Christmas Festivities

The school's Christmas concert was set for the evening of December 17 at the Community Hall.  Preschool to grade 9 classes, as well as the staff, were tasked with organizing and presenting  Christmas-themed skits.  My drumline was the high school's contribution.  Teachers set aside several blocks of time each day to brainstorm and rehearse the skits with their students.  Some classes rehearsed behind closed-doors, keeping their performances top-secret until the 17th.  It was impossible for my drummers & I to keep our repertoire secret because the drums could be heard throughout the school. 

            

Grades 7-12 students spent the morning of Dec 17 decorating the Community Hall under the careful supervision of their teachers.  The elementary and middle school classes had prepared a variety of Christmas decorations and they needed to be plastered all over the hall.  My drummers & I used this time to bring over the drums, music/instrument stands, sheet music, sticks, and anything else we would need for the dress rehearsal and concert.  Everything was transported by truck.  Students & teachers scurried around the hall, setting up rows of chairs, and taping & hanging decorations, while Christmas music played over sound speakers.  All the chairs and decorations were in place by lunchtime. 

            

The entire student body went to the Community Hall after lunch for the dress rehearsal.  Each class went up on stage and presented their skit so that the students would know their spots, where to go, and conquer any feelings of stage-fright.  The "curtains were lifted" for those classes who kept their skits secret during the previous weeks.  The rehearsal also gave the concert planners a better picture of how the entire program would look like "for real".    

            

The program is kept simple, starting from preschool and ending with the teachers.  The drumline is the second last act.  As I expected, many students crowded around the front of the stage as my drummers & I marched on for our dress rehearsal.  This year, I would stand in the centre and play snare drum with my drummers.  We played our five selected pieces while teachers & students cheered us on.  I noticed a few people were filming our practice with iPods.  My drummers did very well on the dress rehearsal; now they had to repeat the same performance for the concert.  They all told me they were nervous.

            

"So am I," I confessed.  "The trick is to not think about it.  Don't look at the audience.  Look past them.  And the time will go by very fast.  Our gig will be done before you have a chance to blink."       

            

The dress rehearsal was finished at 3:30pm.  Everyone went home for the rest of the afternoon, had dinner, changed into formal clothing, and returned to the community hall at 6:30.  The place was filled with parents, elders, children, teachers, and community members.  The concert began at 7.

            

Aga & Kataisie, the high school art & Inuktitut teachers, presided over the concert as English & Inuktitut emcees.  Ryan, the school's media teacher, filmed the concert using one of his HD camcorders.  I stood at the back of the hall and filmed secondary raw footage.  The pace of the Christmas concert felt slower for me because I attended the dress rehearsal.  I already knew what to expect.  Everyone who was present at the dress rehearsal probably felt the same way.  Regardless, it was a concert worth seeing twice. 

            

There was something for everyone.  There was singing, acting, dancing, rapping, Inuit drumming, and marching percussion.  Even though some acts weren't Christmas-themed, they were still entertaining & fun.  I could spend an entire blog post or two accurately describing each act but I'll just the mention the acts that stood out the most for me.

            

The Grade 1 class sang a few Christmas tunes, accompanied by an Inuit drum.  The Grade 3 class did a square dance and a student played on one of my snare drums along with the recording.  The Grade 4 class played charades by putting on animal masks and acted out specific animals with the help of prerecorded sounds.  They revealed the names of the animals they were playing before closing their act by throwing candy to the audience.  The Grade 6s danced to "Feliz Navidad" while the Grade 7s played Nunavut's Got Talent, a spinoff parody of the popular tv show America's Got Talent. 

            

The Grade 9 class presented a short play about saving Santa, who got into a serious accident, by performing open surgery and removing all foreign objects.  What impressed the audience was that the play was done using the silhouettes.  A large white piece of paper covered the front of the stage and two projectors shined light on it.  The students' silhouettes appeared clearly on the white paper and the audience laughed at all the right moments.

            

The moment had finally arrived; it was the high school drumline's turn to perform on stage.  "Alright, it's time," I announced to my drummers.  I could see that they were nervous.  I was also nervous but a leader must never show it.  "Let's do this."

           

We marched on stage and quickly set up our drums, music stands, and sheet music behind the closed curtains.  The emcees kept the audience busy while my drummers & I did our final checks.  When everything and everyone was in place, I individually asked each drummer if they were ready.  When they all nodded, I signaled the stage crew to draw open the curtains.  Looking past the audience, I raised my drum sticks and clicked them four times.  Our performance began.

