I have come to the realization that I have neglected to talk about both my kids and their classroom environment. It is not that I didn't want to talk about them it was more that they were the most routine part of my day... everything else here is new... it doesn't matter where you go in the world or what culture you become a part of because kids are kids are kids.
My kids just happen to be in grade 4 and 5. This is a new age level for me since I am an intermediate seniour teacher by trade. There are few differences between a grade 7 class and my grade 4/5 class save the obvious education levels. They are still excited about recess, they don't cover their mouths when they cough, they would rather play checkers than do math, and squirting their water bottles in their mouths and at eachother is probably the best part of their day. One of the big "issues" our school is having right now is regarding the waterbottles. The older "cool" kids have started using a tack to pierce a small hole in the lid of their bottle which allows water to be squeezed out at great pressure and therefore incredible distance. The further you can hold the bottle away from your mouth while shooting water into your mouth the greater the feat. I was well aware of this "issue" before it trickeled down to the elementary hallway because I team teach in the grade 6/7 class twice a week. So all of my kids have been warned about the consequences of this type of water bottle and so far only one bottle has been confiscated hahahahahaha.
I have a pretty decent schedule as far as elementary school schedules go. I teach all subjects except Inuktitut, gym, and community living. These subjects take up 10 periods a week... so I consistently have 1 to 2 preps a day. I am often scheduled in another class for teamteaching which works very well for both me and the other teachers because that puts another adult body in the classroom to help keep control and answer questions... and some days just to bare witness to the various happenings because no one would believe otherwise hahahaha. I have excellent support staff in my room in all periods but one every day. I also have two other team teachers that come in for 4 periods a week. So at any given time I have two other adults in my classroom providing support. Compared to my previous experiences in Ontario elementary schools I believe that teachers here have greater opportunity for support in their classrooms and more time to plan.
Grade 4 in Inuksuit is the first year that the students are taught in English. There is a very wide range in ability in my classroom and not just in English. I have found math to be a difficult subject as well. I am currently working out of a grade 2 level math work book and even then I have students struggling. I have got two students that get frustrated and shut down with basic addition. YET I also have a student that is very bright and currently sitting at the grade 5 level or slightly above. To keep appearances up I give her the same work as everyone else as a warm up and when she flies through it in about 5 minutes I give her the levelled work with very light instruction which she flies through. The only barrier that I have found with her is a slight language issue. Math at the grade 5 and 6 levels is quite dependent on word problems which is where she runs into difficulties.
Language poses a problem for all of the kids in my class. Some of the students speak English very well. Others say things like "can I go drink?" BUT no matter the level at which their speech has developed I have to fight tooth and nail to get them to write ANY of it down... or even to answer verbally using full sentences. This originally disoriented me as to how much of the English language they had. But as I thought I was introducing new vocabulary the students proved again and again that they already had those words in their lexicon they just chose not to use them. At first I was self conscious about my teaching being the cause of their reluctance to use language to communicate. BUT as I asked the other teachers at the school in the higher grades I found that they have exactly the same problems except the words that the students DO use in their classes are often more vulgar.
I have 21 student currently enrolled in my class. At any given time I have about 14 kids that show up regularly. There are less kids in the morning than in the afternoon simply because the kids play in the street until the wee hours of the morning and use the morning to sleep off the late night play. I have two kids that cause great ruckus to my class both, I believe, are directly resultant of their home environments. I thought that I had one more but it turns out he just needed his glasses. Glasses here are a novelty or perhaps glasses in any grade 4/5 class are a novelty. The kids try mine on and steal the glasses of others. I am assuming that the glasses I found in my desk were put there to prevent the other kids from taking them. Once the kid had his glasses back he was well behaved, on task, and a treat to have in class. Just holding his glasses up and looking through them gave me a headache, honestly the kid probably couldn't see anything at all near or far. If that were me I would have caused trouble in class too!
There is a lot of review and time spent reinforcing the rules and regulations that are synonymous with school. It is difficult because none of the rules are inforced at home. One of the trouble makers headbutted another student in my class which resulted in tears. When I took the one student aside to discuss proper classroom play behaviour he raised his hand to me as if to smack me because he didn't like what I was saying. He was suspended for 2 days. Even those students that do not have behavioural issues have an edge to them. For example, even with two adults in the room students frequently stand on their desks or crawl on the floor. My only threat is taking away gym class which compounds the problem because then the student is surly in the following classes posing an even greater disturbance. I learn something new every day that I work with these kids.
