More Photos! And Teaching...

http://picasaweb.google.com/stacey.speers/PowWow30Jan?authkey=Gv1sRgCLqUw6za35iBfw#
Click on this link to view the rest of my powwow pictures! 

I also wanted to add a little about my job here in Chisasibi.  I was really glad to return to school after a week of being "responsable de maison"(house manager)  so I guess I came back with a fresh new perspective!  We put an envelope in the window, asking teachers to put in requests if they want help and I got one from a Grade 4 English class. 
She requested a volunteer for a period a day, which Im more than happy to accomodate!

Monday, I helped with a social sciences class.  It was neat because I kind of got to learn with the children since I'm not overly farmiliar with the subject, but I think I did a really good job presenting the information and giving it to them in a way that they can remember it do something. "Theyre really visial learners," the teacher said.  So I wrote notes on the board with little pictures to go along.  I tried to make the notes as short and concise as possible so that it was ok to understand as well.  If I were to do it again, I'd have the kids read it back to me to be sure they know what it says.

There's also one boy that enjoys lots of attention, so he does things like "I'm done!" (when hes not) or just walking around class, and  I was able to be stern enough with him that he listened, but he also didn't hate me by the end of the day.  I also found that a setting such as Chisasibi is a really challenging place to teach, since education isn't their number one year of high school hepriority.  In the high school, for example, there is  one class of about 10 that show up in Secondary 5 (gr.11, the last repriority.  In the high school, for example, there is  one class of about 10 that show up in Secondary 5 (gr.11, the last )  Drop outs, I guess are a foreign concept to me, so the more people I can help to enjoy school, the happier I am.

After class yesterday, the teacher came up to me and told me that I do a really good job with the kids, interacting with them, disciplining them and she thinks I'll be a really good teacher some day.  She said she'll write a letter for me too!
More than anything, I've impressed myself.  I just get up there in front of that class like it's nothing.  Back at home, every time I'd have an oral presentation to do, I'd go all red and blotchy, stutter a little but do it anyway (and get good marks since I always put effort into them)  But for some reason, in this setting, even when I know so little about what I'm about to present, I feel perfectly comfortable.  I think it has a lot to do with the kids here.  They look up to me.  Which is really sweet.

I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to do with my life... (at least a great deal of it!)