            

For me, our gig went fairly quickly.  Since I have been performing with various bands for many years, the routine is very familiar: play a song; audience applauds; switch music; repeat until out of selected music; leave the stage.  The pieces we played as a drumline were: Run Out! (UMass), Run On (UCLA Pregame Sequence), X1 (by Cassidy Byars), and Raven (by Cassidy Byars) as an encore from the Halloween concert.  One of my bass drummers & I played the fifth piece, Triplet Cadence, as a duet.  I wrote the cadence in 2006 when I was teaching marching percussion at a summer cadet camp in CFB Borden.  When the curtains closed, I shook my drummers' hands and congratulated them on a job well done.               

            

The teaching staff closed the concert by performing three hand clapping rhythms in groups, and a fourth as a massed group.  The first one was "Cups (When I'm Gone)" from the movie Pitch Perfect without the use of cups, the second was a rhythm created by an Inuit elder, and the third was patty-cake.  The fourth rhythm was from the popular song "We Will Rock You" by Queen.

            

December 18th was the last day of school before the Christmas holidays.  With the success of the Christmas concert still fresh in everyone's minds, the festivities continued with caroling in the school's gym after morning recess.  Eunice, the Grade 7 teacher, led students, teachers, elders, and parents in singing Christmas carols in English & Inuktitut.  Mary's husband provided guitar accompaniment.  Mary is the school counselor.  We sang "Deck The Halls", "O Christmas Tree", "Joy To The World", "O Come All Ye Faithful", "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer", "Jingle Bells" and many more.            

Santa came to school after lunch to hand out gifts to students (preschool - Grade 9).  I walked behind Santa and his helpers, photographing him with the students and their gifts.  (Between you & me, Santa was played by the nephew of one of the school's student support assistants).  Many children were shy to sit on Santa's lap and pose for pictures, but after much prodding from parents, they mustered up the courage and got through it.  Once the children received their presents, they were free to leave the school.  High school students received gift certificates from the Co-op store.    

            

Teachers could leave early too, provided that they had completed their attendance and report cards.  When I was done, I quickly cleaned up my classroom and headed out the door.  I wished the Inuit teachers & my students a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year before firing up my skidoo.  I immediately began packing my suitcase when I arrived home because I was flying down south the next morning.  I took out the garbage and handed over my skidoo keys to my next door neighbours.  They had decided to stay in Arctic Bay for the holidays and agreed to look after my skidoo.

            

I woke up on the morning of December 19th and had a quick shower.  I finished packing my suitcase after a small breakfast.  When my ride to the airport arrived, I switched off all the lights and locked my apartment.  I met the other teachers that were flying down south for the at the airport.  We would arrive in Ottawa six hours later and go our separate ways.  We would meet up at the Ottawa Airport in two weeks. 

            

It's hard to believe how fast 2014 has come and gone.  I'm glad I have plenty of pictures and memories to remember the last 365 days.  The new year is less than two weeks away.  I wonder what new challenges await me?    

See you all in 2015!

Final Exams & The Nutrition North Controversy

Full Moon

Preparing a final exam requires a lot of time, effort, and planning.  I didn't realize just how much until I became a teacher.  I divide the process into three stages: research, writing, and review.  In the first phase, I go back and review everything I've taught and decide what to include on the exam and what to leave out.  (You want to ask everything but you can't because your students have other exams to complete and doing so will overload their minds).  Once I have a clear plan, I move on to the second phase and write the exam.  I edit and change things as I go.  I also put together an answer key to make marking easier and less time consuming.  The third stage requires me to create review lessons filled with activities & handouts for students to complete and study.  While planning these review lessons, you don't want to give too much away, otherwise the exam just becomes a worksheet.

            

The second week of December was all review for my Grade 10 & 11 Social Studies classes.  I had to work late into the evening on the weekend to get everything ready.  The photocopiers in the staff workroom were my best friends.  To maintain student interest I pumped out any kind of review activity I could think of: word searches, crosswords, card matching exercises, even jeopardy!  The variety appeared to go over well with my students.

            

The Grade 10s wrote their final exam on December 11th and the Grade 11s wrote theirs on December 12th.  I corrected the exams over the weekend and inputted the marks into the school's database.

            

My Grade 12 students presented their Social Studies projects to a panel of judges on December 11 & 15 after school.  The judges consisted of myself, the principal, and two Inuk teachers.  The project replaces the old departmental exam and students are required to pass the project, as well as the regular class work to be awarded academic credits.  Each student was given twenty minutes to present their topic, essay, product, and answer the judges' questions.  The product can be anything that enhances the project, like a video, community event, website, grant proposal, model, or radio show.  Most of my students did video and slide show presentations. 