The culture here is heavily reliant on facial expression as a form of communication. Something as simple as "yes" or "no" are non verbal... and not in the nonverbal southern sense of shaking or nodding your head. "Yes" is conveyed by raising your eyebrows in a shocked or interested expression. Whereas "no" is conveyed by scrunching your nose like there is a foul odor. This takes some getting used to because I will ask a question and get a raised eyebrow but ask it again because I am so used to a verbal response. And, for that matter, all of my teachers throughout my school career demanded that I answer verbally using full sentences and no slang, so I kind of expect the same I suppose.
This place is a fantastic place to learn because there are so many challenges and yet so many creative freedoms.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Professional Improvement
This week is a spring break of sorts for the kids at Inuksuit School here in Qikiqtarjuaq. It is a week called P.I. or Professional Improvement week and incorporates all teachers. The focus is placed on how you can improve professionally. There is up to $900 that you can apply for to fund your P.I. activity. Some of the teachers have flown to Iqaluit on points (those Areo points sure are handy) and are using their P.I. money to interview other teachers or do some research on their fields. Other teachers have opted to stay in the community and learn from elders in the community. Both my roommate Kathleen and one of the high school teachers have asked elders to show them how to make Kamiks (or mukaluks) in the traditional way. This includes patterning, homemade tanning, chewing the soles, sewing, and all sorts of other traditional methods. For the most part these teachers are set up in the kitchen at school and I like to drop in to "keep an eye on them" as much as possible. The work is facinating and the elders make it look easy...which it is not. Plus they have hot tea and snacks.
For my P.I. activity I decided to build a couple of units for my class and learn some Inuktitut. Unfortuntately, I started my contract at such a point that my P.I. application needed to be submitted immediately, which made out of community work virtually impossible. I decided to create a unit on space since the kids really took to a lunar eclipse demo that I brought in to explain the red moon the other night. I have also decided to build up my ESL resources in the form of a comprehensive unit. It's funny you know, I will find a great work sheet or activity from the middle of one of the books we've been given to use and the kids will tell me that they've already done it. They will then ask me for help with the sheet. As a digression, these kids have little or no retention of skills learned in the classroom. I have grade 4/5 and we're currently doing grade 2 math review because they have forgotten how to regroup (carry the one or borrow from the tens). I broke new ground the other day with my brightest student by introducing the expression of numbers using the multiplication symbol. The other kids shut down if I give them numbers larger than 3 digits to add or subtract.
Back to P.I. ... this time also gives me a chance to spend some time in my classroom taking stock of all of the resources- and boy do I have a lot of them - and getting organized. Although, it is quite difficult to stay out of the kitchen and in my classroom. I would much rather sit in the kitchen sipping hot lemon tea and admiring one of the elder's new cariboo kamiks and watching closely as she demonstrates how to stretch the skin. I am not so adventurous to make my own kamiks since the cost of tanned fur is quite high and non tanned fur stinks and rots. For your information seal skin that has not been tanned has an all permiating odor of fish. It is an odor that I will quite probably never forget. I was, however, thinking about making some mittens in the traditional way. I will have to order the tanned skins in from Manitoba since there isn't a tannery here.
The beauty of P.I. is that since my staying in Qik is not costing anything that P.I. money is then available to me should I want an elder to show me how to make mittens later on. I can use it to pay for the elder's time but I have to purchase the supplies myself. This is something that I am definitely going to take advantage of in the future.
For my P.I. activity I decided to build a couple of units for my class and learn some Inuktitut. Unfortuntately, I started my contract at such a point that my P.I. application needed to be submitted immediately, which made out of community work virtually impossible. I decided to create a unit on space since the kids really took to a lunar eclipse demo that I brought in to explain the red moon the other night. I have also decided to build up my ESL resources in the form of a comprehensive unit. It's funny you know, I will find a great work sheet or activity from the middle of one of the books we've been given to use and the kids will tell me that they've already done it. They will then ask me for help with the sheet. As a digression, these kids have little or no retention of skills learned in the classroom. I have grade 4/5 and we're currently doing grade 2 math review because they have forgotten how to regroup (carry the one or borrow from the tens). I broke new ground the other day with my brightest student by introducing the expression of numbers using the multiplication symbol. The other kids shut down if I give them numbers larger than 3 digits to add or subtract.
