Late February (2020)

Professional Improvement (PI) Week, also known as (aka) Professional Development (PD) Week, occurred the week of February 17 – 21.  Students were off school while teachers attended school to learn & upgrade their teaching skills.  There was no teacher conference this year so the staff & I stayed in the community.  I couldn’t find any courses/workshops in other places that interested me.

            

I signed up for a workshop & an online course.  The two-day workshop was Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), delivered by two trained instructors from LivingWorks, a suicide prevention centre.  The workshop specializes in suicide prevention & first aid, and the content is constantly updated.  The last time I took this course was in 2014 so it was time for an update.  The recent spate of suicides & tragedies in the community last year influenced me & many others to take this course.

            

My classroom was used for the workshop.  I made sure there were enough Kleenex boxes.  The course was attended by several teachers, nurses, and two high school students.  Suicide is a very difficult topic to discuss in Nunavut because the territory is the grip of a suicide epidemic.  I’m not sure what the current rate is, but it’s unacceptably high when compared to the rest of Canada.  Whenever a death by suicide occurs in the North, it affects many people.  Everyone in the North knows at least one family member, relative, and/or friend that died by suicide.  It must not be this way.

            

We received bilingual Participant Workbooks, written in English & Inuktitut.  The workbooks contain valuable information on recognizing suicidal thoughts & behaviours, intervening, and creating a safe plan.  The centrepiece of the course is the Pathway for Assisting Life (PAL), a detailed diagram that explains how to assist someone who is in distress and thinking about suicide.  The instructors trained us how to use it properly.

            

We read, asked questions, took notes, watched videos, role-played, and shared personal stories.  The videos were filmed & produced in Iqaluit.  The most serious & emotional parts were the personal stories because they were real.  The ones who struggled received support everyone. 

In the end, we all came out stronger and united in the fight against suicide.  We received certificates of completion and ASIST stickers to let people know that we received training.  I pasted my stickers on my classroom door.  I do recommend this course if you work in the public & private sectors.  It’s open to anyone.

The online course I took was Conflict Resolution: An Introduction from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).  The American-based company was “[f]ounded in 1943 [and] develops programs, products, and services essential to the way educators learn, teach, and lead.”  Their website offers a variety of online course, books, and other resources for educators.  I did complete an online course of theirs in the past so I decided to give another one a try. 

I took the Conflict Resolution course because I feel I’m not trained enough in dealing with difficult situations.  Maybe I am, but I prefer to be overprepared.  Every person is different so if trouble arises, I would like to have many options to resolve the problem.  The problems can be with teachers, parents, and/or students.  The course did teach me a few methods to use but I made sure to write that their instructional videos need to be updated on the feedback form.  The videos are too old.  

I did some professional reading on the last day of PI Week because I finished the online course early.  The readings dealt with differentiated learning and classroom management.

Qapik.

Two Elders visited Inuujaq School on February 26 to talk to the high school students about bullying, its consequences, and how to stop it.  The Elders were Qapik Attagutsiak and Tommy Tatatuapik.  The talk was held in the math & science room in the afternoon.  The visiting Elders were given two very comfortable chairs to sit on.  Both spoke in Inuktitut.  A few parts were translated into English for the southern teachers.  Students & teachers were allowed to ask questions.  From what I observed, the anti-bullying talk was well-received by everyone in attendance, and the Elders were thanked for talking to the high school students.

          

Tommy.

A soccer camp workshop was held at the school on February 28 & 29.  The workshop was organized by the community’s Hamlet Office.  Two teachers, who are also experienced soccer coaches, flew up from Toronto to instruct students and community members.  I briefly watched the coaches at work with the high school students on the morning of February 28.  The students practiced dribbling in pairs and played a round robin game of soccer.  The students had a lot of fun.  The coaches worked with all classes throughout the day.  The soccer balls & nets the coaches brought up were donated to the school.

            

The two 3045 cadets selected to attend the National Biathlon Competition in Valcartier, Quebec, left on the morning of February 29.  I did not travel with them because there wasn’t enough money for a third plane ticket.  They would meet the other northern cadets & their coach at the airport in Montreal.  The two cadets would be travelling with the same two Iqaluit air cadets from the previous trip in January.  My newly promoted Master-Corporal cadet would be in charge of supervising the other three cadets during travel.  I gave her a quick crash course in effective supervision.

           

I arrived at the airport with Frank to make sure the check in process would go smoothly.  It did.  The cadets were required to travel in uniform.  They looked excited to be travelling to Quebec.  The newly promoted Lance-Corporal cadet would be travelling there for the first time.  She joined the corps in August 2019 and was already on her second out-of-town trip.  I checked to make sure both cadets had all the documents I gave them a few days ago.  I took a photograph of them next to the Inuk hunter mannequin just as the Canadian North plane was taxiing to the terminal.  Their parents, Frank, & I wished them the best and watched them board the plane.  As the plane taxied to the gravel runway, I hoped there wouldn’t be any problems along the way.  I had been promised there would be officers to meet the cadets in Ottawa and Montreal.  They would be out of town until March 9.

            

And finally, the media has been reporting on a new illness that’s been spreading in Asia and Europe.  The virus is called Coronavirus and it’s been hitting China pretty hard since the new year began.  Recently, Italy is seeing a dramatic increase in cases.  There are a few cases in North America but the virus isn’t spreading as fast.  Hopefully, it won’t.  The name makes me think of a virus that makes you addicted to Corona beer.  Apparently, the virus is similar to SARS and other RNA viruses.  I’m thinking this will be another one hit wonder disease like SARS & H1N1.  It’ll come and go.  Sure, many people will get infected but most will recover.  I’ll admit it’s been over a century since the last major pandemic, but maybe major pandemics are a thing of the past? 

The Chinese authorities have locked down Wuhan in the hope of containing the virus.  They even built two new hospitals in a matter of days to combat the virus!  That’s quite an accomplishment.  It takes forever for roads to be repaired/repaved here in Canada.  I wonder if Italy and other countries will be forced to do the same?  Only time will tell.