My name is Natalie and I am moving to Alaska this year to teach K-2 in a small, native village.
First, has anyone ever had experience teaching in a native village?
Second, what advice do you have for managing a class with multiple grades?
I am currently reading a book about managing small groups, but I'd love to know any other tips you teachers have!
Also, I'm starting a blog about my experience at: http://www.liveteachalaska.com/
Check it out so that you can reply to my questions and share your expert knowledge with more readers.
Thanks everyone!
Managing a K-2 Class
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natalieteacher
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Sally Olsen
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Sorry, I didn't read your blog before I posted. It sounds like you are an experienced teacher with many experiences of teaching in different places so some of the suggestions below won't hold. The Alaska postings give you a very good idea of what you will be getting into. You will have good support with your husband there as well, so it should be a great time for you and the students.
I wrote this as if you were a new teacher, just venturing away for the first time.
Are you also from a native background?
If not, then you are in for a culture shock. If you can manage to go with an open mind and enthusiasm and keep that open mind and enthusiasm you will have a great time. This is a different world. It may seem to be the same on the surface as so many little towns and villages have things that you would have at home but there are many and huge differences.
I think the biggest difference is the attitude towards life that you will not be used to. Things of the land and family are most important there, not materials goods and getting ahead or doing well or achieving or accomplishing something. Not that the students don't want to do that but in different ways and for different reasons. Then there are your values. Do you know yourself and what you believe and what is right and wrong for you? These will be severely challenged. Are you flexible and open to the ideas of others? Are you willing to search and think about things to see other's points of view? Are you willing to adjust a city upbringing and pace to a smaller mainly outdoor based view and different pace of life?
Are you willing to deal with resentment and years of oppression and discrimination and misuse by some of those who have come before you, to recognize where this comes from and not resent those who resent you without knowing you?
Are you resourceful to keep yourself entertained until you fit in with a group and not get lonely and depressed on your own, dealing with sometimes difficult situations? Making friends will take time. I would recommend not sticking with fellow teachers too much unless they are part of the community, if you want to make friends within the community. Some of the teachers, especially ones you have been there for a long time will be able to help you integrate but be careful with your time and friendships and chose those people who are respected in the community, not in the school.
Go gently.
Join everything you can in the community for after school activities and volunteer where you can.
Listen, don't talk for the first six or seven months and then be very, very careful what you say. Everyone is related in small communities so never talk about your students unless you are praising them, even in the staff room.
Look for small successes.
Unless the school has made its own materials, don't use what they give you. Try to stock up on materials that would reflect the situation you are in if possible before you go. There are books written by people from the area, pictures on the Internet that you can copy about their area.
Take a digital camera and printer and make your own books with the children, posters, and so on. Do as much hands on work as you can - cook, do science experiments, crafts, singing (learn local songs).
Learn the language and take lessons from a number of people including the teachers at breaks. Sit at the table where they are speaking the local language even if you don't understand, just to let it wash over you.
Go as a student and keep that attitude as long as you can.
Look at Montessori materials and ideas before you go and try to use them if you can. You can make a lot of the materials or get some of the volunteers to make them for you.
Set up your classroom with stations. There can be a water station, a painting/drawing area, a block station, a playhouse, a book station, a toy station, a math station with hands on materials, a listening station, a computer station, a book making station and so on. As the children come in they choose a station. I have seen a large pocket poster made with pictures of the stations on the top. The children have a card with their picture and put it in a pocket that shows the station they want to visit. Only four children can visit a station at once and they have to move on after a while and move their card to another station. They must visit all stations in the morning. Of course, this will take a month or more for you to establish in their minds, especially the K's. But use the older grade twos to get your ideas across to guide the little ones from station to station. You can set up grade one and two materials in all the stations and make sure the older ones accomplish the curriculum goals by putting their materials in a special box for you to look at and then take home (storing one or two pieces they are proud of in their portfolios to show parents and guests.
Try to get some volunteers at the beginning to help you establish rules and schedules.