Back to P.I. ... this time also gives me a chance to spend some time in my classroom taking stock of all of the resources- and boy do I have a lot of them - and getting organized. Although, it is quite difficult to stay out of the kitchen and in my classroom. I would much rather sit in the kitchen sipping hot lemon tea and admiring one of the elder's new cariboo kamiks and watching closely as she demonstrates how to stretch the skin. I am not so adventurous to make my own kamiks since the cost of tanned fur is quite high and non tanned fur stinks and rots. For your information seal skin that has not been tanned has an all permiating odor of fish. It is an odor that I will quite probably never forget. I was, however, thinking about making some mittens in the traditional way. I will have to order the tanned skins in from Manitoba since there isn't a tannery here.
The beauty of P.I. is that since my staying in Qik is not costing anything that P.I. money is then available to me should I want an elder to show me how to make mittens later on. I can use it to pay for the elder's time but I have to purchase the supplies myself. This is something that I am definitely going to take advantage of in the future.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
The light here in Qik
If you were to ask Rachael, my roommate from Thailand, who spent a great deal of time as a lighting technition for the National Ballet of Canada she would say "Great lighting is EVERYTHING!" Without a doubt in my mind the combination of the crisp cold, the strong sunlight, and the reflective purposes of the snow makes for great lighting here in Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut.
It is surreal almost. The sunlight is so pure and so strong that everything in the horizon is washed in a halo of golden white light. There is rarely a cloud in the sky to skew the directness of the sunlight. Nor is there the pollution clogging the sky that is so prevailent in the South. There is no dirt or flith in the air to mar the pure white snow. When walking down the snowy road towards the school here in Qik I am enveloped daily in this amazing, addictive, comforting light. I think that people survive the darkness of the winter by sustaining the hope for the light that the spring months bring. The contrast of the light and shadows of the surrounding mountains is heart breaking. The colours and shades of which no camera can truly capture.
It's funny, you know, watching the differences between local Inuit and Kablunaa (sounds like Ka-loo-nac --white people or eyebrow stomachs) and the way that they walk in town. I walk with wonder looking into the sky at the sun and surrounding mountains. I often stumble because I am not watching the road. My face is almost completely covered because my skin is not northern skin accustomed to the old. Whereas, the Inuit walk with their attention on the people walking nearby or on the path infront of them... completely unaware of the beauty that surrounds them - perhaps desensitized by it. They wear Pangritung hats that just cover their ears leaving their necks and faces bare. The Inuit have amazing patterns for parkas and kamiks made in the traditional way. They manage to look warm and slim while we Kablunaas look marshmallowy and clumsy.
Currently we get about 8 and a half hours of sunlight with the sun coming over the mountains around 730am and setting around 445pm. The beauty of the arctic circle is that we gain 8 minutes of sunlight a day until June 21st and the 24 hour sun. I have been told that the sun becomes maddening and disorienting. I have seen studies that put people in constant daylight and document their shift from a 24 hour schedule to a 36 hour schedule so this disorientation is not a new perception of light to me. I don't know how I will react to the increased light though. I was trying to remember how my body feels in the summer time. I am more energised, happier, and I sleep more soundly. I have heard stories about hearing the kids here in Qik playing street hockey at 4am. This is also not a surprise since the kids were out lastnight at 1am when I was walking back from a gathering at one of the other teacher's houses. No wonder they come to my class exhausted.
It is surreal almost. The sunlight is so pure and so strong that everything in the horizon is washed in a halo of golden white light. There is rarely a cloud in the sky to skew the directness of the sunlight. Nor is there the pollution clogging the sky that is so prevailent in the South. There is no dirt or flith in the air to mar the pure white snow. When walking down the snowy road towards the school here in Qik I am enveloped daily in this amazing, addictive, comforting light. I think that people survive the darkness of the winter by sustaining the hope for the light that the spring months bring. The contrast of the light and shadows of the surrounding mountains is heart breaking. The colours and shades of which no camera can truly capture.
It's funny, you know, watching the differences between local Inuit and Kablunaa (sounds like Ka-loo-nac --white people or eyebrow stomachs) and the way that they walk in town. I walk with wonder looking into the sky at the sun and surrounding mountains. I often stumble because I am not watching the road. My face is almost completely covered because my skin is not northern skin accustomed to the old. Whereas, the Inuit walk with their attention on the people walking nearby or on the path infront of them... completely unaware of the beauty that surrounds them - perhaps desensitized by it. They wear Pangritung hats that just cover their ears leaving their necks and faces bare. The Inuit have amazing patterns for parkas and kamiks made in the traditional way. They manage to look warm and slim while we Kablunaas look marshmallowy and clumsy.
