periods of the day have been shortened or just cut out.
There was a community meeting at the school at night for parents to attend. Thankfully maybe six parents showed up and two even came to visit with my boyfriend. They seemed happy about all of the Yup'ik culture stuff that has been put up, and that he teaches them stuff about the village. There is even a Disney movie he has that was filmed here. I did not get the tech job, which is not a surprise considering I hate Apple computers and do not use them. Waiting for the school district to approve the library job being reposted in the village. Waiting for the form for the early childhood education job. The woman in charge just wanted to hire me since it is grant money, but the council did not approve of that and is making her post it for the ten days. Tomorrow I take over his classes for the rest of the week! Niicuicaqunak means "Always show good behavior".
This is something I really wish children learned. It is an important Yup'ik custom. However, in this culture, kids are suppose to be able to make their own decisions, even little first grade kids. This clashes with teachers trying to teach them and trying to control mischief. The most you can do is give them the choice of calling grandma, going to the office, or being good. The biggest issue I see is that all of the kids hit each other. Constantly. Kicking, punching, grabbing, shoving. All the time, everywhere. Maybe the older kids not as much, but 5th graders and under cannot seem to stand near each other without having to shove someone or touch someone. They play rough. The last two days I have been the substitute for an aide, working with first graders. The teacher I was helping was one of my friends, though. Thursday, I had no clue what to do with these kids! I made a kid cry and throw a tantrum under the table because I took markers away when he would not listen and stop coloring. During recess duty, I could not keep half the kids in line because they ran away from me. Lots of fighting and crying. Today was better during the morning. I helped kids read and do their work. I made popcorn for their party. Then recess happened. At the end of it, before the teachers came back, I turned around to break up four kids from fighting. At that time the largest student slammed a small girl to the floor and the janitor witnessed it. So I had half the class hitting each other and screaming and crying. One girl refused to leave the gym. I guess I am suppose to just leave children behind, but i have issues doing that. I got hit a few times breaking up fights. After my lunch, te kids were taken to a Yup'ik class. Oi! The teacher was working with four students so I was alone with the Yup'ik teacher and crazed first graders with scissors. What could go wrong? By the end of the class I was chasing down kids who were running with scissors and trying to cut classmates hair. And I had to walk them back to class - alone. They took one step out the door and all 12 of them took off running and screaming down the hall, past the front office and to class. I was left in the dust! Then when I took the girls to the bathroom, none of them listened so I had girls taking off running again. Reading time was full of fights and crying. Math went well and I helped kids add. Lining up for computer time was full of kids slapping each other across the face and scratching and crying. The older computer buddies kept having the kids play games with blood in them, so I had to watch the older kids like a hawk so they would not play inappropriate games. Now, the kids were in trouble and yelled at all day. I personally would not of let them have their popcorn party, but the teacher let them have it anyways. Seriously, these kids are exhausting! You cannot turn your back on them for a minute! By the end of today I was able to just let a child lay on the floor crying without giving them any attention. One child is trying to get suspended like her cousin was, just because she wants to stay with mommy. One amusing and freaky thing is I had boys bathroom duty, so I had to go in there a few times and root out loitering kids and once go in because a child was crying loudly in there. Awkward! Not bad days at all but I think these kids behave way worse than the kindergarten class. So much crying and whining over everything! They cannot even sit or stand near someone without touching I was chosen for the librarian job. Unfortunately, I need to re-interview in ten days for it, because the Council decided that they did not think the job was posted up in the village for ten days, so they do not think locals got a fair chance at it. So in ten days we start over. It is okay, though. I work every day doing all sorts of things.
My boyfriend just found out last night that he needs to fly to Anchorage on Tuesday for a training through the union on the new Teacher Evaluation system. I know that the proposed way of doing evaluations is causing huge issues with teachers and is one of the Union hot topics currently. So barely any notice and he will be gone 3 nights. I am going to sub for his classes though since I know what is going on in each class almost as well as him. LOL Of course that means I get all of the feisty 8th graders. But they have enough of a routine going on in class that they know what they should be doing. And there will be movies involved as well. I know the 6th graders just from helping out in class and helping the ones who have reading problems. Should be interesting. It also means for three days I get to be asked non-stop when I am getting married and how my boyfriend better marry me, and how they are all going to tell him that. Silly boys. Actually, one was telling my boyfriend that. They are way too interested in our personal lives. But it is a village of 1200 people. There is not much else to talk about. Elilluki Alerqutet means "remember what you are taught and told".
