I have a new mailing address! Just in case anyone wants to send any care packages ;-) It is....
PO Box 280
Chevak, AK 99563
I have my own mailbox key and everything! I must be becoming an adult or something :)
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
We're Here!
Well, Falon and I made it to Chevak, and it's been an adventure already...
Monday morning I woke up to the alarm clock in the bathroom going off an hour and a half before I had planned to get up. I got out of bed and turned it off and then tried to go back to sleep, but mostly just ended up laying there worrying about things until I finally fell back to sleep... and then it was time to wake up again. So I got up, got dressed, and finished some final packing. My mom had packed up an ice chest with some moose and fish along with some other frozen foods. We loaded up the car and headed into Anchorage.
When we got to the airport I checked in, handed over my luggage, and then we met up with Falon and her mom. We chatted for a little bit about our morning and then gave hugs, said, "See you later" to our parents (which was hard), and went through security. It was definitely a little bittersweet. I knew that I was going to my new job and a new adventure, but it was hard to say goodbye (even though it's just see you later! :D) to all of my family and friends for a whole school year (well, until Christmas). Going through the security line was kind of when it majorly set in that I wasn't just leaving to go to college for a few months, but I was actually going out to the bush to teach for my first year....yikes! Once we got through security, it was kind of like...okay, here we go.
Our first flight was to Bethel. It was a regular sized plane, but the entire front half was all for luggage, so we were seated in the back half of the plane. Falon was seated next to a French guy (who was not too shabby looking :D) and apparently he fell asleep with his arm on her leg. She wasn't too terribly upset by it...hehe. We both slept for most of the flight, but it was only just over an hour, so it wasn't long. When we got to Bethel, we got off the plane and walked into a smaller airport than I was expecting. I thought that because Bethel is sort of a hub for flying to other villages and small towns in Alaska, that it would be a bigger airport (or at least big for a village) with more than one terminal...apparently that's not exactly how it works. There were quite a lot of people in there and not a lot of space. We waited by the small baggage claim belt (the one and only in the airport) and watched for our things. We had more than we could carry by ourselves (2 ice chests, 1 tub, 1 small suitcase of food, plus the backpacks we already had on), so we got a dolly. We waited for some people to clear out first before we stepped forward to grab our things off the belt and stacked them on the dolly.
Once we had all of our luggage, we weren't sure where we were supposed to go. We went up to the only counter in the airport and talked to the lady that was there. We found out that the airport building we were in was for Alaska Airlines only, and we had to wait for a shuttle van to come and pick us and our stuff up and take us to the Era/Hageland airport. So we pushed our dolly with our stuff out onto the sidewalk where it was windy, cold, and raining. The van that we were looking for was out there, but the guy had to come back for us because the van was already full. It wasn't a long wait, but we were getting kind of cold standing out there with our stuff in the rain, so we were happy to see the van pull up again.
The airport that we needed to get to was not far from the one we arrived in at all. It was maybe a minute or two down the road. The man that was driving the van was very nice and friendly, asking us where we were from and if we were teachers. He seemed surprised to hear that we were from Alaska, because he's so used to bush teachers being from outside. He was listening to some interesting music for a man of his age, though...I think we heard the end of a Lady Gaga song and the beginning of a rap song while we were in the van...maybe that's the only radio station he had the option of listening to, who knows. It was just kind of funny. If you had asked me, I would not have put that man with that kind of music.
When we got to the airport, the man driving the van helped us to unload our stuff and take it inside. We checked in at the desk and weighed and checked our luggage. So far it sounds like a fairly normal airport, right? But let me put things into a little better perspective for you... This airport is probably about the size of a gas station. At this airport you only have to tell them your name when you check in because they have it on a list. We didn't have to show them ID and we were never given a ticket for the flight. We also never had to go through any kind of security - no metal detectors, no pat downs (thank goodness). You have to tell them how much you weigh because the planes are small and there is a maximum weight limit. The baggage claim in this airport was a small metal ramp. The workers would open a big door and slide the suitcases, boxes, ice chests, etc. down the ramp onto the floor. When it's time for your flight to "board", they announce it over the speaker, saying something like "the flight to Chevak is about to leave, would the passengers please meet the pilot at the door." Then the pilot flying your plane stands at the door and does a roll call of all of the people on his list that are supposed to be on the plane. When he has made sure that everyone is accounted for, you follow him out to the plane.
Now I was pretty well prepared for what the airport and travel experience was going to be like for the most part because of the opportunity I had to substitute teach in the village of Perryville, Alaska last October (you can read about it here), but Falon really didn't know what to expect. I tried to remember this while we were traveling to Chevak so that I could reassure her, but I'm not sure I did a very good job. One of the first things out of my mouth when we stepped out into the wind and the rain in Bethel was, "Well this isn't going to be very fun to fly in." How stupid of me. Falon had never flown on a bush plane and was kind of nervous about it. Sometimes I need to think before I speak. She probably should have given me a swift kick in the pants for that comment ;-)
Anyhow, our flight actually went really well even though the weather was icky. There were 10 people on the plane, including the pilot, so it was a fairly small plane, but not as small as it could have been :) It really wasn't a bumpy plane ride at all, which was good. It took about an hour to get from Bethel to Chevak.
Once we arrived in Chevak we were immediately greeted by the principal and his wife as soon as we got off the plane. They helped us get our things off the plane and loaded into the back of the school truck. They were very friendly and welcoming and definitely made it a good arrival for us into Chevak.
