For the first full week of March, I had to slightly tweak my lesson plans because several of my students were away at the Arctic Winter Games (AWG) in Whitehorse, Yukon. From the news that was trickling out of Whitehorse, Team Nunavut was doing its best and had managed to win many medals. Overall, Nunavut came 7th out of 9 with a total of 50 medals: 5 gold, 16 silver, and 29 bronze. Team Alaska came 1st, raking in a whopping 190 medals: 61 gold, 67 silver, and 62 bronze. I think it's because they have the money to provide the best training facilities and best athletic instructors.
For Grade 9 guitar, it was more testing and looking at notes on the third string. For Grade 11 English, we looked at grammar and sentence writing, specifically on how to avoid run on, empty, and padded sentences. These kinds of sentences were present in the students' short stories, so it was a good idea to address them. In senior music, we continued to practice the three Irish tunes I chose for the upcoming recess concert on March 16th, and as an added bonus, The Pink Panther Theme. Because of the AWG, my Grade 10 music class was rather small so most of the lessons were one-on-one, looking at playing techniques and what was going to be on the midterm exam.
In the middle of the week, I was contacted by Rus, an English minister of the local Anglican Church. He was looking for a keyboardist/organist to play for Sunday morning mass. The non-Inuit & Inuit congregations were using a parish hall to hold their masses until the opening of the new church in June. Even though I didn't have experience playing an organ, I decided to give it a try. Rus showed me the electric organ, with all its dials & pedals and we chose what hymns I would play. He said not to stress out and that if I were to play just simple chords, I would be fine. Nevertheless, I spent quite a lot of time practicing and reviewing on Saturday night. For my first performance, I restricted myself to playing on the lower keyboard and not using any of the pedals. The morning mass went well despite my mistakes and I was glad the congregation was forgiving. It only gets better from here, I reminded myself. It was decided that I would play every second Sunday.
After mass, I was invited to morning brunch at the Hotel Arctic where I ordered eggs Benedict with char. I spoke with several ladies who also came along, listening to their stories about living & working in Nunavut. All of them wished me the best with my temporary teaching position and urged me to stay in the north because there's always well paying opportunities. I took their advice under consideration.
The second week of March began with a three-day in service for teachers, meaning students had no school from Monday to Wednesday. The focus of the in service was to introduce teachers to a new curriculum titled 'Multiple Options' (MOs), where students would be given many more choices on courses and a better chance to graduate. But this would also increase the number of credits required to graduate. At the moment, a student needs 100 credits. With the new curriculum, a student will need 110 credits. The Department of Education was planning on rolling out the new curriculum in 2013, after many years of study and research. The first two days comprised of presentations, workshops, and Q&A sessions, lead by two people from the department. The third day was left to us to discuss & plan. We also used the third day to hold a staff meeting.
The handouts explained that the MOs were divided into six sections that students could pursue. They also explained that more trade skill courses such as welding and mechanics would be introduced and expanded. But the most striking fact for me was that French was slowly being pushed from being a compulsory course to an elective. The new curriculum was promoting bilingualism as English - Inuktitut.
Overall, the in service received mixed reviews from the teaching faculty, because many of our questions were left unanswered. This was because the curriculum documents still hadn't been finalized. As well, several teachers questioned whether MOs were really necessary and whether all the strands could be offered in the more remote communities. It was suggested that the government look into setting up distance learning courses over the Internet.
Thursday felt like Monday because I hadn't seen my students for five days. Thursday was also the principals birthday so to celebrate, free ice cream was given to students in the cafeteria during morning recess. For Grade 11 English, I handed back the students their poetry writing assignments. Several of them were so good that I posted them on the pegboard in the hallway. With the poetry unit behind us, we began the novel unit, looking at the classic Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. I hadn't read the book when I was in high school but I had heard much about it. It's still one of the most challenged books in school due to its use of profanity.
For senior music, we played through the three Irish I had chosen for Friday's morning recess concert. I was glad that we did because right before the lunch bell, Terry, the principal, came on the PA and announced that afternoon school was cancelled due to the arrival of a blizzard. I was surprised because the weather was calm in the morning. Since there are very few windows in the school, one can easily lose track of time and have no idea what the weather is like outside.
The weather had cleared up by Friday, which was a good sign because I really wanted to showcase the musical talents of my senior students. I was glad to see several of my students wearing green. Many of them were nervous and jittery because they had never performed a morning recess concert. They also added that nobody would be listening and they would be made fun of. I reassured them that there would be students and teachers listening and we would be applauded rather than booed. And, to make sure that they wouldn't back out at the last minute, I mentioned that their participation would count towards their overall performance mark.
Just as a I thought, a crowd had assembled in the main foyer, all wondering why there were chairs, stands, and a drum set on the small stage. We all took our places and took a deep breath. I played drums for the first and third pieces: March of the Irish Guard and The Irish Washerwoman. I only conducted the second piece, Irish Tune from County Derry. Our performance was well received by everyone, through applause & cheers, and I personally congratulated my seniors for a job well done. As we moved back up to the music room, several teachers came up to me and said that the music sounded great. It definitely was a nice way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
On Saturday, the 17th (the actual St. Patrick's Day), I received five care packages from my parents down south. The boxes contained clothing, food, cutlery, and other kitchenware items. Receiving these needed items saved me money & time. Thanks Mom & Dad! Even though one gets paid very well here in the north, it's always a good idea to have items shipped up from the south because it's cheaper and there're more selections. There are many airlines that offer cargo services but the best choice at the moment is First Air. Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping Inc.handles all cargo transport by boat.
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