I substituted for the same teacher as last time on Tuesday. I have been in the library most days so it was unexpected that I was asked to Sub. I may have went "yikes" in my head because of "those" 8th graders, but it was mentioned that around 10 of them have been pulled from class and put into special ed because of behavioral problems and/or reading problems. The first half of the day was decent. The kids were decent to me and we got work done. I read a story out loud to both classes of 8th graders so they could do their vocabulary worksheet that went with the story. I did not think anyone was paying attention, but when I changed a contraction to the longer version as I read (because I sometimes do that in my head. Too many years in school with a teacher who hated contractions in writing), a kid corrected me. One 8th grade class got everything done. Not in enough time to watch a movie, but enough done so I did not have to give them punishment homework. I did have two of the better students fall asleep, but managed to wake them up and get them to work some more. The troubled 8th graders were mostly nice to me. The first time I had them that day, they got work done. In the afternoon they were pretty distracted so not everything got done. But no one was loud or mean or causing trouble so I still did not punish them with homework. That was for behavioral issues only. Of course one kid was trying to steal pencils when I was sitting down helping a student do her work. And after that student had been behind the desk, I was afraid to drink my drink (these same kids have spit in my boyfriends coffee and I think put a fly in his water once). No one was mean to me, though. I had trouble getting the 7th graders to finish their work because the first assignment had word search on the back and they wanted to finish that before reading. Then when they came back for the last period of the day, I had one girl lying on the ground crying, two sleeping on the floor, one hiding behind a bookcase, and a girl refusing to sit down because another girl was in the seat she wanted. I also had three girls try and skip but got busted by the office. So no one was really disruptive or bad, but just refused to do anything but the first worksheet. But, their other teachers had the same issues. I got a random pay check today! Of course it was just for 7 hours (or one normal school day), but yay money! And now I know what I make per day after taxes. And.... OMG no state taxes!!! So if I am paid once a month then I will get a full month pay October 15. That works, since I need to buy Christmas stuff starting next month.
My boyfriend wanted to have a date night yesterday since it seems we have been busy the last couple of days, and had not spent too much quality time alone (always kids around or been at friends houses, or working). Considering where we live, the usual options are: Taking the Honda to the beach, going for a walk, watch a movie. It started raining heavily so we watched 127 Hours, uninterrupted, no electronics allowed. It was nice. Then he had a two hour Union meeting. Not as much fun. I have learned some Union info though because I have listened to phone meetings and the Union President is over here every other day it seems. That guy is a talker. But that is the guy whose wife wants me to help with the Preschool stuff. I can really see why teachers need a Union, though. Random tidbit - I have to fly 500 miles to Anchorage, just to see the new Hunger Games when it comes to the theater!!! Still no job news. I think I am at the top of the list for both jobs, but the school needs to send the list through two different boards for signatures. So who knows when everything will be done. I will be working on the school website as soon as the Tech guy gives me a log in for the school website. I may have to star from scratch. But I can access the website the school and teachers use from home, so I can use my own laptop. Or do it in the library if I get the job. I have been working in the library most days, but am so busy entering hundreds of books a day into the computer system, that I have zero free time there. Once the boxes of books are gone and shelves organized, the library job will be pretty laid back. It is just that no one has done anything since April, when the old librarian was carried away in handcuffs. Man, I hope it works out for me. I have so many ideas of how to make the library better and how to maybe get kids more excited about books. I was looking at Christmas flights to Denver just to check prices and just in case I get an awesome paying job. $1800 give or take. Yikes! My boyfriend says with paying that much, you might as well go to Hawaii for Christmas (he has done that and traveled last year), but I need to pay for school in the spring if possible so no traveling. I wanted to go to Anchorage at least, but that is $840 or so. At least he is staying here with me (of course!) except for going to Anchorage for a day for a doctor appointment since insurance pays for him to fly. We do need to buy a Christmas Tree online, a tiny one.
