Cops, boats and wacky kids

I am starting with an update about gun safety here in Cape Dorset. The other day an RCMP member came to the house with a pamphlet on firearm safety and told me about a program in which they are distributing free trigger locks for guns here. Yay!!!! I think this is a great thing and I hope everyone uses one properly.

The last couple of days have been sealift days, which are always exciting around town as the stores get new stock and there are a host of new vehicles out and about. We got our sealift, which came mixed in with Margot’s school’s order. So it is a mixed blessing for her in that she has had to deal with it along with teaching. It has added allot to her already busy day. I wish I could help more but, well, I am down the hill at my school all day. My understanding of what they had to do was unload a large sea can into and around the school and separate various personal and school items. Then Margot and her friend who works at the school, Lisa, had to move all our stuff out of the middle of the school and pack it into a crate that she will board back up and wait for a forklift to deliver to the house for a fee. It is quite an undertaking. It’s very frustrating that they did not pack everything separately. I am sure Margot will elaborate on this procedure in the future.

Halloween was super fun! Lily dressed up in her princess dress on Friday that Mama sent from her house in BC at daycare. The kids all took the school bus up to Margot’s school for a costume parade that I hear was a very frustrating because it took SOOOO long. Margot said her kids sat for an HOUR before they could do a parade. When Lily got there she sat with her classmates for a bit then went up with Margot’s class for the parade. Afterwards she spent a few minutes in her class while she dismissed her class and then went home with her. After dinner we all headed back up to Margot's school because she volunteered to help supervise a dance the grade 6 class had planned for the older grades in her school. Lily had a blast! She loves kids and dancing so it was a hit. She was quite sad having to say goodbye early to her mom and the kids though. The dance ended much later than her bedtime of 7:30. Even with leaving early she didn't go down until 8:30.

Trick or Treating was dictated by the hamlet to be Saturday night from 6 pm to 8:30 pm. As you all know, Halloween was Sunday. I do like though that we all know when the kids are coming and there weren’t any after 8:30 pm which was nice. After dinner we got Lily all dressed up in her Monkey costume that goes over her winter clothes and headed out with the stroller. In the beginning she wasn’t a big fan but once she realized that she got to have a Ticky Loopy (lolly pop) and play with all the kids, she loved trick or treating. We were out for an hour or so and thought we should head home to hand out some candy to the kids. That, and it was getting quite cold. So we get home and Lily insists on handing out candy to everyone which was very funny. I found it odd and bit frustrating that the adults also trick or treat, even without kids. Very strange indeed. Getting Lily down was a bit of a chore because she was so jacked up but once we did Lisa, a friend who works with Margot came over and we had a nice visit and a WII dance party. It was a very good night.

School is going well for the most part. Crazy kids all jacked up on co-op days free candy last week (the stupidest idea ever) and Halloween this week. Having taught at a small rural school in Northern BC last year, I had a haunch what I was getting into this year, as did Margot, but I sure do feel bad for some new teachers this year who are really struggling. There are few resources for us to use and those that we do have are quite out of date. Most everything we use is book based so it is a challenge to get the kids doing hands on work. In science, we don’t have the materials to do labs and such which is a shame considering that many of the kids struggle with reading and writing. Many of us teachers who are new to Nunavut have also noticed that the kids really struggle with the idea of original thought and creativity. They don’t do well with group work or discussions. I realize they are English as a Second Language (ESL) but I think it may be more cultural. Their oral history is about telling stories that actually happened, not fictional myths or moral stories. I also don’t think there is the emphasis on literacy at home that I am used to. There are of course many more reasons but the end result is a bit frustrating when I am teaching anything that requires creativity. It is a long slow process, but one that I feel is worthwhile so I keep plugging away. I must say though, the students all love work sheets and this is a problem as I think most of the new teacher’s that I know try to avoid them.

Sorry, no pictures because blogger is using a new program to upload photo's and seems to be having problems. No worries, we'll post them soon.



Gotta run; hope all is well in your life!

-Richard