A view from the school library at around 9:30.

A typical front yard in Buckland. Dog sled, dogs (a team was to my right), and caribou hides.

The community store. Open until 6:00pm, closed on Sundays. Pictures of the produce aisle to come later.

Basketball and hike...

Basketball Saturday night - awesome! And pictures from our hike. We were really warm in all our clothes. Of course we rarely found places to walk easily. Mirjam gave up and started crawling on all fours to get to the mountain. We fell many times on our bellies when the hard crust of the snow broke through, jutted against our locked knees and toppled us. Yes, it was awesome. A picture of Mirjam on the ground looking up at the hill we never reached. And in the picture where Mirjam is kneeling, I think you can see Buckland in the very distance...what were we doing out so far with no means of communication? Being Alaskan!

Landing in Buckland

Here are some pictures as we landed in Buckland. Koorvik Creek is all ice, just like the ocean. I wonder if there is any Beluga left to try?

Saturday flights(sss), Basketball, Sunday sleep and hike!

What a fun trip! I loved the small plane from Kotzebue to Buckland. Terry met us in Buckland and showed us around "down town" and "up town." Told us about her dog named "Puppy" and showed us a huge log her husband had pulled in from many miles away where trees actually grow.

Saturday night at 9:00 is women's basketball night at the gym ($1.00 to play). I had a blast playing with the friendly and inviting women - and they were the cleanest basketball games I've ever played. We played game after game until about 11:00pm.

Sunday I slept, ate, and went on a very long hike with Mirjam. Let's just say we did not make it to our destination, and were relieved to make it back to the school before the last rays of sun left the hillside.

Entry 2: Before Travel, Expectations and Goals

Flying Era to Buckland in three days! I am getting a lesson together (comprised of pictures about my classes), thinking about what books I want to take, reading about the history of Buckland, and creating a survey for my fellow classmates about their expectations. I have many pre-conceptions and ideas about Bush Alaska. I have many connections to the State Troopers and have heard several stories about the underbelly of rural life. However, no such stories originate from Buckland, so that is encouraging. I have this strange expectation that students and the school will be "behind" the students and school here, meaning the 8th grade study of US History probably hasn't gotten through the Civil War yet, or middle grade English classes are still working on sentence structure instead of essay writing. I know these are probably ignorant and biased assumptions. But I am interested to see how far Buckland classrooms have gotten in the curriculum at this point in the year. I guess these assumptions spur from what I think I know about Native culture - that it is paced more slowly and seasonally than white urban life (fast and busy all the time!). Perhaps the rural classroom focuses on quality instead of quantity. I also expect that rural teachers direct lessons to Alaska Natives and their culture specifically, and use more hands on and place based teaching than urban teachers. However, I will be interested to see how often teachers actually have a chance to connect lessons, say, on "pronouns," to Native culture.

My overall professional goal during this trip will be to come away with documented first-hand experience in alternative ways of knowing and learning, including a focus on teaching Native language, culture and environment knowledge. I want to have a realistic view and understanding of rural life so I can better help Alaska Native students contribute to and succeed in the urban setting.

Entry 1: Before Travel

I am so excited! I have never been to Buckland or near Kotzebue Sound. I have traveled north into the Brooks Range for a 100 mile hiking trip, canoed the Yukon River twice from Dawson City to Circle, and lived in Unalaska for two years in high school. I have traveled to Bethel, Nenana, Ninilchick and many other villages and cities to play basketball, and I hope I get to play with Nunachiam Sissuani students. For the past three summers my husband has been part of a beach set net crew in Clam Gulch, pulling in thousands of pounds of silver salmon to pay for college. We have moose breakfast sausage in our fridge along with crab and shrimp from our friends in Prince William Sound. I truly love Alaska and all that it has to offer, and I am truly honored to be able to take part in village life and perhaps try some Caribou jerky.

I hope that someday Alaska school districts can learn to honor subsistence lifestyles and alternative ways of knowing, along with the vast cultural and traditional knowledge Alaska Natives hold of this amazing land and its animals and resources. The required rural practicum for student teachers is a great step in this direction. I am ready to learn all I can about rural lifestyles, students and teachers. Let the relationships begin!

3/5/10