The principal drove us past the school and to our apartment, explaining things about the village and where things were as he drove. He gave us our keys, made sure we got into our apartment alright and that everything looked satisfactory, and left us to unpack our things that had already been delivered and left in our kitchen (thank you, Chevak school maintenance!). I had 3 of my 7 tubs and Falon had 7 of her 8 tubs, so we knew that we were going to be missing some things, but we just didn't know what we would be missing yet.
Falon and I checked out the apartment first. I have to say, it's pretty nice. Of course our shower is a pipe sticking out of the wall with no shower head and the toilet makes a really loud suction noise like your pee is getting sucked out to space when you flush, but that just gives it character ;-) I will be sure to post lots of pictures of it later. We looked in all the rooms and decided which bedrooms we each wanted. Then we got to work unpacking our tubs and putting things away. I had a little bit of difficulty at first, though, because I had drilled holes and zip tied my lids on my tubs....this was good for keeping the tubs from coming open while being shipped.....but was bad when I couldn't find scissors or a sharp object to cut the zip ties off with. Eventually I found some fingernail clippers, but at first I wasn't quite sure how I was going to get my stuff OUT of my tubs. After I solved this little dilemma, it seemed like the stuff in our tubs multiplied as we unpacked it. In the previous post, I talked about how much I hate packing, well unpacking isn't quite as bad, but it can be pretty overwhelming too.
After unpacking for a while, we decided that we were getting really hungry, so we took a break and got out some Marie Calendar's frozen dinners (pretty tasty, by the way). We didn't have a microwave, so we knew that we had to cook something that we could put in the oven. We also didn't have any dishes, so we couldn't eat something that required a plate or bowl. We thought that we had made a pretty good choice until......I started thinking about which tubs I had. I had numbered my tubs and lids, and I was pretty positive that I had my tubs with school supplies, clothing, and bedding in them. I hadn't been able to open them all yet, but I was almost certain that we did not have any silverware. We could eat frozen dinners without dishes, but we couldn't eat them without silverware unless we wanted to eat with our hands....which we didn't.
We talked to one of the other new teachers, Amelia, on the phone to see if she had any silverware to lend us. She was still at the school, so she told us to go next door to our neighbor Stephanie's house (also another new teacher) to see if she had any. She was not home. So we called Amelia back and she said that another teacher who lived down a couple houses had some silverware for us. We were starting to feel pretty silly at this point, but were quickly learning that the bush teachers take good care of one another. What a blessing! So we walked over to another apartment to ask a lady that we had never met before if we could borrow some of her silverware. She was very gracious and told us that if there was anything else we needed to let her know. The people here are so nice, and they have been from the moment we arrived.
So Falon and I walked back over to our apartment, ready to eat. By this point our stomachs were talking to us a LOT because we were so hungry. We walked up the stairs and over to our door, AND.....the door was LOCKED! We hadn't been there but 2 or 3 hours and we had already had to borrow silverware and locked ourselves out of our apartment! Seriously?! We couldn't help but laugh.
Right as we discovered this unfortunate situation, our neighbor Stephanie pulled up on the back of a four wheeler. She was coming back from the grocery store. We told her what had happened and she laughed (who wouldn't, really?). So we went into her apartment to see if she had the number of the principal so that we could call him and have him let us back in. Well, we got to talking, and......about an hour later......we realized that the superintendent was outside playing catch in the road with his son. So we went out and confessed about our little mistake, and he came over with his keys to let us back in.
By this time we were REALLY hungry. We were hungry before, but then more than an hour passed during this whole fiasco. So we got to cooking our frozen dinners right away. Unfortunately, because we had to cook them in the oven, they took 45 minutes! So we got back to unpacking so that we weren't sitting there watching our food cook. Shortly after putting our food in the oven, I got my other tubs open and discovered that what I thought was a tub full of bedding was actually a tub full of......KITCHEN STUFF.....including guess what? dishes and silverware! Of course! So we had that stuff all along, and could have avoided the entire crazy situation....but then we wouldn't have had nearly as good of a story to tell about our first day in Chevak :)
After discovering this we FINALLY got to eat dinner. And we felt much better.
Thankfully, Falon had some extra blankets, so it was able to survive without my bedding for a night.
Oh, and I already have a list of things that I forgot or realized I would need after I got here. I will be sending it to my parents soon :)
So what did we learn from our first day full of adventure in Chevak? The people here are really nice and take good care of you, and it is always good to laugh at yourself.
I promise I will post pictures next time!
Monday morning I woke up to the alarm clock in the bathroom going off an hour and a half before I had planned to get up. I got out of bed and turned it off and then tried to go back to sleep, but mostly just ended up laying there worrying about things until I finally fell back to sleep... and then it was time to wake up again. So I got up, got dressed, and finished some final packing. My mom had packed up an ice chest with some moose and fish along with some other frozen foods. We loaded up the car and headed into Anchorage.
When we got to the airport I checked in, handed over my luggage, and then we met up with Falon and her mom. We chatted for a little bit about our morning and then gave hugs, said, "See you later" to our parents (which was hard), and went through security. It was definitely a little bittersweet. I knew that I was going to my new job and a new adventure, but it was hard to say goodbye (even though it's just see you later! :D) to all of my family and friends for a whole school year (well, until Christmas). Going through the security line was kind of when it majorly set in that I wasn't just leaving to go to college for a few months, but I was actually going out to the bush to teach for my first year....yikes! Once we got through security, it was kind of like...okay, here we go.