            

A variety of topics were presented, such as: global warming and its effects on the Inuit way of life; the role of art in Inuit society; radio in the north; and the military leadership of Joseph Stalin.  At the end of the presentations, I congratulated my students for conquering their fears of public speaking, and thanked the judges for taking the time out of their busy schedules to listen and mark the presentations.

            

Around this time, an important news story from the north gained national attention, prompting sharp criticisms and fierce debates in Canada's House of Commons.  APTN produced a video news story called Wasting Away, which documented the food insecurity problems of Nunavut.  Since northern communities are isolated and spread over vast distances, food is frequently airlifted in.  The cost of shipping leads to healthy foods being raised to prices that are unaffordable for many Inuit families.  To beat the high costs, Wasting Away showed Inuit families in Rankin Inlet scrounging for food at the local garbage dump, and calling the local radio station, asking to borrow money.  Many parents go hungry for days because they give all the food they have to their children.  One of the main reasons why parents send their kids to school is because of the breakfast program. 

            

Hunting wildlife sounds like a reasonable alternative but it can be more expensive than buying groceries when you factor in the costs of bullets, gas, camping supplies, and of course, food to eat while you're out on the land.         

            

The current federal government implemented a program several years ago called Nutrition North, designed to pay the Northern Store & Co-op to offset their freight expenses and lower their prices for consumers.  The Office of the Auditor General recently released a report stating that there was no way to determine if the $60 million dollar program was being effective.  This, along with the APTN story, caused an uproar in the House of Commons with opposition MP's criticizing the federal government's lack of responsibility, oversight, and compassion for the Inuit.  The uproar intensified when Nunavut Conservative MP Leona Aglukkaq was photographed reading a newspaper instead of answering questions about the problem.  She later apologized for her behaviour but the damage to her image was done.  Several local Inuit told me how shocked and disappointed they were upon hearing about her antics.    

            

I see these outrageous prices while I shop at the Northern Store & Co-op in Arctic Bay.  There are hundreds of pictures already posted on the popular Facebook group Feeding My Family and more are added every day.  Whenever someone shares their frustrations over the high food prices, I tell them to take (a) picture(s) of the item(s) & price(s) and post it/them to the Facebook group.    

            

I have been told that going to the dump to look for food happens in all Nunavut communities.  I had known that people go to the dump to look for spare parts and other items but food never crossed my mind.  Up here, the garbage dump is also called "Canadian Tire" because you can find anything & everything there.

            

The scandal has led to many responses from all corners of Canada.  Canadians are sending food to keep food banks in the north well stocked and Nutrition North has received more money from the federal government.  Hopefully, the program will be closely monitored by those in charge and food prices will be lowered to more affordable levels.  Companies should never be allowed to make money off the hardships of others.     

            

Motivated to do something about food insecurity, the high school students of the Inuit cultural class began a Random Act of Kindness project.  They planned and prepared several free lunch feasts in the Home Ec room for local residents.  I was told that many showed up.  The local RCMP also got involved by contacting their superiors in Ottawa and arranged for food and second-hand hockey equipment to be shipped to the community.  The non-perishable food and hockey items arrived on December 11.  Kataisie, the cultural class teacher, was very pleased by the success of the project and how the students took on most of the responsibilities.  She hopes that it will continue in the new year.       

            

The staff of Inuujaq School held a Christmas Potluck dinner on the evening of December 12.  Right after school, the teachers rearranged the high school science class to look more like dining room.  Decorations, lights, and a tree were also brought in to add a more Christmas-like appearance.  There were many dishes to sample; I was glad that I had a small lunch that day.  I was able to stomach two plates of food.  The teachers who participated in Secret Santa that week found out who their Secret Santa was and exchanged final gifts.

            

Everyone went home with full stomachs & satisfied appetites.    

Entering the Final Stretch

Full Moon.

The last week of November felt more like the middle of December because there was barely any sunlight.  There was some for about an hour around lunch time every day but it would quickly disappear before you had a chance to blink.  The cold usually hovered around the -20s (Celsius).  Dark season was in full swing.  My previous assumption had been correct in that my skidoo now required at least 10 minutes to warm up.

            

In Grade 10 Social Studies, we began our study of the last four activities in the Residential Schools Module.  These activities focus on the survivors and government workers who spoke out against the abuses and inadequate government funding, reconciliation & healing, moving forward, and rebuilding families & communities. 

