Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Whirlwind Adventures

I haven't been keeping up to date in my blog because I have been very busy. I'm quite the celebrity around here - mostly because Mandy teaches all kids between 4-12, so when they see her they yell, "Hey Mandy!"- so I'm famous through association. Mandy was asked if I was her older brother, and I don't know how to take that.

Thursday:
It was another stressful day teaching paragraphs. It seems like such an easy subject to teach, but since English is their second language, and most of them do not like to think on their own about given topics, it was like pulling teeth. I tried to give topics about things they were familiar with or interested in: seals, caribou, hip-hop, breakfast at school, and the light season. It didn't go as according to plan, and my Co-op teacher felt that they were being disrespectful once again. I need to develop my teacher voice and peripheral vision. I felt like I was doing a good job because students kept calling me over, but what I soon realized was that the students who were asking for help did not need it, so all my time was devoted to them instead of the kids who really needed my attention.

The kids were wired because this was the last day before a four day weekend. Friday was a holiday known as Hamlet Day, and Monday was a Personal Development day for the teachers. I frequently asked the students what Hamlet Day was, or what could I expect, but no one seemed to be able to tell me.

Thursday evening Mandy and I took it easy. We watched TV and ate junk food. We had to rest up for our strenuous weekend.

Friday:
This is called Bannock. It's a type
of bread. There are many different
ways of making it.
Mandy and I started our holiday by sleeping in. Once we decided to get up, Dave was making pancakes for us. They were so buttery and delicious - such a great way to start our day. After that until about 2 o'clock, Mandy and I watched TV. Everything we watched seemed to be about weddings. At 2 o'clock, Anisa, Dave and Pat's daughter, picked us up and took us to the pond to experience Hamlet Day. Once we arrived, Mandy's celebrity status became clear.  Kids from all over started yelling her name. As she waved to all her "sweethearts" I began walking a shitzu mix. "Buddy" belongs to Dave and Pat's song, Abbas. As soon as the leash was in my mitten, little Inuit children began chasing him. I spent the rest of my Hamlet Day experience following the dog as children ran after us, attempting to pat him. The climax of this event was when a sled full of children came out of nowhere and hit me. The scene was 4 Inuit children with a shitzu on their head and me leaning over on top of all of them. Once this happened, I was ready to go home. I had had my fill for the time being.

My receipt from shopping
We went to the Northern Store (the grocery store) because Mandy and I have been craving snacks. We bought a bag of chips, and KD each. We split a bag of Reeses Pieces Eggs. The price wasn't listed, and once I bought it I could see why. For a 255g bag - $8.99 PLUS TAX! For that price I had hoped that eggs tasted like gold - and they did. It was costly, but sooooo worth it.

Later that night Anisa came to pick us up again for the adult games at the C Hall. Mandy's celebrity status became clear once again. Children kept asking her I was, so soon I had kids coming up to me saying hello, touching my hair, tickling me, and telling me stories that ended with "April Fools." After all of this I knew that choosing a career in secondary school was the right path. I hated every moment of the kids latching on to me.
A game that required dancing

The adults were playing games. I was told to join, and I was about to, when I realized the games were in Inuktitut, and since it was a "Simon Says" sort of game, I thought I had better sit it out. Good thing too. One of the actions was to go neck to neck. If a stranger had grabbed me to go neck to neck with me, I would either begin laughing hysterically because I'm ticklish, would I would have turned my head to receive a kiss. I'm still learning about this culture - maybe I would have allowed someone to kiss me and then that would have started a fight!

It was a lot of fun to watch, but I felt overwhelmed by all the children.

Saturday:
Our activity on Saturday was my idea. In honour of Lohnes Demont, I wanted to go see the graveyard. We should have asked for directions first. Our trek started out well - following a path between two enormous hills, but when the path continued on, I figured out that the graveyard must be on top of the "hill." It was like a mountain. When we reached the top, we were exhausted. We lay in the snow and stared at the sky. It was so quiet and peaceful. There are two graveyards, an Anglican and a Catholic cemetery. We had found the Anglican cemetery. It was larger than the Catholic one, but it isn't too large for the size of the town. There were a lot of young people buried at this cemetery. It was very heartbreaking walking past these graves and seeing 20 year olds, 17 year olds and children. It didn't seem fair that they were taken at such an early age. I don't know the causes, but I said a little prayer.

Sunday:


This was the big event. On Sunday, Mandy and I went on a dog-sled! We were nervous because we were told how vicious sled dogs are, but we had no problems. We bundled up because we didn't want our toes to fall off. As we arrived out on the ice awaiting our chariot, we saw our driver, Jacob (the Mayor of Pond Inlet), prepare his sled. He and his grandsons led the dogs over one by one. The dogs were tied in a fan fashion, not two-by-two. There are obvious advantages to the two-by-two method if you have trees, but since we are very north of the tree line, this was not a concern. Some of the dogs tried to bite one another, or start fights. Other dogs howled/screamed in anticipation. To keep them behaved they were whipped. This at first made me cringe, but it was something I had to suppress since I'm in a new culture.

Once we started out it was very relaxing. We headed towards the iceberg we had visited a week earlier. We soon caught up to another dog-team. We had several close crashes, but Jacob knew how to handle his team. At one point we stopped and conversed with the other dog team riders. It just happens that they were flying back to Pond Inlet when we arrived, so they remembered us from the plane. The woman told us that they were looking after the dog-team, and that one of the dogs was named Gaddafi. I tried to make a joke "Did they name him that because he's a dictator?" (I'm very political if you didn't know), but the joke fell flat. Turns out he was named that because the owners hate him (the dog...and maybe Gaddafi too).

Monday:
Our PD day began with an icebreaker since all the teachers from the two schools were in attendance. We had to find a partner and then play rock-paper-scissors. Whoever the loser was, they had to then follow the winner onto their next game. While they played you needed to cheer that person on. As more victors emerged, the supporters grew as well. By the end there were two people with a whole line of people behind them. It was fun. A lot of people had no idea how to play rock-paper-scissors since most were Inuit and over 50.

The theme of our PD day was Inuuqatigiitsiarniq (concept of respecting others) Policy. The policy is a method of establishing agreements about the way we live and work together in schools. It is all based around the principles and concepts of Inuit Qaujimajatunqangit (IQ). It may sound confusing because of all the long words, but it is really a great idea and it is something the south should adopt.

The purpose of the PD was to make teachers familiar with the policy and to get their opinion and feedback. My Principal (Rob from Truro) is going on the radio tomorrow night (Wednesday) to explain this policy to the community so they know their roles as parents and visitors to the school. It helps get everyone on the same page to help support our students to succeed.

What I found out from this PD Day:
  • The opinion of the elders with very important
  • Parents seem to have a lot of say in how the school is run (maybe too much)
  • Parents have a lot of responsibilities
  • Teachers feel that parents are passing their parenting responsibilities to the teachers
  • I learned my rights as a teacher
  • All adults should be models for the students - teaching staff, administration, janitors, hall monitors, visitors, parents, EVERYONE. 
  • Parents need to know the correct chain of command.
It was really informative, and I feel that it will help me in my career - wherever I am.

Tuesday:
Today I taught English and Science. Totally aced it. I used this video:


This kids loved it. I hope to play it each day so they learn the song. It's very catchy!

Here is another video from my dog-sled experience. Turn up your volume so you can hear the dogs!





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