Week Two- DONE!

I’m a graduate...again!


So I just have to tell you that I am currently soaking up the sun on Sue’s back porch, which overlooks downtown Juneau and the ocean. I think that image is a good one to describe my entire time in Alaska thus far! It’s been a time full of tons of natural beauty, light, and exciting views of the world.

I started off the week feeling refreshed after an amazing weekend. I spent Saturday hiking Mt. Roberts with Sophia and Heidi and ended up running into friends from the Institute (the Juneau Basic Arts Institute, which I have been doing the past two weeks) at the top. The hike was a steady three-mile ascent, which was a good challenge for me. I definitely found myself out of breath more than I would have liked! The trail up this mountain (which is one that many tourists climb or take a tram up, in order to see the excellent view of Juneau) is just a 10-minute walk from my house, so I am going to make it my goal to hike up it a lot to get some good exercise and fresh air! When our group got to the area where most people stop climbing, we continued further, since the mountain still had two miles of length to scale. I ended up hanging behind in an open valley as the others finished their hike- I did that so I could sit in the quiet for a little bit, and so I could take a ton of selfies with my selfie stick and not feel as lame (whatever- I get awesome pictures with my selfie stick of embarrassment!)! It was incredibly peaceful, though. I sat alone, looking out at the ocean, listening to the strong flapping of the ravens’ wings above me. The day ended perfectly: a bunch of us went to a performance by one of our leaders from the Institute, Ed (the Tlingit culture teacher who is also a fantastic jazz percussionist!), and enjoyed listening to a jazz trio for a couple hours. We finished off the night by going salsa dancing at a nearby place, which was loads of fun. Even if I was completely sober and accidentally went into the men’s restroom. Classic Ruth.

My new church!

Sunday was another glorious day! I attended Chapel by the Lake church and totally loved it. It was exactly what I was looking for in terms of congregation size, music style, and beliefs, so I am set with a church! I met a good number of people in the congregation already, including the worship coordinator, and she was very excited that I played cello. I am trying to hang back and not get too involved in leadership in the church this year because it was something I did so consistently at church and school in Chicago, but I am excited to maybe play every once and a while. After church, I went straight to Auke Bay near UAS to go kayaking with a group of five other teachers who were doing the Institute! I was apparently the only one who had no kayaking experience, so I was put with the most experienced person in the group. We all had such a great time! And although it was a little terrifying for the first few minutes, I actually loved being so close to the water’s surface. We ended up kayaking to the closest island which took about 30-45 minutes and hung out there for an hour, collecting objects as we sat on the beach. It was gorgeous! I’m still in awe of the beautiful water that is always lined with mountains of some kind.

This week of classes just flew by. From the beginning of the week up until last night, we were preparing for our big performance (which happened last night). The performance showcase featured us, dancing and singing Tlingit songs, doing some improv activities in front of the audience, and performing some neat body percussion. It was awesome! The performance night was a huge success and was so well-organized. We had all of our artwork hanging outside and inside the room for all to see. And while the audience was smaller than our group, it was so sweet to see my colleagues’ families come and support them. So many cute kids!!! The days leading up to the performance were a little stressful, as many people were feeling nervous about the idea of being up in front of other people. It was honestly quite a revolutionary concept for me. I realized that I am really not used to being around adults who don’t perform often and are afraid of being up in front of people. I have seen kids get nervous about small shows for their families like this one was, but not people older than I am! It helped me see this whole performance preparation process through a non-performer’s eyes and also made me very grateful for my experiences as a musician. And I definitely had at least two people in my group tell me that they were watching and relying on me for every part of the show that involved music, dancing, or movement. Okay. That’s basically everything. No pressure…!

The participants and leaders of the Juneau Basic Arts InstituteI!

