Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Cross Country

Our XC schedule
Sept 4th: Akiachak (overnight)
Sept. 11th: Kwethluk (day trip)
Sept. 18th: Bethel (overnight) Personal best for Trevor (4th grade)
Sept. 25th: Chevak (Regionals-only Jackie, my senior went. I didn't even go,)
Personal best for Jackie Joekay!!!

This year cross country was much better than last year. I was the only coach which made practices much smoother. I had a core 4 students who were my team. Of course, there were close to a dozen students on my cross country roster, but they were hit and miss for practices.

In order to travel students have to be academically eligible, have a physical, and have 10 practices under their belt. This year we are also allowing students to start traveling at 4th grade. So, at the beginning of our cross country season I told the students the criteria and said that we may only have so many spots on a plane for travelers, so spots would be picked based on participation, attitude, and performance. When the week of our first meet arrived their was some surprise when the only 2 students who qualified for competition were 4th graders. No one else had enough practices to qualify. I had four available seats, so I took those 2 and 2 high schoolers who were only missing a few practices because they started late in the season.

Those are the 4 students that traveled the entire season. I have to say that my little elementary students held their own. Only one of the four meets we went to actually had an elementary race, so they had to run in the junior high category at all the other meets. From the start to the end of the season they made great improvements.


XC is also the start of my traveling season. Who wouldn't look forward to traveling with students, spending the night on classroom floors, eating school food, and whittling away the weekend going and coming by boat and plane? I'll let you know. So XC may be over, but NYO (Native Youth Olympics) just started this week and I am usually the lucky chaperone for NYO.

Year Two

Well, I am back in Oscarville for Year Two. I have been back since the second week in August and am only now getting around to writing a new post. Naughty naughty me.

Coming back this year was wonderful. As soon as I hit our slough, I felt as though I was home. There are some changes this year, new principal, new junior high teacher, no roommate, and many other changes along the way. So far so good. No complaints on this end.

I will say that as soon as CranBerry hit Oscarville soil she forgot all her training and went to her village roots of being a wild child. She has calmed down a bit over the last month or so, but she certainly knows she is home here and acts accordingly.

This year I have 8 high school students. I do not teach any junior high classes this year (Yippee); however, I am coaching junior high robotics (FLL). Robotics is all new to me. I have high school and junior high for some sort of Robotics, so I definitely have to step up my game and accept the challenge of learning about the technology behind robotics. Yepper, I am not the same tech-shy gal I once was. Thank goodness. LKSD is a tech-savy district which constantly pushes me to learn more. The students are in the know when it comes to technology, so they are an incredible resource for me.

Friday 6 of my students and I are going to another school district to demonstrate FLL (J.H. Robotics). It should be fun and motivating.