School Life

We know that you’ve all been dying to find out what school is really like here. It is quite different from any schools that we have experienced in the lower 48.

Our school days start off with our commute to work sometime around 7:30 (we are required to be at school at 8am). A few days a week we have borrowed the school’s Honda, but other days we walk to the school from our house. The walk takes a good 15 minutes and is nearly a mile. We live on one side of the village and the school is on the other side.

A shot of the school off in the distance.

                                              Rocky Mountain School....Home of the Bears!

The janitor’s daughter, Sheila, is home visiting before she returns to school for the fall semester. During her visit to the school earlier this week she explained to me exactly how all 9 of my kindergarten students are related! There is no disagreement like a family disagreement, right? You can only imagine the implications that these relations have in the classroom, both positive and negative.

The relations don’t stop in Kindergarten—they continue right on into every grade level. Remember there are only about 250 people in the whole village. We’ve finally decided that sometimes school doesn’t seem any different to the students than a great big family reunion. It isn’t surprising to turn around and find an older sibling, cousin, uncle, aunt, etc… standing at the door wanting to check on so and so. As you can imagine that doesn’t do much for cultivating an atmosphere of learning. We’re slowly working on encouraging students to stay in their own respective areas of the building.

So, what does a day at Rocky Mountain School really look like? The students are permitted to enter the building at 8:15 every morning. There are usually students outside waiting to get in beginning around 7:35.  Breakfast is served from 8:15-8:45; during this time all grade levels K-12 eat breakfast and hang out in the gym together. Jr. High and High School start at 8:45 and the elementary students start at 9:00.

There are typically students in the building from 8:15 to 4:00. Kindergarten is currently ending at 2:40 every day. Remember, this is the first time these kids have attended any type of structured school. That’s right teacher friends, we are usually having melt downs of epic proportions around 1:30! Another thing to consider is that it isn’t getting dark until around 11 right now, so kids are still staying up WAY TOO LATE! I had a parent tell me that his 5 year old stayed up until 1 AM this week. Don’t worry, I promptly responded that he was killing me! LOL (Maybe it was the strep getting to me?!) The same parent came in Friday morning before school to tell me that his son has been going to bed much earlier- usually by 9:30. Whew! Should I mention that I’ve not made it past 8:30 recently?

Simon didn’t escape the crazy either- his schedule is crammed full of classes students need in order to graduate on time. He is teaching several High School classes, which include students in grades 9-12 and 1 Jr. High class that includes students in grades 5^th through 8^th. In working to help students stay on track with their required credits, Simon is prepping for 7 classes a day. Those are just the classes that he is responsible for teaching. He is responsible for the classroom management of 3 other classes. The classes that he is responsible for management of are VTC or Blackboard courses. VTC courses are classes taught by a teacher who is located at the main office of our district. The Blackboard coarse is a dual credit class that the students are taking through The University of Alaska at Fairbanks. His schedule looks something like this: Algebra 1, Algebra 2 (VTC), Language 1, Language 2, Native American Literature, Earth Science, Intro to Health Careers (Blackboard class), Government, Microsoft Office (VTC), and Jr. High Health. Needless to say he is equally as tired at the end of a day.

All of the insanity aside, we are finally settling into a routine here in the village and it feels great to have a place we call home. We’re really enjoyed getting to know the families and students the past few weeks.