Currently we get about 8 and a half hours of sunlight with the sun coming over the mountains around 730am and setting around 445pm. The beauty of the arctic circle is that we gain 8 minutes of sunlight a day until June 21st and the 24 hour sun. I have been told that the sun becomes maddening and disorienting. I have seen studies that put people in constant daylight and document their shift from a 24 hour schedule to a 36 hour schedule so this disorientation is not a new perception of light to me. I don't know how I will react to the increased light though. I was trying to remember how my body feels in the summer time. I am more energised, happier, and I sleep more soundly. I have heard stories about hearing the kids here in Qik playing street hockey at 4am. This is also not a surprise since the kids were out lastnight at 1am when I was walking back from a gathering at one of the other teacher's houses. No wonder they come to my class exhausted.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The flight out of Iqaluit was delayed... there was no surprise there. I find the north to be much like South America because there really is no pressure to meet time deadlines; if it does not get done today it may get done tomorrow. I flew with First Air into Pangirtung where we let off the other 5 passengers. I got to get out and walk around the air strip while the plane refueled. The flight attendant came and got me when the plane was ready to leave, since I was the only passenger, and then the flight attendent and I flew on to Qikiqtarjuaq. The flight attendant had been flying this route for 20 years and did his best to tell me all about the national park that we were flying over. Auyittuq National Park (The land that never melts) is located between my community and Pangirtung above the tree line here in the arctic circle. It is vast and mountainous and starkly beautiful. As soon as I am able to upload pictures (my internet is too slow here) I will show you just how amazing it is.
Overall First Air is probably the last North American airline to offer any sort of free decent food, beverage, and snack service other than the delays I honestly enjoyed flying with them. They got me safely to Qikiqtarjuaq in record time AND with more snack food than I could shake a stick at. My kids met me at the airport! It almost brought a tear to my eye at how cute and sweet they are. They were all silent and round eyed at my arrival (all this changed come the first day of class THAT'S FOR SURE!). I really wasn't sure just how much English they had because they were so quiet.
The principal, Ian, was also there with a pickup truck to haul all my luggage to my new house. I share a townhouse with Kathleen the grade 6/7 teacher at the school. It is actually quite spacious and modern. It's part of a five-plex about a five minute walk from the school. There is a mud/coat room, living room, kitchen, dinette open complex on the first floor, a full bath on the landing, and two large bedrooms and a laundry room on the top floor. My room is on the front of the house. I have a walk in closet and more squarefeet than I have in my room down south (it's what they call everything below the 60th parallel).
After some unpacking and what is probably the greatest shower that I have ever had (it's one of those hotel shower heads that could blast you through the wall) I walked over to the school to get oriented. It was very overwhelming and exciting. (I'll tell you all about it another time). I came home and passed out for about 10 hours so that I could have some semblance of brain function for when I started teaching the next day.
Overall First Air is probably the last North American airline to offer any sort of free decent food, beverage, and snack service other than the delays I honestly enjoyed flying with them. They got me safely to Qikiqtarjuaq in record time AND with more snack food than I could shake a stick at. My kids met me at the airport! It almost brought a tear to my eye at how cute and sweet they are. They were all silent and round eyed at my arrival (all this changed come the first day of class THAT'S FOR SURE!). I really wasn't sure just how much English they had because they were so quiet.
The principal, Ian, was also there with a pickup truck to haul all my luggage to my new house. I share a townhouse with Kathleen the grade 6/7 teacher at the school. It is actually quite spacious and modern. It's part of a five-plex about a five minute walk from the school. There is a mud/coat room, living room, kitchen, dinette open complex on the first floor, a full bath on the landing, and two large bedrooms and a laundry room on the top floor. My room is on the front of the house. I have a walk in closet and more squarefeet than I have in my room down south (it's what they call everything below the 60th parallel).
After some unpacking and what is probably the greatest shower that I have ever had (it's one of those hotel shower heads that could blast you through the wall) I walked over to the school to get oriented. It was very overwhelming and exciting. (I'll tell you all about it another time). I came home and passed out for about 10 hours so that I could have some semblance of brain function for when I started teaching the next day.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Toronto to Iqaluit... it only took 5 days
Go figure, I wake up Wednesday morning with a burning sore throat and a snow storm! What a fiasco. After a lot of driving and waiting, Air Canada promised to get me on a flight to Ottawa first thing Thursday morning. Thanks mom and dad for driving my luggage and I all over Hamilton Wentworth and the GTA!
