Career

So my career as a teacher has officially begun. Farewell childhood! Welcome adultdom! Gah! When did this happen?!?!

Last Saturday was the first truly beautiful summer day in Alaska since I have been up here. Lucky for me, there was a fair in Kenny Lake (one of the towns I will be teaching in). My teacher neighbor, John, and his wife and kid, Nora and Melanie (respectively) came along with me to the fair. Nora and Melanie did little kid stuff (she is 14 months old) with other moms and new children while John and I scoured the fair for people of interest to introduce me to. I was able to shake plenty of hands and then immediately forget names, but I still think it was valuable. It got to be pretty hot at the fairgrounds and I was looking forward to finding a beer stand and sitting outside in beautiful Alaska listening to a mediocre rock cover band. However, there was no beer to be found. I settled for an indian taco and a soda. From the crafts stands, I bought some Fireweed jelly, which I've been told is delicious, and found some sweet "I Buy Alaska Grown" stickers. That night John and Nora invited me over for Caribou tacos (just a Mexican food day!). I was so nice to sit and be with nice people for a while. They have the sweetest German Shepherd and Melanie and I played keyboard.

Sunday was just as gorgeous so I biked out South of town to some nice overlooks and finally got some good pictures of the Wrangell Mountains. I biked down some amazing hills (and up eventually) and played in some really swift rivers. I love the availability of water here. It's definitely something I missed in Colorado.

On Monday, I forced my way into the school and started the process of getting ready for school. I literally just paced around my area opening all sorts of cupboards and cabinets trying to get a feel for all the STUFF I have and where the most efficient place to put all of this STUFF is. I settled on using 3 of my 4 practice rooms as actual practice rooms and one as an electronic storage so I could keep the expensive equipment under close eye and lock and key. The room itself is pretty large and has okay acoustics. It's in pretty good shape and even has a Promethean board in it. I guess it is like a SmartBoard.

I also got a grand tour of the auditorium. There are lots of opportunities for us to put on amazing productions and have lots of good learning lessons in there. The trick is for me to learn just a little more than the students know before school starts...

By the end of the day, I felt confident that if school started the next day, I would be able to teach in the environment I had set up. I have been slowly organizing my office and other storage areas between and after inservices.

My stuff also came Monday night. John, Chad (another teacher), and Solomone (a junior) came to help out. The trucker paid them all for their services. We basically just threw everything in the apartment. It was a disaster area in here. However, I was resolved to at least set up my bed so I wouldn't have to sleep on the floor again. Thus, that is what I did. And that's ALL I did.

Tuesday morning began New Teacher Orientation. There are 4 of us new to the district. Suzie teaches Special Education at the Glennallen HS. Barbara teaches K-1 at Kenny Lake. Denae teaches Kindergarten at Glennallen Elementary. And me. The morning was spent watching mandatory videos. The afternoon was spent meeting EVERYONE else in the district office: technology, business office, etc...The stat that stuck out to me the most was the fact that our district is the size of the state of Ohio. I am the ONLY music teacher.

That night I worked on getting a functional kitchen and living room. This place was starting to feel like home.

Yesterday was rough. The morning was spent listening to "State of the District" discussions from the superintendent and a pep-up speech of sorts from some lady from Virginia. In the afternoon, we broke into our different school sites. At the Glennallen meeting, we discussed how to utilize a common set of rules across the K-12 campus. We would obviously alter the language depending on age, but the basic set of rules would be the same. Our new principal is big on consistency in behavioral expectations.

Afterward I was completely drained of all energy. Also, I was stuck behind bureaucratic red-tape. I can't write my syllabus till I get a school calendar so I can plan dates and activities. I can't write my lesson plans till I get a class list. I can't work on organizing the auditorium until I get keys for it. It was just a bang-your-head-against-the-wall afternoon. On top of it, I was informed that every Friday, instead of teaching my junior high students music, I will have to teach them Physical Education. No kidding. I am also a gym teacher... It could be a nice release at the end of the week, but I am going to have a heck of a time preparing for my classes as it is. Ugh!

Somehow, I went back to school later that night and cleaned up the August playlist while organizing some more stuff. I am ready for Saturday! Oh, Saturday! I haven't told you about that yet. I have invited students signed up for music to come in on Saturday to help me organize/decorate/eat pizza/set goals/hang out. All the students I have talked to sound really excited. So, I decided where I want everything to go, found paints and tape and old magazines, and am ready to go!

Today's inservice was at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Headquarters. It was mostly spent touring the facilities and learning about how we can better incorporate Ahtna (the local tribe's) values and traditions into school. It got a little tedious at the end, but it was rather interesting. Also, the gave us $15 to spend at the visitor center store. So, I now own a sweet topographic map of the park, some stickers, a magnet, and a big bar of chocolate!

This evening I relaxed and had my first fantasy football draft while eating pizza and drinking beer. Ah! The good life! I've been cleaning up the apartment since. The TV and speakers work, my bedroom is clean (we'll see how long that lasts), and I have a box started of things I want to bring to school. I am feeling good, but tired. So, I'm going to head to bed. More updates and more pictures to come. Last day of inservice in the morning!