Weathered in...

I was supposed to go to Bethel this afternoon with the second-year teachers (this is the one inservice that both first- and second-year teachers have to go to, so I'd have had company on the plane, for once!), but we're weathered out. It feels weird because the weather here is great... blue sky (might see the Northern Lights tonight!), no wind (for once), 20 degrees (which actually feels nice because of the aforementioned lack of wind). Bethel, however is apparently foggy and crappy, or was when they made the decision to cancel the inservice.

Did I say cancel? Oh, my bad. I meant switch to video conference. Yes, I get 7 1/2 hours of video conference tomorrow. We'll be sitting in either the library or a classroom, staring at a TV, trying to interact with what's going on on the screen. I know it's the best they can do in the given situation... but I don't even like TV that much, much less TV that's actually a meeting. BLEH.

Hmm... I just got the Harry Potter box set (books 1-5). I'll have my laptop... maybe I can hide the book behind the screen. Kidding, of course, but I'm going to have to consume a lot of coffee to keeep myself functional for a SATURDAY of video conference fun. I'll probably compose a few extra blog entries tomorrow, just for the heck of it. I've got some topics I've been thinking about.

Bitching mode off. Thank you for indulging me.

There's been a bit of conflict between two people at school, both of whom I professionally respect a lot. Like a good little first year employee, I'm trying my darndest to stay out of it, but it does raise some interesting stuff for my brain to ponder... personal and professional lines around here are are very blurred. Case in point, last night we had those students over for dinner just because we felt like they needed some grown-up time. In a lot of places, that's very much inappropriate and "crossing the line" for teachers. But in an isolated village of 550(ish) people, nothing can be totally and completely professional. The personal always manages to creep in. In some ways this is good, in some it's bad. It's just different than what I both grew up with and was trained with as a teacher. Some people in my school of education cohort didn't feel comfortable having parents know their home phone number, much less having students drop by unannounced just to "visit."

I really like it in some ways. I think that it's healthy in a certain respect. Our students feel comfortable with us that they can stop by if they need a place to hang out. Getting used to being called "Sara Number Two" or just "Sara Mac" has been a little weird. Now, there's one kid who calls me "Ms MacDonald" and I kind of wonder why. People aren't big on last names here. I guess pre-white people, no one had a last name, and that has carried over somewhat. Everyone has a last name, but they're not used as frequently as in other places, and it doesn't carry the same meaning. Even the oldest, wisest, most respected elders are still referred to by their first names.

I kinda like it.