Our first flight was to Bethel. It was a regular sized plane, but the entire front half was all for luggage, so we were seated in the back half of the plane. Falon was seated next to a French guy (who was not too shabby looking :D) and apparently he fell asleep with his arm on her leg. She wasn't too terribly upset by it...hehe. We both slept for most of the flight, but it was only just over an hour, so it wasn't long. When we got to Bethel, we got off the plane and walked into a smaller airport than I was expecting. I thought that because Bethel is sort of a hub for flying to other villages and small towns in Alaska, that it would be a bigger airport (or at least big for a village) with more than one terminal...apparently that's not exactly how it works. There were quite a lot of people in there and not a lot of space. We waited by the small baggage claim belt (the one and only in the airport) and watched for our things. We had more than we could carry by ourselves (2 ice chests, 1 tub, 1 small suitcase of food, plus the backpacks we already had on), so we got a dolly. We waited for some people to clear out first before we stepped forward to grab our things off the belt and stacked them on the dolly.
Once we had all of our luggage, we weren't sure where we were supposed to go. We went up to the only counter in the airport and talked to the lady that was there. We found out that the airport building we were in was for Alaska Airlines only, and we had to wait for a shuttle van to come and pick us and our stuff up and take us to the Era/Hageland airport. So we pushed our dolly with our stuff out onto the sidewalk where it was windy, cold, and raining. The van that we were looking for was out there, but the guy had to come back for us because the van was already full. It wasn't a long wait, but we were getting kind of cold standing out there with our stuff in the rain, so we were happy to see the van pull up again.
The airport that we needed to get to was not far from the one we arrived in at all. It was maybe a minute or two down the road. The man that was driving the van was very nice and friendly, asking us where we were from and if we were teachers. He seemed surprised to hear that we were from Alaska, because he's so used to bush teachers being from outside. He was listening to some interesting music for a man of his age, though...I think we heard the end of a Lady Gaga song and the beginning of a rap song while we were in the van...maybe that's the only radio station he had the option of listening to, who knows. It was just kind of funny. If you had asked me, I would not have put that man with that kind of music.
When we got to the airport, the man driving the van helped us to unload our stuff and take it inside. We checked in at the desk and weighed and checked our luggage. So far it sounds like a fairly normal airport, right? But let me put things into a little better perspective for you... This airport is probably about the size of a gas station. At this airport you only have to tell them your name when you check in because they have it on a list. We didn't have to show them ID and we were never given a ticket for the flight. We also never had to go through any kind of security - no metal detectors, no pat downs (thank goodness). You have to tell them how much you weigh because the planes are small and there is a maximum weight limit. The baggage claim in this airport was a small metal ramp. The workers would open a big door and slide the suitcases, boxes, ice chests, etc. down the ramp onto the floor. When it's time for your flight to "board", they announce it over the speaker, saying something like "the flight to Chevak is about to leave, would the passengers please meet the pilot at the door." Then the pilot flying your plane stands at the door and does a roll call of all of the people on his list that are supposed to be on the plane. When he has made sure that everyone is accounted for, you follow him out to the plane.
Now I was pretty well prepared for what the airport and travel experience was going to be like for the most part because of the opportunity I had to substitute teach in the village of Perryville, Alaska last October (you can read about it here), but Falon really didn't know what to expect. I tried to remember this while we were traveling to Chevak so that I could reassure her, but I'm not sure I did a very good job. One of the first things out of my mouth when we stepped out into the wind and the rain in Bethel was, "Well this isn't going to be very fun to fly in." How stupid of me. Falon had never flown on a bush plane and was kind of nervous about it. Sometimes I need to think before I speak. She probably should have given me a swift kick in the pants for that comment ;-)
Anyhow, our flight actually went really well even though the weather was icky. There were 10 people on the plane, including the pilot, so it was a fairly small plane, but not as small as it could have been :) It really wasn't a bumpy plane ride at all, which was good. It took about an hour to get from Bethel to Chevak.
Once we arrived in Chevak we were immediately greeted by the principal and his wife as soon as we got off the plane. They helped us get our things off the plane and loaded into the back of the school truck. They were very friendly and welcoming and definitely made it a good arrival for us into Chevak.
The principal drove us past the school and to our apartment, explaining things about the village and where things were as he drove. He gave us our keys, made sure we got into our apartment alright and that everything looked satisfactory, and left us to unpack our things that had already been delivered and left in our kitchen (thank you, Chevak school maintenance!). I had 3 of my 7 tubs and Falon had 7 of her 8 tubs, so we knew that we were going to be missing some things, but we just didn't know what we would be missing yet.
Falon and I checked out the apartment first. I have to say, it's pretty nice. Of course our shower is a pipe sticking out of the wall with no shower head and the toilet makes a really loud suction noise like your pee is getting sucked out to space when you flush, but that just gives it character ;-) I will be sure to post lots of pictures of it later. We looked in all the rooms and decided which bedrooms we each wanted. Then we got to work unpacking our tubs and putting things away. I had a little bit of difficulty at first, though, because I had drilled holes and zip tied my lids on my tubs....this was good for keeping the tubs from coming open while being shipped.....but was bad when I couldn't find scissors or a sharp object to cut the zip ties off with. Eventually I found some fingernail clippers, but at first I wasn't quite sure how I was going to get my stuff OUT of my tubs. After I solved this little dilemma, it seemed like the stuff in our tubs multiplied as we unpacked it. In the previous post, I talked about how much I hate packing, well unpacking isn't quite as bad, but it can be pretty overwhelming too.
After unpacking for a while, we decided that we were getting really hungry, so we took a break and got out some Marie Calendar's frozen dinners (pretty tasty, by the way). We didn't have a microwave, so we knew that we had to cook something that we could put in the oven. We also didn't have any dishes, so we couldn't eat something that required a plate or bowl. We thought that we had made a pretty good choice until......I started thinking about which tubs I had. I had numbered my tubs and lids, and I was pretty positive that I had my tubs with school supplies, clothing, and bedding in them. I hadn't been able to open them all yet, but I was almost certain that we did not have any silverware. We could eat frozen dinners without dishes, but we couldn't eat them without silverware unless we wanted to eat with our hands....which we didn't.