The plane out of Pearson Thursday morning was scheduled for 710am but was delayed due to "flight management" and de-icing. If everything had been ontime I would have made my connecting flight to Iqaluit out of Ottawa with about an hour to spare. But, alas, I got into Ottawa five minutes after my connecting took off. So I meandered over to the First Air desk with all of my luggage and asked for my options. I could fly to Iqaluit on Friday and stay there until Monday morning OR I could stay in Ottawa for a couple of days and fly to Iqaluit on Sunday. I figured both my visa and the school board (who is footing the bill) would thank me for staying in Ottawa.
I stayed at the Southway Inn on Bank Street and kept a pretty low profile. Friday I went to the Museum of Civilization and perused the Peruvian, Aborigional, and current Aborigional Art exhibits. I then met up with my friend Rachel VanD who is currently completing her Doctorate in French at the U of Ottawa. It was amazing to see her! She is happy, truely happy, and she looks FABULOUS! It was a bit of a fiasco taking a bus to see her but after I begged a stranger to use their cell phone we were able to meet up and all was well... no wonder they call me wrong way! hahaha
Mel and Chris, friends from my Hamilton Posse, drove out Friday night to see Winterlude. Partly I think they were taking advantage of the free hotel room and partly to see me but they still maintain they were only in Ottawa to see winterlude hahahaha ohwell. Thankyou to everyone that offered to come to Ottawa to keep me company! And thankyou for listening to my request to stay home. Love you!
The flight into Iqaluit was great. First Air has good food and great service. Plus, the scenery is gorgeous .... I am having trouble uploading pictures right now but I will add them as soon as this silly blog will let me.
I stayed at the Frobisher Inn which is a cute hotel on the top of the hill in Iqaluit. Unfortunately the airport did not have luggage storage so I had to lug ALL of it to the hotel for one night. I met up with a woman named Dominique and we chummed around all day Sunday. She's from Ottawa and she works for a pharmeceutical company that sells vaccines for respitory problems in children. We went to the art museum in Iqaluit and also to the park. We also went to NorthMart... a Walmart knockoff that has a full snowmobiel show floor hahahaha. We then met up for dinner. We both went for the Arctic Char and Cariboo dinner. It was delicious. Cariboo is a flavourful steak. I'd eat it again. I slept very well and was up'n'at'em by 5am.
The plane out of Pearson Thursday morning was scheduled for 710am but was delayed due to "flight management" and de-icing. If everything had been ontime I would have made my connecting flight to Iqaluit out of Ottawa with about an hour to spare. But, alas, I got into Ottawa five minutes after my connecting took off. So I meandered over to the First Air desk with all of my luggage and asked for my options. I could fly to Iqaluit on Friday and stay there until Monday morning OR I could stay in Ottawa for a couple of days and fly to Iqaluit on Sunday. I figured both my visa and the school board (who is footing the bill) would thank me for staying in Ottawa.
I stayed at the Southway Inn on Bank Street and kept a pretty low profile. Friday I went to the Museum of Civilization and perused the Peruvian, Aborigional, and current Aborigional Art exhibits. I then met up with my friend Rachel VanD who is currently completing her Doctorate in French at the U of Ottawa. It was amazing to see her! She is happy, truely happy, and she looks FABULOUS! It was a bit of a fiasco taking a bus to see her but after I begged a stranger to use their cell phone we were able to meet up and all was well... no wonder they call me wrong way! hahaha
Mel and Chris, friends from my Hamilton Posse, drove out Friday night to see Winterlude. Partly I think they were taking advantage of the free hotel room and partly to see me but they still maintain they were only in Ottawa to see winterlude hahahaha ohwell. Thankyou to everyone that offered to come to Ottawa to keep me company! And thankyou for listening to my request to stay home. Love you!
The flight into Iqaluit was great. First Air has good food and great service. Plus, the scenery is gorgeous .... I am having trouble uploading pictures right now but I will add them as soon as this silly blog will let me.
I stayed at the Frobisher Inn which is a cute hotel on the top of the hill in Iqaluit. Unfortunately the airport did not have luggage storage so I had to lug ALL of it to the hotel for one night. I met up with a woman named Dominique and we chummed around all day Sunday. She's from Ottawa and she works for a pharmeceutical company that sells vaccines for respitory problems in children. We went to the art museum in Iqaluit and also to the park. We also went to NorthMart... a Walmart knockoff that has a full snowmobiel show floor hahahaha. We then met up for dinner. We both went for the Arctic Char and Cariboo dinner. It was delicious. Cariboo is a flavourful steak. I'd eat it again. I slept very well and was up'n'at'em by 5am.
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