I have two interviews tomorrow. One for the librarian job and the other for site tech. Of course I can do both because site tech is added on as an addendum. The former librarian did both. We have ne site tech but he is a teacher so it is hard for him to just drop everything and do stuff like change ink cartridges and such. Nothing complex, just hard for teachers to get done during their work day. Also, I am being considered for a preschool city coordinator. This program is funded by grant money so there is not the whole Yupik/Gussuck issue. The woman sot of in charge is the wife of a friend and she listed me specifically as someone to do this. It involves testing kids and helping parents check out books and materials to help their kids learn and be prepared for school. Stuff like that. And if I get the library job, I can still do this job because it will mostly take place in the library. She just cannot do it because she teaches preschool at the school and an evening class at the Head Start Center. And there are so many kids on waiting lists for preschool that they want to work with parents to help the kids learn. So I am just seeing what happens. One guy is always so negative, saying there is little chance I can get hired for librarian because I am white, unless some specific people come to the interview. I have more faith. I actually spent some time with the visiting school district important people today. Nice people. I have worked in the library both days so far filling in, by the principal's personal request. Nothing was getting done since school started. In two days i have inputted hundreds of new books into the system and cleaned up the library so it looks presentable instead of 15 boxes of random junk laying everywhere. I taught myself the computer system in less than an hour. The normal library sub came in (who I am competing with for the job and who spends the day usually online because she does not know what to do with the hundreds of new books we have in boxes) and she did help me. I may have pushed us hard today. There was no free time to slack off. I put the books into the computer and she put the stickers on. It worked well. I am glad she was not mean about me being sent in and me taking over the library for the day. Of course she was not friendly with the school board people either. Just silent. I am unsure if I am working in the library tomorrow between interviews or not. The last two days of the week are teacher inservices so no work for me, unless I can convince the principal to pay me to organize this book storage room I found that is a cluttered disaster. Yesterday the first round of killing stray dogs happened while the kids were in school. Any dog not on a lead can be shot. I get why they do it, but it is very sad. At least they moved the bodies. Two years ago they left the bodies by the school and a kid found a stray puppy he had been caring for, dead. Traumatic. I saw three strays yesterday as opposed to the 20+ I usually see when walking. Those three dogs were so terrified and it was heart breaking. I wanted one of the puppies, but cannot keep a puppy. Especially with no village vet. Plus our dog snaps at any puppies who come near me. Poor doggies. I hope they leave the rest of the dogs alone.
I worked with kindergarten kids again (well, mainly the one with health concerns). I did get another boy to actually finish his work which I guess he never does. However, since it is a Yupik class, he teacher would prefer i not help out there since they are trying to cut down on using English and they want a Yupik aide. But she was afraid of offending me. I totally get that one. I am learning the same as these kids, and today I was trying to at least count in Yupik but kept forgetting the words by the time I got to 4, which was the number of the day. So I was not helpful in that sense. The words are so hard to say and remember. I have never seen or heard anything like this language. I cannot even make the sounds in my throat. I do try, and hopefully rying and butchering it is not offensive. Church is where I try the most because half the songs are in Yupik so I have to read them and try to sing them. Oh, and half the letters are sort of silent as well. But I am unsure how you know which ones. Maybe there is a book and disk I can buy. I guess there are barely any people under 30 who are fluent in Yupik here. I assumed the kids were because their English is not that great, but they are not fluent in Yupik either. That means that when they can barely read, that means they can barely read any language. I understand the push to teach the kids Yupik before English, though it is not helping them later on I do not think. But you need to keep the culture alive. So it is tough and I do not think there is anything else you can do unless parents start working with them more at home. But if the parents are not fluent, then it has to be grandparents. Actually when kids are in trouble, teachers talk to the grandmothers above anyone else. I have heard and seen that many many times. Calling your grandmother is the biggest threat. I had a grandmother today come and get her grandson because he was not listening. In church, the elders who give communion are all women. I think I am interviewing Friday. I know both the principle and vice principle want me in the Media center. The main issue is going to be if they choose me, I think it goes to a committee first. The school did not advertize this job at the store with the job listing, as far as we know, so the committee may say that locals were not given enough of a chance to apply. So we shall see. If not, then hopefully the aide job. They have an issue with locals being able to pass the test, so that part is in my favor. It seems like 8th grade level kind of stuff as I have seen on the practice test. But I got 100% on my college placement tests at my last school, so tests are easy for me. But then I need to fly to Bethel. So it is all in the air now, so just subbing until i find out. I think tomorrow I may sub in the office, which is preferable for me and the vice principle. She wants my help in the office but it is also an all Yupik zone. I actually met a ton of Yupik women today at the school. All teachers or aides I think. Very nice people. No one is mean here that I have seen. I am not use to my whiteness being a factor. It is weird, even if I knew it would be the case. |
AuthorI am a Colorado native who moved to Alaska for love and adventure. This journal is going to track my journey. Archives
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