We talked to one of the other new teachers, Amelia, on the phone to see if she had any silverware to lend us. She was still at the school, so she told us to go next door to our neighbor Stephanie's house (also another new teacher) to see if she had any. She was not home. So we called Amelia back and she said that another teacher who lived down a couple houses had some silverware for us. We were starting to feel pretty silly at this point, but were quickly learning that the bush teachers take good care of one another. What a blessing! So we walked over to another apartment to ask a lady that we had never met before if we could borrow some of her silverware. She was very gracious and told us that if there was anything else we needed to let her know. The people here are so nice, and they have been from the moment we arrived.
So Falon and I walked back over to our apartment, ready to eat. By this point our stomachs were talking to us a LOT because we were so hungry. We walked up the stairs and over to our door, AND.....the door was LOCKED! We hadn't been there but 2 or 3 hours and we had already had to borrow silverware and locked ourselves out of our apartment! Seriously?! We couldn't help but laugh.
Right as we discovered this unfortunate situation, our neighbor Stephanie pulled up on the back of a four wheeler. She was coming back from the grocery store. We told her what had happened and she laughed (who wouldn't, really?). So we went into her apartment to see if she had the number of the principal so that we could call him and have him let us back in. Well, we got to talking, and......about an hour later......we realized that the superintendent was outside playing catch in the road with his son. So we went out and confessed about our little mistake, and he came over with his keys to let us back in.
By this time we were REALLY hungry. We were hungry before, but then more than an hour passed during this whole fiasco. So we got to cooking our frozen dinners right away. Unfortunately, because we had to cook them in the oven, they took 45 minutes! So we got back to unpacking so that we weren't sitting there watching our food cook. Shortly after putting our food in the oven, I got my other tubs open and discovered that what I thought was a tub full of bedding was actually a tub full of......KITCHEN STUFF.....including guess what? dishes and silverware! Of course! So we had that stuff all along, and could have avoided the entire crazy situation....but then we wouldn't have had nearly as good of a story to tell about our first day in Chevak :)
After discovering this we FINALLY got to eat dinner. And we felt much better.
Thankfully, Falon had some extra blankets, so it was able to survive without my bedding for a night.
Oh, and I already have a list of things that I forgot or realized I would need after I got here. I will be sending it to my parents soon :)
So what did we learn from our first day full of adventure in Chevak? The people here are really nice and take good care of you, and it is always good to laugh at yourself.
I promise I will post pictures next time!
Saturday, August 6, 2011
How to Pack for VAK
Packing is one of my least favorite things to do. Somehow I always seem to be packing right at the last minute and it just stresses me out. (To be honest, I think that I wait until the last minute because I hate packing and it stresses me out, but it probably stresses me out because I wait until the last minute....it's a self inflicted, vicious cycle.) Well, in order for my things to be in Chevak when I get there, I had to pack and ship my stuff about 2 weeks before heading out, myself. I have since decided that I wish all trips were like that. If I had to pack my luggage and send it to wherever I was going 2 weeks ahead of time, then I wouldn't have to worry about it, and I could avoid the last minute pack and stress routine :) Since I sent off my tubs, I have really not had to worry or stress about anything that I needed to do/pack/shop for, and I have been able to focus on spending time with my family and friends and enjoying my last couple of weeks at home, which has been wonderful. Definitely the way to pack.
I got all of my stuff (well mostly all) to fit into just 7 tubs to ship off to Chevak. I'm sure there will be things that I find I need once I get there, and then I will have to call up my mother dearest and have her ship them to me, but I won't worry about that just yet :) Less is more!
All of my tubs fit nicely into the back of my jeep. Pretty impressive, I think!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
I'll start at the beginning. It's a very good place to start!
Well, as many of you may already know, my good friend Falon and I will be teaching in the village of Chevak, Alaska this coming school year. It will be the first year of full time teaching for both of us (we each spent the past semester/year substitute teaching). I will be teaching 6th grade English and language arts, and Falon will be teaching Kindergarten. We are going to be roommates as well as colleagues (and partners in crime), so we will be together in this adventure and once in a lifetime experience. I'm not sure, however, that many people know how this all came about. So let me start from the beginning...Before you begin, though, I should just forewarn you that this is a LONG post...proceed at your own risk :)
This past school year, Falon and I both began substitute teaching in our school district. We both started to get quite a bit of work and had established some schools and teachers that would call us on a regular basis. It was great experience to have, and really helped us both to gain more confidence in our teaching abilities. At the end of a day of subbing, you may not have any work to take home with you, but you also have different classrooms, different students, different rules, different grades, etc., etc., etc. all the time and you constantly have to adapt. It can be extremely challenging. I have had several people say to me, "If you can survive being a substitute teacher, you can survive anything." I guess I have a little better understanding of just what they mean by that now. It does make me feel kind of proud of myself that I can say I survived a year of substitute teaching, and I feel a little more accomplished to have that under my belt. And it certainly helps me feel a little better prepared to be in my own classroom full time. I think this past year of substitute teaching gave me the confidence boost I needed to feel ready for full time teaching. If nothing else, at least it looks good on my resume, right? ;-)
While Falon and I were both enjoying subbing, we were also both anxious to have our own classroom. We kept our ears open for possible job openings and opportunities in the district this year, hoping that we might get hired as teachers here. Unfortunately, as the pattern tends to go in Alaska, (or at least in our school district) you usually have to do some time subbing and/or teaching in the bush before you can get into the school system. You have to put your name and your face out there first, which makes sense I guess....I mean, principals probably want to know you're a good teacher before they hire you :) Well, we had both done a good bit of subbing (I began subbing at the beginning of the year, and Falon began subbing after Christmas when she had finished her student teaching), and people within the district were starting to know who we were, but.....the job prospects weren't looking too good. That's not to say for certain that there were not going to be any new job openings in the fall, but that would mean not knowing whether or not we would each have a job for the entire summer, and then if we did get hired it could end up being just days before school started, which is certainly a stressful situation to be in. While I did enjoy my year of substitute teaching, I was not sure that I was really thrilled about doing it for two years in a row.