            

One story in particular stood out for me.  Controversy arose in the early 20th century when it became known that many aboriginal children were dying in "Indian boarding schools".  In 1907, Dr. P.H. Bryce, Medical Inspector of Indian Affairs, was sent to investigate the schools' conditions.  He discovered the schools to be poorly constructed with bad sanitation & ventilation systems, and the children were being poorly fed, clothed, and cared for.  Tuberculosis was also rampant.  Unfortunately, Bryce's report, titled A National Crime, was not fully published until 1922 because the recommendations for change he originally submitted were heavily suppressed by Duncan Campbell Scott, Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs.  Scott even went a step further by terminating the position of Medical Inspector and negotiating joint agreements with the various churches to establish what was called "Indian Residential Schools".

            

Duncan Campbell Scott.
Source: Britannica.com

Duncan Campbell Scott is a man I am not fond of nor anyone should be.  He knew very early on that the school system was not working but rather than fix the problems, or get rid of the entire system, he intensified the effort to forcefully "civilize" and Christianize Aboriginal children.  In 1920, he made it mandatory for all Aboriginal children between the ages 7 and 15 to attend residential schools.  The abusive treatments and poor conditions rarely improved.  He described his job as finding a solution to Canada's "Indian Problem."  As he infamously stated, "I want to get rid of the Indian problem.  Our object is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department."  Of course, he is not the only one to blame for the entire school system, but he was one of the main proponents of forced assimilation.  Even though he is one of Canada's Confederation Poets, that does not excuse him of the racist and destructive policies that he pursued towards Canada's Aboriginals.  He is one of Canada's worst people.

            

My Grade 11 students finished their study of World War 1 and completed a review test.  Most of them did well.  The next area of study was the Russian Revolution of 1917, a pivotal event in Russian history that occurred near the end of the First World War.  We learned the causes & effects, and the major players, such as, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Nicholas II, and Alexander Kerensky. 

            

In Grade 12 Social Studies, my students took a short break from their projects and learned about the three principal antagonists of World War II: Germany, Italy, and Japan.  They first examined how the Treaty of Versailles affected these countries, and how poor economic & political conditions led to the rise of powerful dictators, such as Benito Mussolini & Adolf Hitler.  Next, they studied the aggressive expansionist policies of these countries during the 1930s.  If we had more time, we would have looked at the events of the later 1930s and the declaration of war.       

            

With the arrival of December, my drummers were getting a little nervous about the upcoming Christmas concert.  I reassured them that we still had three weeks to get the four chosen pieces ready.  I also got them used to moving the instruments & hardware from place to place.  Unfortunately, my classroom isn't soundproofed, and the loud sounds of the drums disrupt adjoining classes.  Thankfully, I was able to find a room for my drummers to practice on their drums instead of being restricted to practice pads.  But, we have to bring everything down to the room, requiring several trips.  It is a necessary hassle, I argued to my students, because drummers have no one else to rely on.  They're the first ones at the concert and the last ones to leave.  They move everything themselves.  It also explains why you only see strong drummers.

             

The month of December also signaled the impending administering of final exams.  I had two exams to write for Grade 10 & 11 Social Studies.   The Grade 12 Social Studies final exam had been replaced by the project and my drummers would have a final performance test.  By the end of the first week of December I had a solid plan of how to write up my exams.  The Grade 10 exam would focus on Residential Schools and Grade 11 exam would focus on WW1 & The Russian Revolution.  I was still pondering the final performance piece for my drummers. 

            

Inuujaq School held an anti-bullying week on the first week of December.  Classes made & posted anti-bullying posters all over the school in English & Inuktitut.  Elders, the RCMP, and teachers talked to students about why people bully, the negative effects of bullying, and how to stop bullying.  There was a drop in incidences as a result of the activities.  More anti-bullying activities and talks will continue in the new year. 

            

And finally, if anyone is considering working in the north, be sure to buy one or two potable water cans after you settle in.  The majority of northern communities do not have central plumbing; each household has its own water and sewage tanks.  (If you live in a housing complex like I do, the water is shared communally, but each apartment has its own sewage tank).  Water is delivered by truck, and sewage & grey water is removed by truck.  Some households have water & sewage metres that alert tenants when it's time to refill or empty.  Others, like me, don't have that luxury and have to guess when to call for water or sewage.  I have two 20-litre potable water cans in case of emergencies.  In Arctic Bay, one water can costs $30. 

Country Food, Awards, & Sushi

On Thursday, November 13, I received an important piece of information from one of the Inuit staff at Inuujaq School: a community feast was being held at the community hall later that evening.  It had been months since I attended a feast and I had been wanting to get my hands on caribou meat & arctic char for some time.  I thanked the lady for the information and promised to be at the "C-Hall" for 7pm. 

            

Community feasts are cultural events. Country foods are either laid out on a floor tarp and/or served to community members for free.  The Inuit tradition goes back to when families lived out on the land in camps and hunters would divide the animals they caught among the families.  The country foods that would be offered are raw caribou, arctic char, seal, and narwhal.

