9-5-10

The first full week of school is over and if I keep learning at the same pace, I’ll be a genius by Christmas. At times, it seems that new information is made up just for my frustration. Since everything here is new to me, there is a lot to absorb. I know that first week was my hardest, so I should hit my stride by mid-May.


The most difficult subject for me to teach is the subject I like the best: social studies. It is tricky to find prior knowledge with the students about community when all of the examples the text/workbooks give is about things the students have never seen. We have no law enforcement or a fire department in the village, so the chapter about city services and how they work together drew blank stares. Or maybe I was boring them into unconsciousness. When we talked about business services that citizens provide, I heard disbelief. Surely there could not be a store that sold only shoes. They are used to the only “store” here in town, where they sell only pop and candy. Well, mostly pop and candy. They do sell toilet paper at Rockefeller prices, but I suspect they can set it at any price, because if you have time to try to negotiate the price, you probably don’t need it that badly. They should offer bran muffins with the toilet paper, kind of a two-for-one deal.

Most of the students have not been to a town larger than 3,000 people, so they have been spared the spectacle of a large town. The cost to fly to Bethel, the closest town that offers services, is $450 round trip. The only road in our town leads to the dump. This town is isolated not only by geography but by poverty. Flying to Bethel is out of the question for most families because of the cost. Every student in the school qualifies for free breakfast and lunch at the school. Unfortunately for some students, these are the only meals they’ll get for the day. One of my students has worn the same clothes for the seven days we have had class. I doubt they have been washed in that time. Alcohol and poverty affect most students at the school in one way or another. The problems most of these students deal with daily dwarf my petty troubles of temporarily having no water. I have food and the means to get water into my house. They have to rely on others for their survival. Sometimes the ones they rely on cannot provide what they need.

I also want to emphasize there are many families that are doing what they can with what they have. They provide the best they can for their families. There is no economy in this town, so those who fish in the summer must make their money at that time. If they don’t, it can be along winter. Some people work for the village, school, post office, or electric company. A large diesel generator in town provides electricity. There are no individual businesses in town. Well, legal businesses. Alcohol is either made or bootlegged into the village, both of which are illegal. The encouraging factor is that the kids in my class want to be in school. A few may not really care about what is being taught, but they want to be there. Most really want to learn and I don’t want to let them down. The majority of families want their children to learn and will support their students in their education.

One student was yawning the other morning, so I asked her why she was so tired. She said she stayed up until 2am watching movies. (Kids stay up late around here) I asked her what she was watching and she said “Scary Movie 2”. I’m not sure I’m happy about the Wayans Brothers being a cultural compass for 5th graders here. So I did what I could and found YouTube videos of rodeo wrecks for them to watch. Most of the students were not sure what a rodeo was, so we watched and wrote about the videos.

I was able to make some bread this morning, so I can survive without running water. I’m able to get water from my neighbor for my kitchen and I can use the shower and the bathroom at the school. It is a ½-mile walk, so I skipped the bran muffin this morning.