Crime rates, many preps, Beluga, and my lessons

The locals say the ground floods in the spring when the river melts, gets muddy for half the summer after that, then gets really dry and dusty, and then freezes over again. "Do most of the teachers leave in the summer?" I asked a few juniors; the eyebrow raise, and then, "After school they go." But after talking to an elementary teacher, it seems like there is a split between high school and elementary longevity. One teacher works while her husband does not. He lives the subsistence lifestyle instead, learning from the locals and providing moose and muskox (she offered some for us to take home). Sounds like the life. Also, Terri said the town is very safe, and that is definitely the vibe that I got walking the sunny streets with smiling children on their "snow-gos." There is crime, but she said she is more afraid of bears around here than people. Heck, she's "related to 90% of them," so it's not like she wouldn't know who to blame.
Meanwhile...in school, first hour is PE, taught by the social studies teacher, who also teaches Workplace Basics I, along with a writing class and two different history classes. Talk about multi-tasking. And that's not even bad. The principal at Buckland School is also the librarian, counselor, and assistant principal. The scheduling is not as complex as in a bigger school - but still....she has her work cut out for her.
This picture is also on Mirjam's site. We had a fun time eating muskox (soooo good) and moose at Terri's house, then we went to Gary's house and tried some of this Beluga. It was just the skin and blubber. The meat was given to the elders. This beluga is two years old! For some reason no Native or biologist can explain, the beluga herds are dwindling and not going their regular routes.
I taught two note-taking/caricature/political cartoon US History lessons, one Thursday and one Friday. It was fun. The students did well and I think they'll remember William Howard Taft, especially since I published their humorous caricatures of the Progressive president and his predecessor, TR, in the hallway. The junior class textbook is extremely similar to the 8th grade US History textbook. However, in 8th we skipped the Progressive Era and went straight to WWI. The teacher said some of the students are behind in basic school-like skills, for example, some need a lot of help to write research papers, or do presentations. There are definitely many challenges at the school. Reading comprehension is also difficult for many students. Parent involvement is very low. Getting parents more involved and overcoming old stigmas toward schools is one of the main goals of the district. For example, with the caricature assignment in my 8th grade, the kids asked me if they could take the pictures home and color them. I offered this to the juniors today and they all handed the pictures to me immediately. "You don't want to take it home and make it pretty?" Squished noses.