Weblog » Archives » May 2002

  • I made it to Minnesota at 6 am on Sat. the 25th. It was kinda funny, my Mom had her days mixed up and thought I was coming in on Friday. She had left a message at my cousin's saying "where the hell is Mark" Just kiddin…

  • Another beautiful day in Anchorage. I ran some errands, got a haircut, and then headed down to the university to check email and write. I am thinking of riding along down to Whittier with a friend. It would be a picture…

  • Anchorage, at UAA, contemplating the meaning of life! Part 4- Summer Vacation. It seems that as long as there has been summer, there have been summer vacations, and if you are a school teacher, or otherwise associated …

  • I am in Anchorage, on Rand R for a few days before flying back to Minnesota for a month. It is nice to have the 01-02 school year behind me. It was a roller coaster year and one day I will look back and smile, but for …

  • no more students, no more books no more aides, dirty looks it is summer time hoorrayy!!!!! Row ,row, row your boat gently down the stream (the Yukon) throw the students overboard and listen to them scream. On top o…

  • The Last Day of School Yahoo-- it is the end of the year in Mountain Village and it feels good. It seemed to go fast, but I will be the first to admit that at times I wish it would go faster. Yippy- Now it is summer v…

  • The Wanderer and His Shadow I often ponder the meaning of my existence ( and it is clear to me that there is no inherent meaning to it) and I wonder how the passage of time comes into play my thoughts about my life (ex…

  • Reflections on Current Contentions (and other thoughts on MV) I just went up to check my mail and I am not sure what is going on. I have been expecting certian pieces of mail for 8 weeks and I look in my ox and nothing.…

  • Well Here it is the end of the week and I feel fine. The 2001-02 school year started back on Aug 20th and now here I am with 6 days left to go. It was all very surreal back in August. It was my dream coming true, but I…

  • So I have decided to go to Kotlik next year. Kotlik is a small community about 90 miles NW of Mountain Village on the Bering Sea coast. I will be teaching 6th grade in a self-contained classroom. I will take a chance to…

  • Another weekend is history and as usual it went by very fast. But at this point I am happy when time seems to go fast. The sooner Friday may 17th rolls around the sooner I will get on with the next phase of my life. I s…

  • Education and Meaning. Many of you know that I teach in rural Alaska and all of my students are Yup'ik Eskimo. It goes without saying that the western model of education is often very foreign to the students. Many of …

  • A Method of Learning to Write Well ...when my Father happened to find my papers...he took occasion to talk to me about the manner of my writing, observed that although I had the advantage of my antagonist in correct …

  • Plan for the end of the Year. There are 10 days left in the school year in Mountain Village and I am getting kinda excited. I will be slowing wrapping things up and also trying to schedule a few fun things for the kid…

  • Shorld Teachers Have The Authority To Remove Disruptive Students Permanently? As I wind down my firts year of teaching in rural Alaska (Mountain Village) I find myself comtemplating one of the great weaknesses in this …

  • Teaching and Learning are very Personal. A very dear friend of mine (my mentor and academic advisor) once told me that "knowledge is learned not taught". A person could interpret however they wish, but I would suggest …

  • 11 days left and it looks like I will make it out of Mountain Village with my sanity. the super came down to see me today we cleared up some issues with my addendum contracts and now I am happy again. I will be going t…