Well, I’ve definitely survived my first week of teaching. In fact, it was a blast! I think I’m now officially spoiled for working in any traditional school district. My students are eager, excited to learn and except for waking up early and not being allowed pop, they actually enjoy being in school. (We’ve banned pop from the school this year… you haven’t seen pop drinking until you’ve seen village pop drinking. I had one kid tell me that he drank a 12 pack of pop the night before and he’s not all that unusual.)

Most teachers I know hate their first week. Everything goes wrong, they have classroom management problems, their kids don’t want to be there… My first day of school, I had kids asking to stay after school! Granted, I have students who are severely behind grade level, I’m ambitiously planning to help one student finish 3 levels worth of math this year and others who are nearly in the same boat, but they care! They’re here trying (for the most part)!

I have a really hard time articulating all the reasons why I’m thankful to be here, but I guess in its simplest form, it boils down to the kids. These kids aren’t like kids in the lower-48. I had soon-to-be students of mine running up to me as I went to the Post Office for mail the day before school started telling me how much they were looking forward to school. Some of that is because they wanted on the basketball court again I’m sure, but it’s true. I look at these kids as I’m teaching them and… they honestly do want to learn.

So, in celebration of such a wonderful day at school, I took a trip down to Old Siteландшафт, where the village was located until they moved it in the 1970s. Then, last night, I went swimming for the first time in the ocean. Well, technically, it was Norton Sound, but it’s close enough to count for me.

Here’s hoping the second week is as wonderful as the first!