Short week, Spring Break, and a Seven hour board game

This past week really flew by, because we only had school for 2 1/2 days. Then again, this entire internship has flown by! It's hard to believe that I've been gone from home since the end of January, harder still to believe that I'll be homeward bound in 3 weeks *cue Simon and Garfunkle*. 

The school days were relatively usual, a few little things here and there, but overall the same as the past couple weeks. I'm still learning, that's for sure. This week also brought the end of the Iditarod, so a lot of the kids were talking about who they had picked to win, and who actually did win. Apparently she came out of nowhere and clinched the win. We had initially hoped to be in Nome for the race, but it's a large sum of money to go see, and you have to book far in advance. 

Wednesday we had a special awards ceremony to end out the half day and usher in spring break. A lot of the kids got awards for most improvement, highest attendance, GPA, etc. it's always nice to let students know that we recognize their efforts. In order to celebrate spring break, myself along with the other teachers, ordered Chinese food from Nome, which is delivered by plane. It was really cool, and interesting to have 'delivery', but it's also fairly expensive. They also forgot our food in the airport, so we had to weight longer. Overall though, a fun experience. 

Thursday and Friday were spent relaxing and enjoying the time off from break. It might not be a paid vacation, but it was relieving to just hang out, sleep in, and enjoy ourselves. Thursday some of us came together for dinner and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. I bought a ton of spaghetti because I have way to much sauce, and not enough time to eat it all. Friday, we played a game of tennis (which hasn't happened in forever), and then got together for some board games. One game called 'Legendary' is a strategy based card game using the Marvel universe. It's a very fun game, and I won the night, setting a new record (which makes it sweeter). 

Saturday, we played a different game called 'Twilight Emperiom', which is a whole lot like Risk, but with much more girth. Lots of different parts, and rules, and cards and effects. It took us 7 hours to play all the way through, which was an insane amount of time, but it wasn't a bad game. 

Also on Saturday, a few new faces came back home for their own spring break. Brian and Ginger's two boys, Nelson and Carl came home to spend their breaks in Brevig (which is actually their home). It was cool to meet them and talk about their college experience so far, as well as my intern experience so far. 

Today is the realization that break is over and tomorrow we go back to school and back to work. It's going to be really hard to come back from break. This upcoming week should be interesting, but I'm also looking forward to the trip we've planned for Nome this weekend, and then the week in Anchorage helping at the test prep workshop. 

Now is as good a time as ever to ask for prayer requests. This internship was created by the district to bring people in to feel out what it's like to live and teach in Bush Alaska, and the intent is to hire us for jobs in the upcoming year (unless we either don't want to come back, or can't come back). In fact, one of my intern buddies Eric, stopped his internship early to be hired for the rest of the year in a different village because they needed a teacher immediately. 

I've enjoyed my time here. It's a whole lot different from home, but that's not a bad thing. It's new and exciting, and a great experience, especially considering I've just gotten out of school. It's nothing like Rochester, and Rochester will always be home for me (I think). But so far, the teachers and students, and members of the community, have all be very hospitable, and quite warm. At the very least, no one hates me or refuses to look my way haha. 

So far, I've fit in quite well, well enough that there is a chance for me to come back next year as the 7-8 grade teacher. There's still a lot for me to consider, and a lot more to take in, but I'm having a tough time figuring out what's best for me. I'm not yet sure which way is the right way for me right now, and I've only got so much time to work things out. I have an interview this upcoming week, which will at the very least show a finality as to whether or not a job will be offered to me. 

Needless to say, prayers are greatly appreciated as I try to figure all of this out! Facebook me for more details (in case I missed anything). 

Can't wait to see you all in April!!

- Sean

Two weeks: Subbing, Basketball, and why DST is the dumbest thing ever.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of 2 weeks ago, I got to be a social studies teacher while Angie was in Anchorage for a workshop. It was nice considering most of my non-aid experience/subbing has been in other content areas. My days each consisted of 3 sections of World History, 1 section of US History, 1 section of corrective reading, and a section for reading and vocabulary skills. It was a lot of fun to get back into a classroom and be teaching classes for the entire day. It's also always fun to teach a class up here, as I get to practice my own teaching skills, as well as the new strategies I've been learning from the program that the school uses. It was fun to get back into the full swing of things and be planning out lessons, even if only for half a week. I also enjoyed getting to interact with some students that I don't normally see because of my own schedule. I'm reminded that I've still got a lot to learn, and that I still can learn new things. Part of subbing includes testing and refining my own teaching style, so opportunities to test out 'my way' or new things that I don't have experience with, are always good for me.


