Back to School...

Today marked my fifth first day of school as a teacher. By now, I wasn't sweating. This was my fourth time introducing 2nd grade to the little ones. No problem. The first day of school is mostly talking....talking about procedures, rules, what to expect, etc....and throw in a couple of fun little activities and bam! you're done. I've got this down pat.

Man, I got schooled. This was my first day as a Yup'ik school teacher & it might have well of my first year as a teacher. Oh arrogance....how quick you are to mock!

Okay, it wasn't that bad. My students are just not ones who you should talk at a lot. They learn best by doing/touching/feeling. So within 15 minutes of my start of the day, I was tossing out my procedure plan. We jumped into my activities. And I'll let you in on a secret....I ended up covering all I had planned anyways. Only what used to take me all morning to cover had taken me less than an hour.

We were finished with my plans for the day by lunchtime. And the heater was broken in my room. How many of you thought that means my room was cold?....try the opposite! We were sweating buckets.

The one good thing about teaching for now five years, is that I have a pretty good bag of tricks! Meaning, I have a bunch of different activities we can do. And so we did.....

I have planned 2x the amount of activities for the day tomorrow. Curriculum actually starts on Monday. I have 12 students, maybe 13 since 1 was missing.

The kids are very sweet. I will say that normally, you have a "honeymoon" period with students. This means that they come in on their best behavior, then after they get more comfortable with you, their "real" selves come out. Not true in Akiak. These kids are who they are the minute they walk in the door. And oddly enough, they brought out the real me in me as well!!

On a side note: Bush orders - not so much fun. I still haven't received my food order that I placed last week. Other people are starting to get their order. UGH! But I did get my Old Navy order. Good to know: Old Navy is faster than grocery. Only in Alaska!!

Oh! For the teachers/parents who know the song Victor Vito: my kids got a big kick out of the line: "They drove from El Cerrito all the way to Alaska." Those kids love to sing!!

Cross your fingers for me that my bush order comes tomorrow! One can hope! Oh and don't worry about me starving in Alaska, I've got some food to last me & my roommate has been very generous.