During our year in the wonderful world of substitute teaching, Falon and I kind of started our own little tradition. Just about every Friday (or every other Friday, depending on our schedules) we would get together for dinner and a movie. First of all, after a week (or two) of subbing, we felt that we deserved to treat ourselves to eat out somewhere. During our dinners together, Falon and I would swap subbing stories with one another. We would update each other on how our week went, share crazy things that had happened to us, give each other tips and advice, discuss what we had heard about possible job openings, and generally encourage one another in our teaching endeavors. We were kind of like our own little support group. Second of all, Falon and I are basically preferred customers at the local movie theaters around here...we are kind of movie going enthusiasts ;-) so it was always a fun way to end the week, and I always looked forward to it.
Something that was also very helpful this past year was advice from my big brother. He has been a 5th grade teacher now for 4 years, and he had to substitute teach for 2 years before he got a teaching job. He is not that far removed from doing just exactly what I've been doing (subbing, networking, interviewing, etc.), so he was very helpful in knowing things that I should and should not do in my efforts to get a teaching job. He was able to tell me the mistakes he had made in the process so that I could avoid them, as well as things that he had done right that really helped him so I could benefit from that knowledge too. It also didn't hurt that people knew I was related to him :)...my last name was already familiar. He's a good teacher (and a pretty good big brother too :D) and that made me look good by association I suppose.....hey, I'm not complaining! :)
I actually ended up doing a lot of subbing for my brother in his classroom because he was in the middle of getting a master's degree in administration and had to be gone a lot for principal hours, so I would fill in. It was great teaching experience. Because I was subbing for my brother he gave me a few crash courses in things like entering grades, using the Promethean board, etc. that I wouldn't necessarily have gotten to do subbing in other classrooms. Also, because I was subbing for my brother I could call or text him during the day if I had a question or a problem (or a student causing trouble...hehe) and the students knew that he was going to hear how things had gone in the classroom that day, so they couldn't pull one over on me...not that they didn't try ;-) By the end of the year I had subbed so much in his classroom that I felt like his students were partly my students too. I subbed in other classrooms and for other teachers too, of course, but I felt like I had a lot of opportunities and chances to learn things in his classroom that I didn't have in other classrooms. It was a pretty sweet little deal, I have to say, and I am really thankful for the experience.
Falon also had her share of connections. Her mom is a first grade teacher and Falon did half of her student teaching in a school within our district, so she knew several teachers before she ever started subbing. We both know our fair share of teachers, principals, school district employees, etc. Falon's mom is a teacher in the district, Falon's uncle was a principal in the district, my brother is a teacher in the district, my brother's mother-in-law is a teacher in the district, several people in our church are teachers and principals. We both had a lot of people within the teaching community looking out for us, encouraging us, supporting us, praying for us, and rooting for us.....which is how we heard about the job fair where we got hired.
Falon was friends with a teacher at the school where her mom worked who had taught near Point Hope (near Barrow, Alaska.....WAY north). She told Falon about a teacher job fair that happens every year in Anchorage where all of the school districts from the entire state of Alaska (village schools as well as local schools) come to interview and hire teachers. She encouraged Falon to think about possibly teaching somewhere in the bush (specifically Point Hope), because she had really enjoyed and valued her experience. Falon told me about the job fair and we both decided to go together. We got to work filling out online applications, updating our teaching portfolios and resumes, brushing up on our interviewing skills, and preparing ourselves for the job fair. We sat at my dining room table with all of our papers spread out, and compared notes about what we were including in our portfolios, how we were formatting our resumes, what we were writing in our cover letters, etc. until we felt pretty confident about what we had to bring with us to the job fair. It was a lot of work, but it felt good (and was pretty impressive, I thought) to see myself, my experience, and what I had to offer on paper....hey, I'd hire me! ;-)
The day of the job fair rolled around and we got up bright and early, dressed in our spiffy interview outfits, and drove into Anchorage feeling anxious, excited, and nervous. We weren't really sure what to expect, or what was going to happen. We didn't really go into the job fair with the plan of getting a job teaching in the bush, but we were open to the possibility. We just knew that there was no guarantee in either of us getting a teaching job in our own school district, so we wanted to explore our options. We figured that IF we were going to teach in the bush, now would be the time in our lives to do it. The one thing we did know for sure was that if we were going to teach in the bush somewhere, we were going together. We were a package deal, and we made that clear with every school we talked to.
Falon and I talked to several different schools and districts. At every table we went to, we told them we were looking for two elementary teaching positions at the same site and that we were willing to be roommates. Some of the schools looked at us like we were crazy to think we could find two elementary openings at the same place, and some of the schools were very enthusiastic about it, because when a teacher has the built in support system of a friend in a remote village, they are more likely to have a good experience and will do a better job teaching.