We wrapped up the Institute this morning by sharing our lesson plans we had developed throughout the two weeks and had a cute little “graduation ceremony” (with the music and fancy pieces of cardstock and all!). Now that the Institute experience has come to a close, I have been thinking about all that I have learned in just two weeks here. I learned about the Tlingit culture, which was one I did not even know existed until I got here, and I realized that I love studying different people groups and really enjoy the unique qualities each one has. I have learned a little bit about teaching in the classroom, both through the lectures and classroom discussions, and through watching the leaders teach. I also learned a lot about what it is like to teach through eavesdropping on the conversations my fellow teachers had during lunch! I mean, if you’re going to sit at my table and I have no one else to talk to, I’m going to listen in on your conversations. Sitting at a lunch table, listening to people talk about all the things they care about as teachers and what they have experienced throughout the years as they munch on their cafeteria burgers and salads made me feel a little clueless, since I haven’t done that yet, but also excited. It feels like I was inducted into the “cool club” or something. I have always had such a great respect for teachers and have never understood why anyone would be looked down on for being one. Teachers are given this special gift of guiding children in their learning- both about school subjects and life! You get to see a child “get it” without ever disregarding or forgetting the struggles they went through to get to that point. It’s a beautiful, incredibly demanding and time-consuming job. Just hearing about everything teachers have to do makes me want to go take a nap!!! Or maybe it’s just because it’s been a long week, and I’m TIRED. But I have also learned how important the arts are to learning, and it makes me so happy that I have had such an extensive educational experience centered around the arts. Applying the arts to any content area is totally possible; and not just possible- it is necessary! Hearing the ideas other teachers in the group came up with for their future classes that will incorporate the arts in their classroom made me feel so inspired. It’s a proven fact that people learn things faster and better when they have a movement, a melody, a visual- something with which to associate the topic they are learning. I heard a science teacher talking about teaching a song about the weather patterns to her students and a math teacher talking about showing her middle schoolers how to use digital storytelling (mainly stopmotion) to help them understand geometry. It’s incredible! And it makes me think about my experiences in public school and how the cool projects like that- the ones that sparked our creativity and made the subject personal to us- were always the most fun and exciting to do. I feel like my brain has grown beyond its normal growth capacity these past two weeks, as I’ve been pushed to think outside of the box constantly. The lazy, Netflix-watching part of my brain just wants to teach kids the material without anything fun or creative and then move on. But when I think about how much more enriched and helpful learning can be when you push yourself as a teacher to make connections for your students and be innovative in your planning, it makes me want to shove my wimpy brain muscle off the couch and force it to keep exercising!

So it has been a great week. It has also been stressful, and I definitely had a day where I just felt completely overwhelmed with all these new things I have been learning. It has just been nonstop learning since I’ve been here! Not only have I been learning how to teach in a classroom for the first time and how to act around adults who now think of me as their “colleague” (whatttttt?!), I’m also adjusting to a brand new environment full of animals and vegetation I had never even heard of! Does EVERYONE know what a hoary marmot is but me??! It’s like a giant squirrel. NO JOKE, RACHEL. What is that?!?! I WANT ONE. And did you know that there are a bunch of different types of salmon?! I had no idea that was a thing. I have much to learn!! So, being super out of my element is something I absolutely love because I always grow so much, but there are also times when I just have that impulse to slip back into my element where I feel comfortable. And you know, it’s odd- I always want to play my cello more when I feel like this! And see my family...but that’s not going to happen anytime soon, so Mr. Cello it is! But taking time to myself definitely helps.

After our graduation ceremony from the Institute today, Sophia, Heidi, and I went to the beautiful Auke Bay beach that was so different than any beach I had been to before! It had rocks..and mud! And dead fish everywhere. But let’s not talk about that and how disturbingly interesting I found the fish in their varying stages of death. I saw humpback salmon jumping out of the ocean right by the shore as they frantically avoided the hangry, GIANT seagulls attempting to eat them, which were squawking a major second apart from one another. The singing seagulls reminded me of middle school choir. Actually, I guess the whole scene reminded me of middle school choir. HA! And the humpback salmon was one of those types of salmon I didn’t know about. Sophia saw them first and was like, “Oh, look! A humpy is right there!” and I foolishly thought she meant a humpback whale...I didn’t know how humpback whales could be swimming literally next to the shore, but I didn’t question it. #CluelessAlaskan. We all walked around in the mud, giving ourselves nice little foot massages and headed back to our homes to rest for a bit. I will soon be joining my friends from the Institute to walk around downtown Juneau to partake in First Friday celebrations. First Friday is not a concept with which I am familiar (oh look- another new thing!!!), but I am really excited to learn about it! It seems like it is a time for the city’s residents (and tourists- let’s just be real) to enjoy and support the local artists, the first Friday of each month. There are art galleries that premiere new shows and food trucks that are parked outside. So I am going to walk around downtown soon and see how this beautiful city celebrates its people and their artistic talents.

The Auke Bay beach!

This weekend is going to hopefully be a relaxing one, as I am trying to not make any plans besides church and helping Lorrie set up her classroom for the year! I am beginning another class next week with Lorrie and the other two girls, called Music Pedagogies for Elementary Education, which I am very excited for! I am also hoping that the class won’t involve the intense 8-hour class days that I had the past two weeks. :)

I am actually glad that I have made plans for tonight because otherwise I probably wouldn’t leave this beautiful porch until it starts raining again! Although, that could be any moment, so it may have worked out either way...