Take a break in the middle of the morning for snacks as a group (with talk or video or Youtube video about something interesting) and have a story time and performance time at the end of the morning as a group to end as a community.
Plan something that all the children can do to perform at the end of each semester - a play, a song, showing off science experiments or posters of activities you did.
Keep a journal and pictures of what the children did and add that to your book section in chapters once a week. Make sure the children take pictures and then the older ones can write the captions. You can add this to your lesson plans as well. You can use the pictures to show a child who is not catching on to routines what to do and when.
You can make a picture dictionary with things in their environment. I took a picture of a child in their favourite place and then chose 10 words and drew lines from the object to the word. They can take the camera home with parental guidance and take pictures that you can then label for your dictionary. You can play games with the 10 words, make flash cards, make sentences with the older ones and so on.
Start now and collect materials. Visit retiring teachers and get their materials and ideas (some of which won't work in your situation). Check out thrift stores for toys and educational games. Box them up and send them off. Try to establish some contacts for mentoring and exchange of ideas before you leave and if possible pen pals for the kids. Try to establish a network of support so people will send you materials that you need or help you buy your computer, printer and digital camera before you leave.
Get really warm but light clothes so you can enjoy the outdoors. Get extreme weather clothes because you probably won't be used to the cold.
Really try to find out what people in the community do in the first months of your stay and reflect that in what you are teaching. In the next months try to find out what they value and try to add that in your class.
Ask questions all the time and ask advice immediately from a mentor teacher in your school. Don't wait and try to figure it out on your own. Throw away your ego and pride and think only of the students.
If things go wrong, sit down in the middle of room and calm yourself first. Take longer than you are comfortable to be calm. Take longer than you are comfortable to do anything and change from one thing to another slowly. One of my students took me out in the bush my first week there and we sat we sat for an hour or more without talking. Afterwards I asked him what he had seen and he had seen deer, a raccoon, a snake and several different types of birds. I had seen spiders, black flies and mosquitoes. I tried to remember that when I was changing activities with the children because they often saw and heard different things than I did and experienced the materials and interactions differently than I did or expected they would. Ask what is going on and be patient to wait for the answers to your questions. Their pace of conversation and response is often different than what we have experienced. Getting them to draw something rather than talk about it often works as well.
Take some really hard books to read while you are there, something super challenging for you.
Save up all your money or monetary presents of the future so you can come home and unload at Christmas but buy a return ticket and go back.
I wrote this as if you were a new teacher, just venturing away for the first time.
Are you also from a native background?
If not, then you are in for a culture shock. If you can manage to go with an open mind and enthusiasm and keep that open mind and enthusiasm you will have a great time. This is a different world. It may seem to be the same on the surface as so many little towns and villages have things that you would have at home but there are many and huge differences.
I think the biggest difference is the attitude towards life that you will not be used to. Things of the land and family are most important there, not materials goods and getting ahead or doing well or achieving or accomplishing something. Not that the students don't want to do that but in different ways and for different reasons. Then there are your values. Do you know yourself and what you believe and what is right and wrong for you? These will be severely challenged. Are you flexible and open to the ideas of others? Are you willing to search and think about things to see other's points of view? Are you willing to adjust a city upbringing and pace to a smaller mainly outdoor based view and different pace of life?
Are you willing to deal with resentment and years of oppression and discrimination and misuse by some of those who have come before you, to recognize where this comes from and not resent those who resent you without knowing you?
Are you resourceful to keep yourself entertained until you fit in with a group and not get lonely and depressed on your own, dealing with sometimes difficult situations? Making friends will take time. I would recommend not sticking with fellow teachers too much unless they are part of the community, if you want to make friends within the community. Some of the teachers, especially ones you have been there for a long time will be able to help you integrate but be careful with your time and friendships and chose those people who are respected in the community, not in the school.
Go gently.
Join everything you can in the community for after school activities and volunteer where you can.
Listen, don't talk for the first six or seven months and then be very, very careful what you say. Everyone is related in small communities so never talk about your students unless you are praising them, even in the staff room.