Thursday nights have been meetings for a book that a handful of us are reading, called “The Art and Science of Teaching”, by Marzano. 2 weeks ago, John and Misty offered to make chili for the reading group, and I thought that it would be an equally awesome idea to make bread to eat with the chili. Besides a bread maker, I've never made bread on my own (because it's so cheap and accessible back home). It flopped horribly. First, I didn't give myself enough time to let the dough rise, or bake in the oven. So it was really dense to begin with. Next, in order to speed things up, I kept increasing the oven temperature, which I later found out only succeeds in baking the outside of the bread quicker than the inside. All of this makes total sense now, but then, nothing was clicking. I ended up picking off pieces of the crust and eating it that way, and baking the insides a second time. I'll have to keep trying to make bread.


Friday the 28^th was the last girls home game here at Brevig, so I worked concessions making pizzas, pretzels, and nacho chips. I also got to make and buy my own pizza, which covered a couple lunches and dinners in the week following. This last home game also signified the ending of the season, and on Monday, the boys and girls teams traveled to Unalakleet to compete against each of the other schools for a chance to go on to the State sectionals in Anchorage.


The teams leaving on Monday (the 3^rd) was interesting because the high school side of the school was suddenly much less populated than before. A lot of the kids are on the teams, and they worked hard to keep their grades up to be eligible to travel and play. Some kids also went to Unalakleet with their families to support brothers and sisters playing, as well as friends. Back here, we kept track as best we could of the standings and brackets. Because so many of the students were gone this week, most class time was spent helping students to catch up on late work, or reiterate content, to help make sense of anything that might have been misinterpreted. Tuesday and Wednesday, we actually watched the boys and girls games on the smart boards in the rooms, which was awesome because on Tuesday our boys team pulled a solid win over Golovin, one of the other schools. The girls team also played really hard, but couldn't pass the other team because of an injured player. Unfortunately, both teams lost their second games, which puts them out of the sectional standings, but they played hard and should definitely be proud.


Friday of this past week, I got to sub for one of our para-pros, spending all day working with kids of all ages, with credit recovery. It was definitely a whirlwind of a day, trying to keep track of a new schedule and make sure I was doing what needed to be done for a day. Lets just say, I was glad when the day was over. After school, I was talking with one of the native employees, Bid, who teaches the bilingual/cultural class here, and his mom came in with a piece of art to sell. I hadn't bought anything yet, and figured I might as well if I like it. I bought a whale vertebrae with ivory and baleen inlays, that's carved to look like a dancer on one half, and the spirit of the dancer on the other side. I also later learned that the dancer is doing the walrus dance. It's a really cool piece, and I'm really glad I got to get something I really like. I desperately want a scrimshawed walrus tusk (where a carved image is filled in with ink to give it color), but that's slightly out of my price range at the moment. Eventually I'll get one!


Saturday was a paid in service day at the school, mostly a utility for teachers to finalize quarter grades and papers. I would be doing odd jobs here and there when I could, and then work more on the behavioral management strategies that the school uses. I planned to work the full day, in order to be as productive as possible....until I slept in till 11:15 in the morning. I was still able to work an almost full day, and got a lot of work done in the school.


Daylight savings is one of the dumbest things still practiced in the USA, especially here. Alaska is too big for one timezone as it is, let alone this seemingly arbitrary game of pretend time travel, in order to save a few bucks on our light and gas bills (which it actually doesn't anymore). Today, Sunday, it was still bright as noon here at 8:45, and wasn't totally dark until 9:30. In the summer time, there are 4 hours of 'night' at it's darkest, but even then it's more of a continual dusk. It would really be exciting to see a day and night like that.


Hopefully I'll be able to see this blog through in a timely manner. I keep forgetting and use my free time to relax and be unproductive. I also can't believe that it's already March 10^th! This internship has flown by so quickly, I can't believe it's been almost a month and a half already! Can't wait to see everyone when I get back!

-Sean