My First Week (so far)

Tuesday: I had a great day with my class! We started off the day with a breakfast program, snacking on yummy biscuits made by another teacher  One difference from home was that the children arrived on their own schedule... only a few were present at the bell, but they slowly trickled in throughout the first hour.  Mr. H started off the day by reading aloud from a novel.  I thought this was really funny, because they are reading "Maniac McGee" which is a book that my grade 6's in Amherst were reading for their literature circles.  Small world!
The afternoon was definitely the highlight of the day!! The weather warmed up enough for us to be able to go out on the land and do some cod fishing.  The local Inuit ladies were kind enough to lend me some extra clothes and fur mitts, to ensure I would be warm enough.  We all piled onto the local snowmobiles and qamutiks (wooden sleds hooked to the back) and headed out to the frozen Soper Lake.  Once there, the men drilled holes in the ice and the children started fishing.  They used fishing line with a large hook on the end, tied to a wooden stick.  One girl in my class showed me their fishing technique, which involved lowering the line into the water and then quickly jolting it up again.  Repeating this motion over and over, many children were quite successful!  One girl, Meeka, caught 7 or 8 fish one right after the other...  what a pro!! It was such an awesome experience.  I also found it humorous that the children were listening to bands like "Down with Webster" on their IPods the whole time.  What an interesting collaboration of traditional and modern culture!

Wednesday: The theme for today would have to be "never a dull moment".  We started the morning off with an unexpected fire drill... in VERY cold weather!  We decided to dance the Hokey-Pokey to keep warm, while waiting to get back inside.  While there wasn't an actual fire in the school, there were many "fires" that needed to be put out within the classroom this morning.  One student even became so angry that he threw over his desk and stormed out of the room.  Shortly after, another issue arose and a student knocked over a large table.  While these incidents were shocking at the time, they were not completely unexpected.  My teacher and I have had discussions about the lack of anger management strategies the children possess, and some of the personal issues they may be dealing with.  This is simply a reality of teaching in the North.
While the morning was quite rocky, I had a great afternoon with my class!! The students are beginning to warm up to me and are talking with me in English much more (before they would only speak in their language, Inuktitut, and I'm not completely sure if they were asking questions or secretly teasing me)!  There are some great little personalities in our room and I'm becoming very fond of my students already!  We had a great music class together this afternoon, where they ang some of their favourite songs for me (I caught one performance on video).  Rosalie and I ended the day with a school team meeting and then a quick shopping trip to the local Co-Op.
*Ps: here is a picture of the cute puppies we see everyday on our walk to school: