The winter semester began in the dark. It was the middle of dark season and 9am
outside looked more like 9pm. I would be
teaching four classes again, a full course load, in teacher-speak. The classes were also the same: Grades 10
& 11 Social Studies, Grade 10 English, and Grade 10 Guitar. Add in extra curricular activities and being
the school’s Professional Development Coordinator, this semester was going to
be really busy for me. I reminded myself
to take frequent breaks to prevent burnout.
I’ll
give you the very quick run-through of what I taught in all four of my classes
because the content I teach is mostly same from the previous years. (There are more than enough topics to select but
not enough time in the semester to cover them all in detail). The month of January was devoted to teaching
European imperialism in Grade 11 Social Studies, and grammar, literary
elements, and short stories to my Grade 10 English students. My Grade 11 students studied globalization
and my guitarists learned the basics of playing & handling guitars. I also introduced them to music theory, notation,
and playing as a group.
Several
high school students signed up for afterschool recording. If you recall the Hitmakerz Workshop from
last September, Kelly Fraser & Thor donated a mobile music studio kit to
the school. There is a lot of musical
talent in Arctic Bay and I was determined to give aspiring artists the
opportunity to get their voices heard.
The afterschool recording took place in my classroom on Fridays. Students who signed up could have an hour or
two-hour sessions. While the student(s) worked
on their musical creations, I moved my work to the library.
The
cadet marksmanship & biathlon teams have been busy improving their shooting
& skiing skills over the weekends. The
biathlon competition is first, taking place in Whitehorse, in February. The biathlon team goes cross-country skiing
for about an hour out on the ice and then shoot the Daisy air rifles for
another hour inside Inuujaq School’s gym.
I run the shooting range. The
cadets practice shooting prone & standing.
The
weather in Arctic Bay in January is relatively cold, but not as extreme as it
is in February. Minus thirty-five
degrees is a good day if the sun is out and there’s no wind. If you’re properly dressed then the
temperature is not that bad at all.
Making sure you’re getting your daily dose of Vitamin D during dark
season is more important. A lack of
Vitamin D can lead to irritability and restless nights. Driving a skidoo is fun as long as you’re
fully buttoned up. Otherwise, be
prepared for frostbite and windburn. I
always completely cover my face when I drive my skidoo. You don’t mess with the cold Arctic.
Near
the end of the month, the students got two days off because the teachers were
having a professional development workshop.
The Government of Nunavut was introducing new professional development &
self-reflection evaluation standards and they wanted all teachers in the territory
to be familiar with the new materials.
John & I were introduced to the new packages in Iqaluit last
September and now it was the staff’s turn.
The
workshop was taught by the school principal.
There was a PowerPoint presentation, plenty of handouts, and several group
activities. Of course, there were snacks
& coffee breaks to give our minds a break.
It will take too long to fully explain the changes so I’ll just give you
the Coles Notes version. There’s a little
more paperwork, most of the terminology from the old versions have remained, there
will be more meetings with school administration, and the government really
likes the colour green. (The coloured
version of the new handouts are all green).
At
the end of the workshop, we were given feedback sheets to fill out. The Department of Education wanted to know what
we liked and what parts needed to be worked on.
We all hoped the department would read our comments & suggestions,
as well as the comments & suggestions from all Nunavut teachers.
No comments:
Post a Comment