            

I arrived at the C-Hall at 7pm on my recently purchased skidoo.  I had to park it next to the hockey arena because the parking lot in front of the hall was filled with trucks, atvs, and other skidoos.  With so many vehicles parked around the building, I was right to assume that the place would be packed with people.  I slowly squeezed my way through the crowd before finding a place to stand at the back.  A tarp had been laid out in the middle of the hall and it was covered with chunks of raw char, and narwhal.  A seal was being cut up at the front and the caribou meats were in large black & grey boxes on stage.  With so many people sitting around the tarp, it appeared as if the whole town was in attendance.  Inuit children ran around the hall but were careful not to touch the country food before the word was given.

            

I took out my digital camera and started snapping pictures as people got their ulus, pocket knives, plastic bags, and cardboard boxes ready.  The plastic bags are used to collect country food and cardboard boxes are broken into large pieces so they can be used as plates.  I had three plastic bags, and a paper plate, in case I was invited to sit down with a family.  I usually stay for several minutes to eat but I couldn't this time because of school work.

            

MLA Isaac Shooyook

There were several speakers who addressed the audience including our Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Isaac Shooyook.  I'm not entirely sure what they said exactly in Inuktitut but I think it was along the lines of thanking the Hamlet Office for arranging the feast and the hunters who brought the seals, chars, and narwhals.  The caribou meats had been ordered and flown in. 

            

After a short prayer, the word was given to begin the feast.  People surged into the middle, picking whatever they could find.  With a plastic bag in my left hand, I grabbed two chunks of arctic char with my free right hand.  I then stood in one of the long lines that snaked towards the stage where volunteers were handing out raw caribou meat.  The line slowly moved forward, and with every person that walked by, I wondered if there would be anything left when I would get to the front.  I was surprised to see two people walking with caribou heads.  Yes, full-sized caribou heads!  Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera out in time to snap pictures. 

            

I hope I don't get a caribou head, I thought, there isn't enough room in my freezer.

            

When I got to the stage, a took several small pieces of caribou meat from a large black box a volunteer was tilting in my direction.  "Qujannamiik (Thank you)," I said.  I photographed elders & adults eating & cutting pieces of seal meat before leaving the community hall.

              

Inuujaq School held a sports assembly on November 21 to recognize the boys and girls soccer teams who competed in Cape Dorset in late October.  The assembly was extra special for the girls team because they won silver at the competition.  The assembly was organized by Sarah Cole, the assistant coach and Grade 9 teacher. 

            

"The tournament was awesome," commented Sarah.  "I wanted the younger kids to see & hear how much fun the girls had, to celebrate their accomplishments, encourage sports participation across the student body, and build school spirit." 

            

Sarah presided over the assembly as the English emcee and Kataisee, the high school Inuktitut teacher, acted as the translator.  The audience was presented with a slide show of pictures that were taken in Cape Dorset.  Many of them were funny prompting many laughs from students.  After the slide show, the girls were called up one at a time to receive their silver medals from their coach, Weslie.  Each player received an applause from the audience.  The soccer team posed for pictures with their medals as students went back to their classes to get ready for dismissal.                

            

I took my skidoo out for a drive towards King George V Mountain the next day because it was Saturday and I wanted to get pictures of the Greater Arctic Bay Area at noon.  I was curious to know if I could see the sun from on top of the mountain and if not, at least get a picture of the polar twilight.  Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. 

            

A path of clear ice had formed along the coast, preventing access to the frozen bay, and forcing me to drive next to the road to Nanisivik.  I had to drive slowly to avoid the rocks on the road because prolonged exposure would damage the skis and treads.  I also had to use the road to Sewage Lagoon to get to the skidoo trail that snakes up the mountain.  But when I got to the turnoff, I noticed there wasn't enough snow on the ground for my skidoo to drive over.

            

Undeterred by this shortcoming, I left my skidoo behind and began walking up the mountain like I've done many times before.  I took a break halfway up and ate two apples while enjoying the views.  The temperature was around -26.  The final straw came when I took out my camera to take a picture: the battery had died.  I replaced it with the second battery but it too was dead.  The cold had zapped all the energy out of my batteries.  I abandoned my hike and walked back to my skidoo.  I'll take the picture some other time.

            

Things were a little more upbeat when a couple of us southern teachers held a sushi night on November 23.  I finally had the opportunity to use the chopsticks I brought with me in August.  The vegetable & fish rolls were prepared by Sarah and Agniezska.  Agniezska is the high school art/English teacher.  There was plenty of sushi, ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce to go around.  The food was excellent.