Back to the basics

Posted on 8/18/2008 by Kyle

There’s a couple of really nice things about living in the Bush that you really can’t appreciate unless you’re here. So many of the things that are taken for granted in modern society simply don’t exist here or are too expensive to justify getting them. Take bread for example. You can get bread; there’s a Wonderbread bakery in Anchorage that ships out to the Bush. However, it’s so expensive that it makes far more sense to bake your own.

So, that’s what I’ve started doing. Last night (far too late at night as it turns out), I started making my first batch of bread. A simple little white bread, nothing too special, but it turned out pretty well.

But… why is this actually one of the nice things about living in the Bush? Because it makes you truly appreciate it. Sure, it’s a hassle, but it tastes so much better than something you go pick up at the store. Life is simpler in the Bush, and while it’s sometimes more work, it’s a simpler lifestyle in so many ways; it agrees with me, it’s so much more peaceful here than anywhere else I’ve been.

My district has a school bus…

Posted on 8/17/2008 by Kyle

it’s 406SD, a Reims Aviation S.A. F406/Caravan II. I got back from Unalakleet for training in my SFA reading class last night on the BSSD plane. What a trip! How many teachers can say that they’ve ridden in their school district’s plane?

Only in the Bush – mobile computer lab

Posted on 8/14/2008 by Kyle

So, I want to start a new section of my blog, that I’m going to call, “Only in the Bush”. It’s for those things which I run into and say, “Seriously? This only happens in Bush Alaska.” Today’s is specifically, “This would only happen in my school district.”

I’ve, uhmm… well I suppose some of you may think I’ve been ranting and raving about the Ed Tech department here at BSSD. They’re phenomenal, there’s no other way to say it. One of them even let me take his four wheeler into the foothills tonight. But, that’s not my moment.

Today in our training about setting up a digital Foxfire it was mentioned that the district has a mobile computer lab. We inquired a little about it and they offered to set it up and show it to us. Before I explain what it is, let me show you a couple photos I snapped (sorry about the quality, but it was my cell phone camera).

What you’re seeing is a cart that can be pulled behind a snowmachine or 4-wheeler that has a self-aiming satellite dish on it. There’s a set of cables that connects it to the a router, switch, Video Teleconference (VTC) equipment, phone for emergencies and even an Airport Extreme wireless base station.

You can haul this thing out into the bush with you, bring laptops for students to use, VTC with classrooms around the district or the lower-48 and have internet access over the equivalent of a T1. That’s actually faster than what the school sites get. It’s also used to cover the Iditarod race when it passes through the region. They set up a tent around all the routers and gear and use it as a base station to interview mushers as they pass through, stream live to the internet and even take viewer questions to ask the mushers. Talk about an amazing piece of technology built as a collaborative effort between GCI and BSSD. Oh, and if you wanted to set one of these babies up for yourself? It is a custom deal, so you’ll have to make a call to a friendly satellite internet provider.

Back to Shaktoolik for a few days, now I’m leaving again

Posted on 8/13/2008 by Kyle

Training went really well, I understand how the model works and how to integrate it into my classroom much better now. More than anything else, the idea is that you plan your lessons to meet the standards instead of shoehorning the standards in after you’ve planned the lesson. It improves your ability to make sure that what’s being taught is actually important and gives a clearer purpose for your teaching. This isn’t revolutionary, it’s simply implementing ideas that have been there for a while. A lot of the BSSD gear (shirts, mugs, whatever) has the motto: “Making Best Practices Common Practice.” They take it quite seriously too; nothing that we implement district wide is done without a research base; they’re not doing things off the cuff, but as history has shown, the district is willing to make drastic changes if they’re needed.

Now that I’ve driven off everyone that isn’t a teacher (oh, and my mom, because she’ll read whatever I type up) let’s get to the more exciting parts of my adventure, eh?

There’s a lot of stuff I’ve seen here that has really surprised me, but few things have really flown me for a loop so far. I mean, sure headless, dead walruses show up on the beach, you run into trash displaying a multitude of Asian languages, there’s the occasional seal skeleton… and you know all the fishing spots by the large number of gutted fish laying on the river bottoms nearby. Oh, and kids drive ATVs while sitting on their mother’s lap… many of them get their first guns around age 3 and I’ve run into a couple 16 year old boys who captain their own boats and hire on crew. (They’re paid $0.80/lb for the salmon they catch in their nets.)

However, I frequently do catch myself saying, “Only in the bush…” quite often, about little things really. I guess you just have to take a lot of the bigger changes whole, not trying to digest them and compare them. For example, today the school secretary, Agnes, brought in a list of phone students’ names along with their parents names, home phone numbers and VHF frequencies. Only in the bush.

We’ve been having a couple power outages in the past few days. That’s been a blast; no one seems to know how to turn on the school’s generator, not even the school district’s electrician. Since you really can’t find this out anywhere, most bush villages are powered by large diesel generators. Unalakleet has one (though I haven’t found it yet) and Shaktoolik does too. It’s, uhm… quite interesting to look at:

Work has been going pretty well, I think I won’t have too much difficulty getting along with the staff. The tech work has been keeping me pretty busy, but I’m just about done and I’ve been able to get some planning in. I need to do a lot more before school starts though. Tomorrow I’m heading back to Unalakleet, I’ve got a technology training session to go to (something to do with video…) and then I’ll have training in our reading program on Thursday and Friday. Friday night will see me back in Shaktoolik (we’re scheduled to fly on the district’s plane, which I’m really excited about) for a long Saturday meeting and I’ll spend Sunday and Monday getting ready for Tuesday, the first day of school.

I’ll leave you with some pictures though, and I might even caption some of them.

The Shaktoolik school; my apartment is on the second floor, on the north side (you’re looking at the south and east sides of the building).

A dead walrus that floated up and landed on the beach near Unalakleet. The heads are taken for the ivory.

I took sunrise walks every morning of training with a friend I met, it was early but it sure was beautiful.

I guess you have to be a photographer to appreciate this photo.

Getting Settled in and Training

Posted on 8/6/2008 by Kyle

I know, I know… I should be updating more. I’ve got pictures of the village and my apartment, but I haven’t had time to process them yet. I’ll work on it when I get back from training on Friday night and try to get them up.

It’s been fun to get out and about in the village. I’ve got a Post Office box now and I went fishing on my first full day in the village.

Not bad for just casting the line in the water and reeling it back in. I also received most of my food just before I got on the plane for training in Unalakleet, which is where I am now. It’s been fun, I met a lot of cool people and I’m learning a lot, the whole instructional model and how it actually works is making a lot more sense now.

Well, I’m gonna go check out what’s going on with dinner. I promise I’ll put up a bunch of pictures on Friday.