thanks for tolerating us

My birthday was on Monday, and one of my students made this cake for me. Hilarious. Perfect. Precious. 

Current Stats:
Temperature: -18
Wind Speed: NE 13 mph
Wind Chill -41

Sunrise: none

Sunset: none

Studentism #1

I think I am going to start a themed post called Studentisms. They will include conversations that I hear in the classroom. Enjoy!

Student: Ms. Beck, I think I broke your SmartBoard!
Me: Okay, you owe the school $5,000.
Student: No problem. I got ten G at home.

Explanation: All Native Alaskans who are shareholders in ASRC (Arctic Slope Regional Corporation) received a dividend check of $10,000 this past December.

This is certainly something you wouldn't hear in the Lower 48.

My students write about beauty.

Sometimes my students write amazing things. Really amazing things, like they have wisdom beyond their years or something.

Enjoy.

And then sometimes you get writing like this, which at the very least is humorous. Oh, teenagers...

This is what it's like to teach. Kind of.

Teachers. (and non-teachers). must. watch. this.

middelfart visitor.

You... You visitor from Middelfart, Denmark...

The name of your city is so cool.

Come back to my blog again sometime.

Jesus said buy folk art.

The Festivities of the Iñupiat

For the past four months, my co-worker Nancy and I have been sponsoring a student-led video project that will be submitted to an international contest hosted by ENI, an Italian energy company that operates throughout the world. 

Twelve students from my school participated in the contest. They spent their afternoons and Saturdays at school researching history, writing essays, interviewing people, and documenting two main festivities of the Iñupiat people -- Nalukataq and Kivgiq.  Needless to say, it was a ton of work, but the final product turned out wonderful.

The video is almost 19 minutes long, and I hope you get a chance to watch it. My students did such a great job, and I'm so proud of them.

May 27th is the day ENI reveals the grand prize winner. The students who win will receive a free two-week trip to Italy in the fall.

I'll keep you posted!

And here's a funny blooper from my students...