Blessed

     Hi, all!

     As usual, time as flown and here it is, December, the semester almost over. It's been an eventful few months for our village and our school district. As many of you know, I've transferred downriver to Mountain Village, where I teach in the same capacity: 7-12 grade sciences. We've gone from a levelized system to a more traditional credit-based one where students receive a grade of A-F. Overall, it has been a greatly involved but wholly worthwhile change.

A beautiful fall view of my new home, Mountain Village, from the top of Cupcake.

Surrounding area.

I'm a fan of the winding side sloughs of the river. Following those bumps on the horizon will get you to three other villages in our district, or so I'm told. 

     The kids seem to be happier overall this year. One former Marshall student even said to me, "The work is harder, but I do more, and my grades are better than last year. It's good now." (There was a fancy conversion from levels passed to a GPA, so kids did get some kind of a grade at some point.) Another girl came to me with a thank you letter she'd written on behalf of the volleyball team to one of their sponsors. She said, "I just thought we should do this, because they helped us so much. Does it look okay?" In several ways, kids deserve more credit than we give them.

A 7th and an 8th grader wanted to help me get water from
the pump house. Later, they took me on a walk down by
the beach.

     Five minutes into my first city league basketball game this year, I managed to pop my medial meniscus, or "shred" it, according to the surgeon. There was no foul play; only my two feet and the floor were involved. Many thanks to Brittnay and Sam, who literally carried and carted me around after it happened!

     That, combined with the opportunity to speak at the Bilingual and Multicultural Education Equity Conference in late November, caused me to be out of my classroom for the majority of November - twice for over a week each time. Add in Thanksgiving week, and I taught a whopping 7.5 days that month! It was too few for me.

No one can say we don't get VIP treatment out here:
ERA workers wheeled me into the airport as I went into
Anchorage for surgery the following day. 

     I worried and felt guilty about being away from "my" kids; I've discovered this fall that I really do love this job and didn't want to leave them for that long. (This is a good sign, right?) I suppose that's a silly sentimental teacher thing to think, but it's true. Plus, how one successfully plans for 7 days of classroom work without much guidance that doesn't just include books and worksheets, yet still provides learning and keeps them on the newly adopted curricular map... well, you get the picture. It is neither fun nor easy.

Six days post surgery, Jamie (right), a 5th Grade teacher, and I spoke at the
 BMEEC about how using Constructing Meaning has helped our students.
I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

Kids hard at work building circuits. Once they got them done, they asked if
they could build more complicated ones. Sure, why not? I'm sure Grandpa Al
would do a much better job than I did!

     I needn't have worried. The kids worked so hard on their projects while I was gone. When I returned, kids rushed to see if I was really back, shouted "HI, WELCOME BACK, STOTZ!" and ran off. That was cute, but when class actually started, they were more concerned about showing me their work, making sure things were correct, and asking if they could add certain elements of creativity. It really was adorable and a bit unexpected.

     I'm sure many of you have heard about the tragedy of the recent plane crash bound for Mountain Village. It has affected all of us, and its timing is what inspired me to write tonight. Even with all the (mostly good) stress of this school year, I feel truly blessed to be where I am, with the job I have, with a bum knee and generous friends who continue to take care of me in that regard, with an iffy water situation, working with some pretty humble people who do awesome things for our students. Sometimes, one just needs to acknowledge those blessings. Take 10 seconds to consider your own blessings. Heck, take 20. What are they? Don't you feel better now? What if we all started our days that way?

     I do have a request of you. I'm trying to figure out what this blog is or should be. Do you like the stories and summaries? Want more pictures and less journal-like yammering and reflection? Would you rather I post about the realities - both good and bad, funny and sad - of teaching? Let me know. I think sometimes I put off writing because I'm not sure what y'all want to hear. Feel free to email me or leave a comment below.

     I hope this finds you all warm and preparing for the holiday season, whatever that means to you.

     'Tis the season...to know that you are blessed.