We went to just about every single table in the job fair, and talked to nearly all the schools that were represented. It was actually a pretty exhausting process. We basically said the same thing over and over and over again....we're elementary ed., we graduated recently, we've been substitute teaching in our district, we're looking for two elementary positions at a site together...yada, yada, yada. Thankfully, our efforts were not fruitless :) We had several interested schools and dropped off lots of resumes. We had interviews with the North Slope school district and the Bristol Bay school district on the first day, and scheduled interviews with a Pribilof Island school and Chevak school for the next morning. It's always a good feeling when someone expresses interest in hiring you - they've seen something in you that they like and are impressed by - and makes you feel just a little more confident in yourself. Falon and I left the job fair on the first day feeling pretty confident about our job prospects. And if we didn't end up getting a job offer, at least we had we had received a lot of positive feedback and gained some great interviewing experience.
We were really excited about Pribilof Island because the people at that table (a husband and wife) were very friendly and enthusiastic. We even got to meet their daughters, who were really sweet too. It just seemed like it would be a very neat place to go. Chevak wasn't really on our radar as much (except for the fact that we had an interview with them). To begin with we thought that if we got hired, we wanted it to be in Pribilof.....obviously God had a little bit of a different plan for us :)
The next morning we drove back into Anchorage for our interviews with Pribilof and Chevak. We got there early so that we could have time to research the schools a little bit and go into the interviews with some knowledge of the places we were interviewing for. Our first interview was with the Pribilof school. They had brought in some students from the school to take part in the interviewing process, so we had a chance to talk with them as well. It was a very comfortable and conversational interview. We felt like we did well in our interview, but there was also a couple that was interviewing for the position too, and we just didn't know what would happen. After that, we had our interview with Chevak, which was a little more intimidating. The superintendent of the school, the principal, and two or three other school officials were there. Although we were nervous at first, we left the interview feeling really good about how we had done. We felt like we had answered the questions and presented ourselves well. The superintendent told us that they had a few more interviews left to do and they wanted to give all the applicants a chance to interview before offering teaching positions to anyone, but they would be calling us within the next few days. We weren't completely sure, but that kind of sounded to us like they already knew they wanted to offer us a job. We didn't want to get our hopes up too soon, but we were optimistic. Now all we had to do was wait to hear back from both schools.
Falon and I started driving back from Anchorage discussing how great it would be if we got teaching jobs, and what it would be like to live and teach in a native village. When we were about halfway through our drive home, we got a call from the Pribilof school. They told us that it had been a really difficult decision, we had done a great job, and they had really liked us, but they were going to offer the teaching positions to the couple that had interviewed. Up to that point, I was really not totally sure how serious I was about the whole teaching in the bush thing. I figured it couldn't hurt to interview for the jobs and see what happened, but I didn't know how I would feel when it really came down to it. After we got that phone call, though, I was really bummed. We were both really bummed. We had kind of gotten excited about the possibility of teaching in Pribilof, and were disappointed when we were not offered teaching positions. I realized that I must have been more serious about teaching in the bush than I had originally thought. I think the fact that Falon and I would be in this together made me way more open to the possibility Falon and I drove in disappointed silence for a while after that (about 20 minutes :D).
It wasn't but 20 minutes after our phone call from Pribilof that we received another phone call.... It was the superintendent of Chevak school. He was calling to offer us both teaching positions (Falon a Kindergarten position and me a 6th grade English and language arts position). We were so shocked. We had thought that we weren't going to hear from them for the next few days, and here it was, not but 2 hours after our interview that we were being offered jobs. We hadn't really been thinking about what would happen if we were offered teaching positions in Chevak because we had been busy thinking about Pribilof. We told him that we would like to go home and talk to our families first before we made a final decision....and of course (as you already know), we decided to accept the teaching jobs! :D
After we accepted our teaching jobs in Chevak, people came out of the woodwork with all kinds of connections that we had no idea about. Falon's uncle knows people in Chevak from when he used to work and travel to the different villages, a lady in our church knows the lady who is going to be our teacher mentor and has talked to her about us, one of my dad's close pastor friends (he's my friend too :D) knows the family that owns one of the stores in Chevak, one of my friends as well as one of the teachers at the school where Josh works both know one of the high school teachers in Chevak, a man at our church who is a Trooper travels out to Chevak sometimes and he also knows the Trooper who is in charge of Chevak, and the list goes on. We have also since discovered that there were several new teachers hired at Chevak school this year, and Falon and I are not the only ones who are first year teachers, so we will not be alone, and we will have a support group of new Alaska bush teachers. Needless to say, I think we ended up in the right place, and what was meant to happen happened.
So that's the whole story of how our teaching jobs in Chevak came about. I guess that God really knew what He was doing and He certainly had a plan for us.....not that that should suprise me or anything, but I'm only human. Sometimes I forget that if I just leave it up to the Lord, He is going to lead me in the right direction. It is certainly reassuring to know that I am going where I'm meant to be for now. I am nervous, but also excited for this new adventure. I know that it is going to be an amazing experience. And I know that I will have many people encouraging me, supporting me, and praying for me. I am truly blessed.
