School Life

Some of you are curious to see where I spend most of my time, so allow me to introduce you to Alakanuk School. Early morning a couple weeks ago, I ran outside before a meeting so I could capture the sun glazing our school building.


The "deck" is where students spend most of their recess time. It's beginning to look a lot different as the temperature drops and the snow has started falling.
This is the school's parking lot and the boardwalk that leads to teacher housing.

The classroom has been a work in progress. Even though we are finished up with the first quarter of school, weekends and evenings are still spent cleaning out drawers and cupboards, as well as already changing up our classroom routines and schedules to modify and fit our needs.
This is our Yupik Wall as the students learn their colors and days of the week. My personal style of how I like my classroom is a little different than others'. My walls are usually more bare than I've noticed other teachers like their walls. However, I just would rather let the students know why something is going up on our wall and have it be a ceremonial placement. This way students know where to refer to the display and are able to utilize it.

At the beginning of the year, I struggled to find an activity that would work to have the students do right after lunch while they take turns brushing their teeth. From reading to music, I finally have settled on a math-centered choice time. They have the options of using cash registers and fake money to buy and sell items, practicing multiplication, or creating patterns and designs with tiles.
The boys make use of the floor space with Agnes, the elder who comes in every day until lunch. Agnes is an amazing lady who comes in to volunteer her time and we are grateful for her help and wonderful presence! The students have the opportunity to interact with her and practice respect, as well as some good-natured fun. Here she works on building a tower with a pattern of hexagons and trapezoids.


Little smiling faces usually create the day's little graces!
At our store, our fake food is as delicious as we pretend it to be. This happened to be during Spirit Week on Quspaq Day. I borrowed the traditional shirt from an aide in my classroom. Many of the Yupik classified staff commented, "Oo! I like your Quspaq! Who made it for you?" I felt honored and pleased. Yet, I would just tell them it wasn't mine and I was just borrowing it from Helen. They would say, "Oh, wow. It looks so nice on you!"
The studious pupils work on an assignment, and so does Agnes! She only had school to about an 8th grade level and likes to continue her education in our classroom along with the other students.



I'm fortunate to have such unique students and helpers in my classroom. Our days are colorful and never the same. With many amazing people supporting me, I continue to develop my routines and systems within our classroom. However, I'm finally trying to swallow the reality that the work of a teacher is never done!

Around Alakanuk

Alakanuk is spread out along one long curving gravel road which is mostly along the river. Below, Clark is walking toward Dave's store which is at least 1/2 mile from teacher housing. They have mostly boxed and frozen items to choose from. Occasionally, there are treats such as eggs and cheese! A carton of eggs is around 5 dollars and a block of cheese is around 15 dollars. A frozen DiGiorno pizza is 15 dollars, cream cheese is about 6 or 7 dollars, and there are many foods I just don't even look at. Some items can be almost 7 times the cost in the Lower 48. Most people up here claim it's easiest on their consciences to just not look at prices.

This is the local annex store which carries overflow food from the Native Store across town. They sometimes sell things like cake mixes or brownie mixes for half price. At any store up here it is important to check how far out of date things are and inspect damaged boxes carefully to decide if it's worth it because all sales are final. (This reminds me of my canadian bacon I've been eating. It has an expiration date of April 2010. My friends recently commented about me actually eating it.)

This is the Catholic church which sits right next to the local annex store and the Tribal Council building.
Below is the Tribal Council building--used for Eskimo Dances, Voting, and Bingo.
In Alakanuk, some of the staff waits for the community to unlock the T.C. for a potluck. The community never showed, because there was some lack of communication in the whole process. After standing in the rain, we ended up going back to the school and eating in the gym as a staff. We did load up and go back to the T.C. for a quick meeting with a poor turnout and I went home to go to sleep by 7:40pm.
Having an incredibly busy schedule, being introduced to new viruses, and living on a poor diet caught up with me and I was exhausted. Many of us ended up being sick with a virus that took our voice and our vigor for a while. After sleeping about 11 hours that night, I felt much better and got up to yet another day of teaching and repeated the teach-sleep cycle for about a week and a half.

One of my favorite places-- the Dock

Below, Clark and Rebecca pose next to the vast Yukon at sunset. A walk with friends on a night like this is always a relaxing way to spend the evening. Theresa and Haley were there, too, just not pictured!



God is an incredible artist! No matter where we are on this earth, we are surrounded by his beauty.
We stopped by the AUK airport on the way back home.