A Typical Day in the Chilcotin

So, what's life looking like here in the Chilcotin? Well, I've been getting up at 5:30 am and leaving the house just past 6:30 am with Jill (she's the principal of the school) and AmyLou (the other "student teacher," as we are known). Then we drive down highway 20 past many telephone poles, countless trees, miles of log fences, numerous cows, the occational deer, and several reserves. After about an hour of this, we turn off the highway at Lee's Corner and follow the dirt road to the bottom of a canyon, cross the Chilcotin River and drive up the switchbacks to the other side of the canyon. And be about 8 am, we finally reach...Stone Reserve (Yunesit'in).

Stone Reserve is a small community of Chilcotin First Nations and they have a school of almost 40 kids (and you thought West Coast Christian School was small...). And that is where I've spent most of my time! I'm absolutely loving it. After my first few hours in the kindergarten/grade 1 classroom that I'm helping in, I totally fell in love with the kids. They are so much fun, they love having me in their class, and most of them have a real eagerness to learn. My class has just nine children (when they're all there, which hasn't actually happened this week): three in grade 1 and six in kindergarten. The teacher I'm working with is awesome - she has a real passion for teaching, loves her students, and manages her classroom well. She's also First Nations but comes from the Yukon. Even though her classroom is well structured and managed, it feels so relaxed to me! I think this is because I'm used to being in a classroom with 20 children all needing to be occupied or seeking your attention. When you're working with only seven or eight children, it makes for a much calmer environment - I love it! I'm not as exhausted by the end of the day as I was with my other practicums and I feel more at ease. The whole school feels small. Besides a couple of the other teachers, the rest of the staff are all from Stone Reserve. And they've been really friendly and welcoming to AmyLou and I.

Yeah, I've only been here for four days and I already know I'm going to miss Stoney and the school and the people. Today one of the students in my class asked me about having a snack and I said, "I don't know. Ask your teacher." Her reply: "But you are my teacher!" Aww, my heart melted, of course. After school today, I was outside in front of the school trying to take a couple of pictures (but apparently my camera battery was dead) and two of the girls from my class were playing on the playground and came over to me when they saw me there. Hailey, after showing me the rocks she and Saraphine had collected and were "selling," asked me where I lived and wanted to know if she could come visit me. I really wished I could've said, sure, I live just down the road, come by sometime!

School starts at 8:30 but some students come early to get breakfast. The school provides lunch for all the students and staff so we eat together in the lunch room at noon. And then dismissal is at 3. But, since Jill is the principal and always has plenty to do or people to meet with, we usually don't leave the school for another couple of hours. (Fortunately, the school has several computers which AmyLou and I make good use of to check email, write lesson plans, do our required journals, etc.) So, by the time we leave the school, make the hour + drive home, and get dinner ready (if Steve hasn't already - today he barbequed some excellent salmon for us...), it's 7 or 7:30. And by the time we're done eating a large, scrumptious meal (and they eat lots and well in this cowboy country!) and we've had some good discussions (just had an indepth one on global warming this evening), we try to get some lessons and journals done before dragging ourselves into bed by, well, I've been aiming for 9 but it is currently 10:15...

And that, is a little glimpse into my daily life in the Chilcotin. I'd love to tell you more about the people and culture here but that'll have to wait for another day. Let me just tell you that today I had to teach music to the K/1's so I taught them Silly Willy - they absolutely loved it! In fact, they wanted to sing it a second time but I was to sweaty and exhausted to do it again...