Final Exams & Summer Plans

The last two weeks were about administering and marking final exams.  My Grade 9 guitarists had it easy; they were only required to play a piece or a few famous guitar riffs (melodies).  For extra marks, several students performed in front of the class.  The Grade 10s had the most work: a theory test and a performance test.  My Grade 11s had to write a two hour English exam in two parts.  The first part was an essay based on the film Stand & Deliver.  The second part dealt with short stories, poetry, and advertising in media.  Most were able to complete the exam in 90 minutes.  And finally, my senior musicians (Grade 11 & 12) just had a performance test to complete.  The performance tests analysed my junior & senior students' abilities to play scales, selected repertoire, and clap rhythms.  My junior percussionists also had to perform several rudiments (the percussion equivalent to scales).

            

When all exams are completed, the teacher is presented with the important task of marking them fairly and adding the mark to the student's overall grade.  Calculating a student's overall grade is a task that requires patience, objectivity, and math.  I spent quite a lot of time going through the calculations and making sure that they were correct.  The last step is to enter all the marks into the school's computer database.  An optional step that I followed is writing a comment in the Comments Section for each student.

            

After exams, the school year was pretty much over for students.  A sports day was held on June 14, and many students & teachers ventured up to the new hockey arena to play soccer.  The rinks had been dried and replaced with green astro-turf.  From what I heard, the competition between teachers & students was intense.  I stayed at the high school to finish inputting my final marks into the school database.  The topic of sports came up again on June 18 in the manner of a sports/athletics award ceremony.  Chosen students received awards for being the best players in soccer, basketball, badminton, and weight lifting. 

            

Over the summer months, Inuksuk High School will be one big construction zone.  The main office, teacher's lounge, cafeteria, library, main foyer, several classrooms, and four main stairwells are being renovated.  I think the outside structure is being repainted as well.  In order to prepare for this, staff have been moving resources and equipment to the areas that will remain untouched.  I made sure to wear plain clothing rather than my formal attire.  You name it, we moved it: tables, chairs, papers, books, posters, photocopiers, etc.  I think I may have added some muscle to my arms.  The selected rooms now look barren & empty.  When I come back in late August, the school may look like a completely different building (more on that later).

            

To celebrate the end of the school year, a year-end staff party was held at a pub called The Elks on Saturday (June 16).  The event was organized as a pot luck and many teachers brought a variety of snacks, dishes, and desserts.  I sampled many dishes and they were all delicious.  It was a little weird walking back to my apartment at midnight because there was still daylight. 

On Sunday (June 17), I jumped at the opportunity to play the new Kawai baby grand piano that was recently shipped to St. Jude's Cathedral.  It felt great to be able to touch a grand piano once again.  For the last 5 months, I have been playing on electric pianos & an electric organ.  The piano sounded great considering that it was tuned by Don Côté, the tuner who looks after the pianos at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.                      

            

The northern communities of Nunavut have been receiving a lot of media attention since the beginning of June because of recent protests over high food prices & expired foods.  In Iqaluit, people are fortunate to have the choice of buying food from three outlets.  That isn't the case for the smaller, more remote communities.  Most of them just have one store, typically a NorthMart.  As I explained in one of my previous posts, NorthMart is like the WalMart of the north.  With only one place to go, residents are forced to pay the prices. 

            

The most expensive items on sale seem to be healthy foods and other necessities.  True, it does cost a little more to airlift food to the north but the prices appear to go beyond shipping costs.  It also doesn't help that unhealthy foods (ex: junk foods) are always cheap and prominently displayed for customers.  As with expired foods, the problem is that several stores are selling them to make money, putting peoples' health at risk.  The most vulnerable are children and the elderly.  I think I may have bought expired fruit once or twice from NorthMart.

            

Not everyone in the north are privileged and have a high paying job with the Nunavut Government like me.  Many live from paycheque-to-paycheque and others barely get by with social assistance, food bank, hunting, and selling Inuit art (carvings, clothes, paintings, etc).  Thus, many cannot afford to regularly buy what is required.  To bring this matter to light, territorial-wide protests were held on June 9.  Several Inuit even protested on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.  The next protest is scheduled for June 21, on National Aboriginal Day. 

            

Leesee Papatsie, an Iqaluit resident, took to the Internet and created a Facebook Group called 'Feeding My Family' with the hope of achieving mass awareness.  Since its creation at the beginning of the month, the group has over 20,000+ members (I'm one of them), and has been mentioned by several high profile newspapers.  Members use the site to debate what needs to be done to solve the issue, and post pictures of items on sale (high price shown) and their grocery bills.  I think the picture of a 24-bottled water package on sale in Grise Fjord takes the cake: $104.99.

            

With the issue now in the spotlight, I can only hope that NorthMart and other food outlets in the north come to their senses and lower prices for healthy foods.  As I read on an Inuit protest sign several days ago, "You're killing the North."

            

The weather has taken a turn for the better with warmer temperatures and clearer skies.  The snow has finally stopped falling, having its last laugh on June 8.  People are walking around wearing shorts and t-shirts.  There still is the occasional winds but they're bearable.  As for the sun, it doesn't disappear.  When 'night' arrives, the sun is always setting.  It's a challenge to fall asleep because my body is accustomed to going to bed when it's dark outside.  Now, it's confused.  To make the transition to REM sleep easier, I take Gravol and face away from the window in my bedroom.

            

Looking ahead, I will be taking a break from the north and spending the summer months in Ontario.  The bulk of it will be spent in Toronto, going to summer school for teachers.  I was accepted for a music course at the University of Toronto and completing it will make me qualified to teach music in Ontario.  I'm flying out on June 23 so my next post won't be until mid-August.  Have an awesome summer and I will see you all in the fall!