This past school year, Falon and I both began substitute teaching in our school district. We both started to get quite a bit of work and had established some schools and teachers that would call us on a regular basis. It was great experience to have, and really helped us both to gain more confidence in our teaching abilities. At the end of a day of subbing, you may not have any work to take home with you, but you also have different classrooms, different students, different rules, different grades, etc., etc., etc. all the time and you constantly have to adapt. It can be extremely challenging. I have had several people say to me, "If you can survive being a substitute teacher, you can survive anything." I guess I have a little better understanding of just what they mean by that now. It does make me feel kind of proud of myself that I can say I survived a year of substitute teaching, and I feel a little more accomplished to have that under my belt. And it certainly helps me feel a little better prepared to be in my own classroom full time. I think this past year of substitute teaching gave me the confidence boost I needed to feel ready for full time teaching. If nothing else, at least it looks good on my resume, right? ;-)
While Falon and I were both enjoying subbing, we were also both anxious to have our own classroom. We kept our ears open for possible job openings and opportunities in the district this year, hoping that we might get hired as teachers here. Unfortunately, as the pattern tends to go in Alaska, (or at least in our school district) you usually have to do some time subbing and/or teaching in the bush before you can get into the school system. You have to put your name and your face out there first, which makes sense I guess....I mean, principals probably want to know you're a good teacher before they hire you :) Well, we had both done a good bit of subbing (I began subbing at the beginning of the year, and Falon began subbing after Christmas when she had finished her student teaching), and people within the district were starting to know who we were, but.....the job prospects weren't looking too good. That's not to say for certain that there were not going to be any new job openings in the fall, but that would mean not knowing whether or not we would each have a job for the entire summer, and then if we did get hired it could end up being just days before school started, which is certainly a stressful situation to be in. While I did enjoy my year of substitute teaching, I was not sure that I was really thrilled about doing it for two years in a row.
During our year in the wonderful world of substitute teaching, Falon and I kind of started our own little tradition. Just about every Friday (or every other Friday, depending on our schedules) we would get together for dinner and a movie. First of all, after a week (or two) of subbing, we felt that we deserved to treat ourselves to eat out somewhere. During our dinners together, Falon and I would swap subbing stories with one another. We would update each other on how our week went, share crazy things that had happened to us, give each other tips and advice, discuss what we had heard about possible job openings, and generally encourage one another in our teaching endeavors. We were kind of like our own little support group. Second of all, Falon and I are basically preferred customers at the local movie theaters around here...we are kind of movie going enthusiasts ;-) so it was always a fun way to end the week, and I always looked forward to it.
Something that was also very helpful this past year was advice from my big brother. He has been a 5th grade teacher now for 4 years, and he had to substitute teach for 2 years before he got a teaching job. He is not that far removed from doing just exactly what I've been doing (subbing, networking, interviewing, etc.), so he was very helpful in knowing things that I should and should not do in my efforts to get a teaching job. He was able to tell me the mistakes he had made in the process so that I could avoid them, as well as things that he had done right that really helped him so I could benefit from that knowledge too. It also didn't hurt that people knew I was related to him :)...my last name was already familiar. He's a good teacher (and a pretty good big brother too :D) and that made me look good by association I suppose.....hey, I'm not complaining! :)
I actually ended up doing a lot of subbing for my brother in his classroom because he was in the middle of getting a master's degree in administration and had to be gone a lot for principal hours, so I would fill in. It was great teaching experience. Because I was subbing for my brother he gave me a few crash courses in things like entering grades, using the Promethean board, etc. that I wouldn't necessarily have gotten to do subbing in other classrooms. Also, because I was subbing for my brother I could call or text him during the day if I had a question or a problem (or a student causing trouble...hehe) and the students knew that he was going to hear how things had gone in the classroom that day, so they couldn't pull one over on me...not that they didn't try ;-) By the end of the year I had subbed so much in his classroom that I felt like his students were partly my students too. I subbed in other classrooms and for other teachers too, of course, but I felt like I had a lot of opportunities and chances to learn things in his classroom that I didn't have in other classrooms. It was a pretty sweet little deal, I have to say, and I am really thankful for the experience.
Falon also had her share of connections. Her mom is a first grade teacher and Falon did half of her student teaching in a school within our district, so she knew several teachers before she ever started subbing. We both know our fair share of teachers, principals, school district employees, etc. Falon's mom is a teacher in the district, Falon's uncle was a principal in the district, my brother is a teacher in the district, my brother's mother-in-law is a teacher in the district, several people in our church are teachers and principals. We both had a lot of people within the teaching community looking out for us, encouraging us, supporting us, praying for us, and rooting for us.....which is how we heard about the job fair where we got hired.
Falon was friends with a teacher at the school where her mom worked who had taught near Point Hope (near Barrow, Alaska.....WAY north). She told Falon about a teacher job fair that happens every year in Anchorage where all of the school districts from the entire state of Alaska (village schools as well as local schools) come to interview and hire teachers. She encouraged Falon to think about possibly teaching somewhere in the bush (specifically Point Hope), because she had really enjoyed and valued her experience. Falon told me about the job fair and we both decided to go together. We got to work filling out online applications, updating our teaching portfolios and resumes, brushing up on our interviewing skills, and preparing ourselves for the job fair. We sat at my dining room table with all of our papers spread out, and compared notes about what we were including in our portfolios, how we were formatting our resumes, what we were writing in our cover letters, etc. until we felt pretty confident about what we had to bring with us to the job fair. It was a lot of work, but it felt good (and was pretty impressive, I thought) to see myself, my experience, and what I had to offer on paper....hey, I'd hire me! ;-)
The day of the job fair rolled around and we got up bright and early, dressed in our spiffy interview outfits, and drove into Anchorage feeling anxious, excited, and nervous. We weren't really sure what to expect, or what was going to happen. We didn't really go into the job fair with the plan of getting a job teaching in the bush, but we were open to the possibility. We just knew that there was no guarantee in either of us getting a teaching job in our own school district, so we wanted to explore our options. We figured that IF we were going to teach in the bush, now would be the time in our lives to do it. The one thing we did know for sure was that if we were going to teach in the bush somewhere, we were going together. We were a package deal, and we made that clear with every school we talked to.
