Jam-Packed Thursday

I think the lack of sleep and the excessively large intake of caffeine over the past few days has finally caught up with me. Today was just as enlightening and exciting as the last few days but I did not have the energy for it. So, because Emily has given a good overview of what we did today in the school and Robin detailed our after-school adventures, I’ll just add in my own personal insights/experiences rather than reiterating everything.

Like yesterday, I spent today exploring the school and other classes rather than staying in the same reading classroom that I spent Monday and Tuesday in. Robin, Emily, and I discussed the teachers and classes we had already seen last night and gave each other recommendations of classrooms to visit. I was a little concerned at the end of the day yesterday that I wouldn’t have time to see everything else today, but things went really well and I saw some neat stuff. The Navajo class was quite an experience; like Emily said, we couldn’t really understand anything, though the teacher did take a few moments to explain to us, in English, what was going on. I had been hoping to hear more spoken Navajo from the students and can think of a variety of reasons why I did not (first week of classes, nervousness in a small class, etc.). Also, I wonder if the students in these Navajo classes are really on the same page as their peer group. After talking with the teacher that I worked with on Monday and Tuesday about her family and experience growing up, I learned that the students at Rock Point come from a variety of backgrounds with respect to language. Some households still speak predominantly Navajo at home, others speak English, and some promote a combination of the two. Though the elementary program now does Navajo immersion, some of the current high school students did not go through it (as it is a more recent development). So, I wonder how the Navajo classes handle such a range of fluency with students. I would have liked to speak with the teacher about this, had we had enough time.

I adored the health class that we observed this morning. Our main motivation for going was that we had seen the teacher coaching the boys’ basketball team on Tuesday night and noticed how enthusiastic she was. The classroom was no exception to this enthusiasm, and she did a great job of getting the students involved in the discussion by relating the topics to the girls. My favorite part of the discussion was about gender identity. The teacher explained that women have the autonomy that they do in Navajo culture because they are not viewed as inherently female and males are not viewed as entirely male. Rather, each individual is the product of his/her mother and his/her father and is thus half his/her mother and half his/her father, thus recognizing no gender difference between a male child and a female child. I really loved this perspective and how enabling it must be for individuals to break out of typical gender roles.

The geography class that we attended (twice today) allowed for the most classroom involvement on our parts. The students were doing an activity that involved transferring information from a handout to a blank map of Europe. I was really hesitant to help at first (as my knowledge of geography is severely lacking) but it was a good reminder of how to handle teaching information that I am not confident about. I also was reminded of another weakness of mine: when I find a student that significantly needs my help (i.e. if I walk away, he/she will be immediately lost again), I find it impossible to walk away. This wasn’t too big of a problem today because there were enough people to help other students (the classroom teacher, Emily, myself, and Adam during one of two periods), but it will definitely be a problem when I have my own classroom and is thus definitely something to keep at the forefront of my mind and work on. Regardless, it was really rewarding to take a break from observing all day and actually interact with and help the students.

I won’t say too much about airbrushing, as Emily already has. The teacher was really great and patient with the students and made sure that they really knew what they were doing. For example, he had them practice taking the equipment apart and putting it back together with their eyes closed to really get familiar with it. I had never seen airbrushing before and thought it was awesome that Rock Point offers it, along with welding, weaving, web design, Navajo, etc.—all things that I would never have gotten to experience in high school. It really drove home the point that this school isn’t somehow primitive because it is on a reservation. Rather, it is just different (in a lot of good ways!).

My lack of energy had me contemplating a nap after school. However, over a wonderful lunch of Navajo tacos in the home ec room hosted by the teacher that I had worked with on Monday and Tuesday, we made plans for a guided climb of Rock Point and then do a group dinner in Kiva Hall, both hosted by this same teacher. I was really delighted that we made these plans because this teacher had been somewhat quiet the first day I worked with her. It helped me to remember that her behavior wasn’t standoffish or unfriendly but just that she needed some time and encouragement to become comfortable with us in the school. The walk over to Rock Point was really nice and gave us an opportunity to learn a lot about the school and this teacher’s experiences growing up on the reservation. Personally, I was pleased with my climb; I got far enough up that I didn’t feel cowardly but stopped before I felt too stupid. The spot we were climbing on was very narrow and very high up, so falling off the side could not end well. Also, the part I got to was a small stretch of nearly vertical climb, and the only spots on which I could step were wet with snow/ice, so I definitely didn’t feel safe climbing any higher. It was frustrating because I was so close to the top, but I reminded myself of the lack of cell phone service and how far away the nearest hospital was, and then felt immediately better about my decision to climb down.

After our climb, we were rewarded with a warm, homemade dinner of mutton and corn stew with (dun dun dun…) FRY BREAD! I can’t claim to have loved the mutton, but I was proud of myself for trying it and was plenty full and satisfied after eating my fair share of fry bread. Afterwards, we went over to the open gym and watched Adam and Brandon play some basketball with some students, some former students, and some adults. It felt good to attend another after-school function and show the students that we truly are interested in what they are doing.

Tomorrow is our last day. Robin managed to convince Mark into letting one car stay behind so that we can stay for the entire day’s classes and he can get a jump start on laundry, cleaning, etc. I’m unsure what exactly tomorrow will entail; Terri and Carol stopped by and warned us that a lot of the students and teachers will be missing for most of the day due to a far away game for basketball. Hopefully we’ll still find plenty to do. It feels like forever since I was home but it also feels like we just got here. I’m sure tomorrow will be full of mixed-emotions.