Working at KIHS on-reserve has provided me with expected challenges and unexpected surprises. Students spanning an area of hundreds of miles converge on our lovely Moodle platform, speaking to us though our computers. It is amazing to see how even subjects not normally conducive to pen, paper or word processor can be offered: art, physical education, science with live experiments, and music!
KIHS has so many ways to reach out, communicate, and interact with the community members: on-line, Facebook, a phone that leads to a dead dial tone if it’s not in the mood! Also, the moccasin trail, local radio, or the big daily meet at the Northern.
From my tiny little trailer classroom I get the privilege, particularly in winter, of watching the sun rise and set every day. It is a city privilege long forgotten. I walk a lot in the wee hours of the day. Crunchy or squeaky feet beat in the packed-low snow of silent mornings, smoke rising in cozy columns from the warm houses, blue and pink bands meeting and greeting the eastern sky, maybe a setting full moon…. I walk alone, but still have company: the birds, little tweeters and crows caw-cawing, an eagle flying so close above, you can hear and feel the phfhttttt-phfhttttt of the air pushed down from its awesome wingspan strokes.
Dogs on the rez come in breeds that stretch the imagination and categories: crosses, mixes, loveable mutts. Lots of huskies, German shepherds, a Chihuahua, one St. Bernard, and a newly arrived electric blue-eyed Siberian husky. These beautiful creatures keep me active and entertained on my rez walks. I usually have 2-3 canine guardians every morning waking me as they pounce around my steps on the path to school. Beautiful animals with the most gentle nature (as long as you don’t take away their food!)
Snowshoes, ice fishing, walks on the land. Broomball, ice-road, and the excitement of a game out of town. A blowtorch on my trailer-home doorknob when the lock freezes me out! Native humor, jokes, and laughter rise up at the foot-clomping meeting at the Northern check-out aisle.
KIHS Students show an amazing variety and array of talents: musicians, artists, really good writers; poets, parents, elders trying to show the way, and students on a journey to find themselves: I’ll give it a try. Students at KIHS have also taught me a few new things: “Anita you gotta have Netflix over the winter,” or “I watch educational videos on Youtube,” or “Did you leave your water running to avoid the pipes freezing up?”; or - my fav - “X-marks the spot; yellow snow is not for eating.”
Communication changed from my first year at KIHS to now: from the elementary students’ “What’s yer name?? (Huh, huh??) with a slightly snarly “under investigation” tone….. to “Hi, Anita!!” shouted from today’s fresh snow hill.
When I came back for my second year, the first question I got from previously-silent adults, in the Poplar Hill airport was, “Oh good, you’re that new teacher at KIHS……welcome back to Poplar Hill!!!!”
…Then I knew something had changed: I’d arrived.
KIHS has so many ways to reach out, communicate, and interact with the community members: on-line, Facebook, a phone that leads to a dead dial tone if it’s not in the mood! Also, the moccasin trail, local radio, or the big daily meet at the Northern.
From my tiny little trailer classroom I get the privilege, particularly in winter, of watching the sun rise and set every day. It is a city privilege long forgotten. I walk a lot in the wee hours of the day. Crunchy or squeaky feet beat in the packed-low snow of silent mornings, smoke rising in cozy columns from the warm houses, blue and pink bands meeting and greeting the eastern sky, maybe a setting full moon…. I walk alone, but still have company: the birds, little tweeters and crows caw-cawing, an eagle flying so close above, you can hear and feel the phfhttttt-phfhttttt of the air pushed down from its awesome wingspan strokes.
Dogs on the rez come in breeds that stretch the imagination and categories: crosses, mixes, loveable mutts. Lots of huskies, German shepherds, a Chihuahua, one St. Bernard, and a newly arrived electric blue-eyed Siberian husky. These beautiful creatures keep me active and entertained on my rez walks. I usually have 2-3 canine guardians every morning waking me as they pounce around my steps on the path to school. Beautiful animals with the most gentle nature (as long as you don’t take away their food!)
Snowshoes, ice fishing, walks on the land. Broomball, ice-road, and the excitement of a game out of town. A blowtorch on my trailer-home doorknob when the lock freezes me out! Native humor, jokes, and laughter rise up at the foot-clomping meeting at the Northern check-out aisle.
KIHS Students show an amazing variety and array of talents: musicians, artists, really good writers; poets, parents, elders trying to show the way, and students on a journey to find themselves: I’ll give it a try. Students at KIHS have also taught me a few new things: “Anita you gotta have Netflix over the winter,” or “I watch educational videos on Youtube,” or “Did you leave your water running to avoid the pipes freezing up?”; or - my fav - “X-marks the spot; yellow snow is not for eating.”
Communication changed from my first year at KIHS to now: from the elementary students’ “What’s yer name?? (Huh, huh??) with a slightly snarly “under investigation” tone….. to “Hi, Anita!!” shouted from today’s fresh snow hill.
When I came back for my second year, the first question I got from previously-silent adults, in the Poplar Hill airport was, “Oh good, you’re that new teacher at KIHS……welcome back to Poplar Hill!!!!”
…Then I knew something had changed: I’d arrived.