Kartiya

WORD: Kartiya - whitefellas.

Well... I'm not sure where to start. I have arrived in my community and have set up my donga to be as homely as possible. I am really liking it here. I think I could possibly be in the lust phase of my relationship with my new home. It seems that everything here is perfect, and I feel that I have made an awesome decision coming north. Having said that, school starts on Tuesday, therefore work has not officially started. Things are about to get pretty crazy - up until now it has been all games and play.

I have just returned from a week-long Professional Development session. All the teachers from our cluster of schools get together quite frequently throughout the year for PD sessions. This one was great. I got to meet all of the teachers and principals from the Kimberley schools, and also met the support staff who will be making regular visits to our schools this year. I feel very supported here.

I recently came down with Ross River Fever. This effectively means most days are a half effort, and I can't do much walking (or standing) because my feet and legs are very sore. But... I have been so well looked after by the other staff members.

This place is quite special with the kind of people it attracts. I got along well with everyone at the PD, and really felt a sense of unity in what we are doing here. There is no one who is here to try and 'change the world', or do their bit for the human race.. it seems we are all here purely because we enjoy the people, place, and teaching. Genuine people are influential without having to set out to be.. and that is what I like about this mob.

The PD was well delivered, and I feel ready to get stuck into teaching. I feel like Ive had to re-learn how to teach literacy from the start, but it is good. We use the Accelerated Literacy programme in our schools, which seems pretty good, and is proven effective, but it is very backward from how I would usually teach literacy. I'm looking forward to seeing the results first hand.

I read a couple of books before I moved up here about what it is like to teach in an aboriginal community - much like the one I am in. I came here prepared for all the negative things I have read about, and soon discovered that it is a sad sad case of generalisation. My experiences with the people here have only been positive, and the teachers I have spoken to here all love their communities. It seems a completely different place to the discriptions in the books.

I feel weird when people say 'you are such a special person to be up there doing what you do', because it is amazing here - why wouldn't I be here? I am almost embarrassed for the person who assumes that all the negative generalisations apply to every aboriginal community.

Last night I was playing texas holdem with some of the teachers. We put on the hiphop CD some of the highschool kids made. It was fantastic. I am going to try and get a link on here so you can listen. There was a line in the chorus where one of the boys said "This is for my people, even the kartiya"... haha i love it.