Falon and I talked to several different schools and districts. At every table we went to, we told them we were looking for two elementary teaching positions at the same site and that we were willing to be roommates. Some of the schools looked at us like we were crazy to think we could find two elementary openings at the same place, and some of the schools were very enthusiastic about it, because when a teacher has the built in support system of a friend in a remote village, they are more likely to have a good experience and will do a better job teaching.
We went to just about every single table in the job fair, and talked to nearly all the schools that were represented. It was actually a pretty exhausting process. We basically said the same thing over and over and over again....we're elementary ed., we graduated recently, we've been substitute teaching in our district, we're looking for two elementary positions at a site together...yada, yada, yada. Thankfully, our efforts were not fruitless :) We had several interested schools and dropped off lots of resumes. We had interviews with the North Slope school district and the Bristol Bay school district on the first day, and scheduled interviews with a Pribilof Island school and Chevak school for the next morning. It's always a good feeling when someone expresses interest in hiring you - they've seen something in you that they like and are impressed by - and makes you feel just a little more confident in yourself. Falon and I left the job fair on the first day feeling pretty confident about our job prospects. And if we didn't end up getting a job offer, at least we had we had received a lot of positive feedback and gained some great interviewing experience.
We were really excited about Pribilof Island because the people at that table (a husband and wife) were very friendly and enthusiastic. We even got to meet their daughters, who were really sweet too. It just seemed like it would be a very neat place to go. Chevak wasn't really on our radar as much (except for the fact that we had an interview with them). To begin with we thought that if we got hired, we wanted it to be in Pribilof.....obviously God had a little bit of a different plan for us :)
The next morning we drove back into Anchorage for our interviews with Pribilof and Chevak. We got there early so that we could have time to research the schools a little bit and go into the interviews with some knowledge of the places we were interviewing for. Our first interview was with the Pribilof school. They had brought in some students from the school to take part in the interviewing process, so we had a chance to talk with them as well. It was a very comfortable and conversational interview. We felt like we did well in our interview, but there was also a couple that was interviewing for the position too, and we just didn't know what would happen. After that, we had our interview with Chevak, which was a little more intimidating. The superintendent of the school, the principal, and two or three other school officials were there. Although we were nervous at first, we left the interview feeling really good about how we had done. We felt like we had answered the questions and presented ourselves well. The superintendent told us that they had a few more interviews left to do and they wanted to give all the applicants a chance to interview before offering teaching positions to anyone, but they would be calling us within the next few days. We weren't completely sure, but that kind of sounded to us like they already knew they wanted to offer us a job. We didn't want to get our hopes up too soon, but we were optimistic. Now all we had to do was wait to hear back from both schools.
Falon and I started driving back from Anchorage discussing how great it would be if we got teaching jobs, and what it would be like to live and teach in a native village. When we were about halfway through our drive home, we got a call from the Pribilof school. They told us that it had been a really difficult decision, we had done a great job, and they had really liked us, but they were going to offer the teaching positions to the couple that had interviewed. Up to that point, I was really not totally sure how serious I was about the whole teaching in the bush thing. I figured it couldn't hurt to interview for the jobs and see what happened, but I didn't know how I would feel when it really came down to it. After we got that phone call, though, I was really bummed. We were both really bummed. We had kind of gotten excited about the possibility of teaching in Pribilof, and were disappointed when we were not offered teaching positions. I realized that I must have been more serious about teaching in the bush than I had originally thought. I think the fact that Falon and I would be in this together made me way more open to the possibility Falon and I drove in disappointed silence for a while after that (about 20 minutes :D).
It wasn't but 20 minutes after our phone call from Pribilof that we received another phone call.... It was the superintendent of Chevak school. He was calling to offer us both teaching positions (Falon a Kindergarten position and me a 6th grade English and language arts position). We were so shocked. We had thought that we weren't going to hear from them for the next few days, and here it was, not but 2 hours after our interview that we were being offered jobs. We hadn't really been thinking about what would happen if we were offered teaching positions in Chevak because we had been busy thinking about Pribilof. We told him that we would like to go home and talk to our families first before we made a final decision....and of course (as you already know), we decided to accept the teaching jobs! :D
After we accepted our teaching jobs in Chevak, people came out of the woodwork with all kinds of connections that we had no idea about. Falon's uncle knows people in Chevak from when he used to work and travel to the different villages, a lady in our church knows the lady who is going to be our teacher mentor and has talked to her about us, one of my dad's close pastor friends (he's my friend too :D) knows the family that owns one of the stores in Chevak, one of my friends as well as one of the teachers at the school where Josh works both know one of the high school teachers in Chevak, a man at our church who is a Trooper travels out to Chevak sometimes and he also knows the Trooper who is in charge of Chevak, and the list goes on. We have also since discovered that there were several new teachers hired at Chevak school this year, and Falon and I are not the only ones who are first year teachers, so we will not be alone, and we will have a support group of new Alaska bush teachers. Needless to say, I think we ended up in the right place, and what was meant to happen happened.
So that's the whole story of how our teaching jobs in Chevak came about. I guess that God really knew what He was doing and He certainly had a plan for us.....not that that should suprise me or anything, but I'm only human. Sometimes I forget that if I just leave it up to the Lord, He is going to lead me in the right direction. It is certainly reassuring to know that I am going where I'm meant to be for now. I am nervous, but also excited for this new adventure. I know that it is going to be an amazing experience. And I know that I will have many people encouraging me, supporting me, and praying for me. I am truly blessed.
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