Look for small successes.
Unless the school has made its own materials, don't use what they give you. Try to stock up on materials that would reflect the situation you are in if possible before you go. There are books written by people from the area, pictures on the Internet that you can copy about their area.
Take a digital camera and printer and make your own books with the children, posters, and so on. Do as much hands on work as you can - cook, do science experiments, crafts, singing (learn local songs).
Learn the language and take lessons from a number of people including the teachers at breaks. Sit at the table where they are speaking the local language even if you don't understand, just to let it wash over you.
Go as a student and keep that attitude as long as you can.
Look at Montessori materials and ideas before you go and try to use them if you can. You can make a lot of the materials or get some of the volunteers to make them for you.
Set up your classroom with stations. There can be a water station, a painting/drawing area, a block station, a playhouse, a book station, a toy station, a math station with hands on materials, a listening station, a computer station, a book making station and so on. As the children come in they choose a station. I have seen a large pocket poster made with pictures of the stations on the top. The children have a card with their picture and put it in a pocket that shows the station they want to visit. Only four children can visit a station at once and they have to move on after a while and move their card to another station. They must visit all stations in the morning. Of course, this will take a month or more for you to establish in their minds, especially the K's. But use the older grade twos to get your ideas across to guide the little ones from station to station. You can set up grade one and two materials in all the stations and make sure the older ones accomplish the curriculum goals by putting their materials in a special box for you to look at and then take home (storing one or two pieces they are proud of in their portfolios to show parents and guests.
Try to get some volunteers at the beginning to help you establish rules and schedules.
Take a break in the middle of the morning for snacks as a group (with talk or video or Youtube video about something interesting) and have a story time and performance time at the end of the morning as a group to end as a community.
Plan something that all the children can do to perform at the end of each semester - a play, a song, showing off science experiments or posters of activities you did.
Keep a journal and pictures of what the children did and add that to your book section in chapters once a week. Make sure the children take pictures and then the older ones can write the captions. You can add this to your lesson plans as well. You can use the pictures to show a child who is not catching on to routines what to do and when.
You can make a picture dictionary with things in their environment. I took a picture of a child in their favourite place and then chose 10 words and drew lines from the object to the word. They can take the camera home with parental guidance and take pictures that you can then label for your dictionary. You can play games with the 10 words, make flash cards, make sentences with the older ones and so on.
Start now and collect materials. Visit retiring teachers and get their materials and ideas (some of which won't work in your situation). Check out thrift stores for toys and educational games. Box them up and send them off. Try to establish some contacts for mentoring and exchange of ideas before you leave and if possible pen pals for the kids. Try to establish a network of support so people will send you materials that you need or help you buy your computer, printer and digital camera before you leave.
Get really warm but light clothes so you can enjoy the outdoors. Get extreme weather clothes because you probably won't be used to the cold.
Really try to find out what people in the community do in the first months of your stay and reflect that in what you are teaching. In the next months try to find out what they value and try to add that in your class.
Ask questions all the time and ask advice immediately from a mentor teacher in your school. Don't wait and try to figure it out on your own. Throw away your ego and pride and think only of the students.
If things go wrong, sit down in the middle of room and calm yourself first. Take longer than you are comfortable to be calm. Take longer than you are comfortable to do anything and change from one thing to another slowly. One of my students took me out in the bush my first week there and we sat we sat for an hour or more without talking. Afterwards I asked him what he had seen and he had seen deer, a raccoon, a snake and several different types of birds. I had seen spiders, black flies and mosquitoes. I tried to remember that when I was changing activities with the children because they often saw and heard different things than I did and experienced the materials and interactions differently than I did or expected they would. Ask what is going on and be patient to wait for the answers to your questions. Their pace of conversation and response is often different than what we have experienced. Getting them to draw something rather than talk about it often works as well.
Take some really hard books to read while you are there, something super challenging for you.
Save up all your money or monetary presents of the future so you can come home and unload at Christmas but buy a return ticket and go back.