Essays, Jobs, and Adorable huntress.

It has been kind of crazy around here (By Adak standards, anyway. Which is to say that SOMETHING happened). My boss came out from Anchorage with another administrator for the Aleutian Region School District whose name is Jay. Jay flew in from South Florida. Jay was not on vacation or visiting family from the south of Florida. Jay actually lives in Florida. You may ask yourself, "Why would they have an administrator on full salary who lives 4,155 miles (that's right! I Google Earthed it)away from the actual school he is administrating?" This is a perfectly legitimate question and, like many other perfectly legitimate inquiries, there is no definitive answer. It is as mysterious as building of the pyramids at Giza and Stonehenge. We can rule out efficency as a leading reason, I guess.
Jay did my evaluation and I, in typical fashion, planned my lesson and then completely winged it. The lesson was on the three branches of government and about five minutes into it the kids had the same look that POW's have in military films. That they haven't completely given up hope that they will be released someday, but at that precise moment, it appeared the darkest moment of their lives. I just said screw it and divided up the class and made up a law that no music or games could be played (Children of the Corn style). They passed the bill, it got vetoed, was overridden, overrode, overrid??? by congress and then found to be unconstitutional by the supreme court. I am giving you the details only because I want you to know that this was all completely winged! In my post-conference I was asked how I came up with the idea and how well it worked with the kids. How they truly 'got it.'
I am an awful liar, so I told Jay and my superintendent that I did, in fact, completely tap dance my way through the entire class. Fearing that I would be in somw sort of teacher trouble, I was actually commended on how I "Incorporated so many strategies to reinforce the material." I didn't think it was so much reinforcing as it was desperately trying to find some sort of positive response/feedback from my students. Anyway, No reccomendations for improvement!
Cassidy just finished her essay for the grad program and has sent it to Jim, a friend at the University, for review. She is pretty excited about starting her program. And...in a related topic, Cassidy was asked to apply for a position at the school as a teachers-aid. Her official interview is tomorrow, but seeing as how she was requested to apply by the same people that will be interviewing her, I don't think she will be sweating too much. My wife ROCKS!
The experience will be invaluable for her while attending school. She is hoping that Isabel can attend school with her, which will be discussed tomorrow (wish her luck).
Cassidy will need some time to fill because my student-teacher and friend of both Cassidy and I, Mia, has returned to Denmark. It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I provide this news. Not so much for her leaving, but mostly because I actually have to work now! Seriously. Mia will be missed, though. Getting a student-teacher that you actually like is comparable to getting a college roommate that you truly like. Otherwise it is just somebody that you pretend you can't see and farts a lot with the only discussion being if you or they plan on buying certain condiments so to avoid having a mustard surplus.
Speaking of hanging out with people that I like...Cassidy and I went on a little outing today. It is always fun to do pretty much anything with Cassidy because whenever she isn't laughing, she is usually making me laugh. Either way it is a good time. An outing on Adak is basicall just going for a drive. Today we took the rifle and went looking for Caribou. We found a herd of about 15o and we were only about 150 yards away when we sneaked up to a hill to see them. Cassidy looked through the scope and had a perfect shot on one. We sat for a while and discussed where to aim, how to pull the trigger, etc.... The only problem is that the 150 yards between us and the caribou was occupied by a lake. Us not having an all terrrain vehicle, weighed the pros and cons of Cassidy hitting a caribou. The pro is obvious. The cons were much to geographically visible in the 1 mile hike all the way around the lake. And the thought of the trip back while dragging a 250 lb caribou was enough for us to just appreciate the herd as it was. Cassidy did fire a shot into the hillside just to see if we could move the herd closer to a road. It was mildly effective, but not enough for us to make the hike. Cassidy did seem to like shooting the rifle. I wish I could say she looked natural, but the truth is she just made hunting adorable. Which it never should be. Cassidy is a lot more interested in the bird hunting with a .22, but is still willing to go after the big game. We joked about how on our first date we never imagined we would be walking through the snow in Adak, Alaska, discussing how to kill dinner. Funny where life takes you, right?
Isabel is spelling simple words and making friends wherever she goes. Today she just ran up to a hunter to say 'hi' and ended up with his binoculars and a giude to where the caribou herds are. She really does know how to ham it up!