Some KWL for the trip

What I want to see (prioritized somewhat):

1. Learning
2. Teaching
3. Monument valley one more time
4. An starlit sky with no light pollution
5. Snow in the desert

And, in a nice teacherly KWL format:

K – Know
We are walking into a culture that might act very shy toward outsiders. We may interact very little with students, if we get to know them at all. This is not a place (just like the rest of the world) where a loud white American will be welcomed with open arms. This is not to say that I expect the environment to be hostile, but what I am getting at is that I will have a lot to prove in very small ways.

W – Want to learn
Our professor talked with us on the ride out tonight about the isolation that he felt as a white man in Navajo country, even after two years of teaching at Rock Point School. He left the school because of the isolation. I like to say that I do not fear culture shock. I do genuinely hope that I experience some culture shock in the short time that we will be in the schools or around people on the reservation. I value so much the things that teach me how I am the different one in someone’s home or community. Home and family are two topics that I keep in my thoughts almost constantly. I want to see what goes into a sense of home in other students’ or other peoples’ lives.

Some guiding questions:
How do teachers from outside this culture adapt to teaching at Rock Point? What ‘luggage’ will students come to school with? What ‘luggage’ will I, as an instructor, have to check at the door?

L – Learned
To be seen!