Room 1113 is Ready!

Everything is so clean and fresh. 
Everything is straight on the walls.
Everything is wiped down and dusted.
There is space, the floors are clean. 
The sharp, neat piles of paper and workbooks are crisp and clean to my eyes. 
The books on the bookshelves are arranged, straight and square, each genre sorted, making it easy to find each kind of book you like best. 
The class signs are newly made, freshly laminated, and easy to read. 
It is our little haven. 

Room 1113

In one corner, a collection of Doctor Who items sit on the top of the bookshelf, with a couple of posters and quotes. Some of the kids know who that is, others will have no clue. Some of them will recognize the TARDIS, others will wonder what the big 'blue box' shower curtain hanging on the wall is all about! 
In one corner, there are dragons. Shelves of dragons, black silhouettes of dragons hanging on the wall, even a picture of me sitting on a dragon. The dragon corner. The dragon corner is also the teacher corner. I don’t have a desk, after all, it’s not MY room. But I do have a small standing desk, that’s on wheels, easy to roll out in the hallway, or next to a different child's seat. In the third corner, it’s an ode to football, soccer is they call it here. My signed Almiron jersey carefully placed in a glass case, the Atlanta United flag, Atlanta United pom-pom, and sign. The Everton Football Club crest hangs proudly, as does the pennant. And an England soccerball. It’s all about football. Then finally, the Reading Corner. A corner with one of the two bookshelves, crowded with books. The entire bookshelf filled with fantasy books, carefully chosen and placed to entice. Each side is found cute bookshelves that the kids can sit on. Cushions and comfortable places, and more and more and more books. Everything from 3rd to 4th-grade standard to eighth, and higher.......And beyond. 
And that’s the corners.

In the middle, there’s a mix of seating, an attempt to help each kid to find a comfortable spot to learn in. Not as much flexibility as I’d like, but I do what I can with the finances and space that I have. My husband is patient. And Amazon knows where I live. There’s a futon, covered this year by a really cool piece of material that looks like a Union Jack, but with more muted colors. There are the bookcases that kids can sit on with loose cushions, and my two new additions, small benches, that are now bookcases underneath with a nice cushion on top for additional seating. Great places for the kids to sit.  Then there are the trapezoid desks both low and high, stability balls and chairs and the plastic small Ottomans - an opportunity for kids to sit on something a little different. The round cushions help for comfort. Then there are the two Ottomans, filled with books, always favorite seating spots.  Then the big massive square ottoman that several kids all like to sit on together. There are the floor mats ready for them to pull out, and floor cushions to use in the hallway. Lap desks are crated and on hand to help them have something to write on. 

So. Much. 

But not too much, because I wanted to leave space to roam, to move. 

On Thursday, our first day back, it will be about finding a spot where you like to sit. It’s less about the groupings, more about comfort as we work together to learn. 

And then there’s the wall space. I tried really hard to leave more available space this year. Not something that’s easy for me, as I’m always seeing something that would "look great in the classroom," but I managed to hold off 😆 The corners make the statements, the rest is ready for the students work and ideas.

My goal was to alert the senses, awaken interest, but not to overwhelm. Reduce the busy, while keeping my personality, and the flavor of room 1113 intact. 

On Thursday the first students will enter the classroom. But today, as I sit and enjoy the silence. 

But I can’t wait. I can’t wait for the color, the noise, the commentary, the pushing, the moving, the questions. 

I can’t wait to try out some new things I have thought about, and share s exciting things with my students. 

I can’t wait to see them.

I can’t wait to see kids eyes light up when they see the room. 

I can’t wait to see one or two kids recognize who Dr. is. 

I can’t wait to see the first kid pick up a book and light up with excitement to read what they want. 

I can’t wait for the who kid says he hates reading, to pick a book that they end up loving and enjoying. 

I can’t wait until the first time the idea button is pressed and a great idea is put on the board to make a change in their room. 

I can’t wait.

Wow - it's been a while!

Last year was a strange year, and looking back at my lack of blogs, there is nowhere clearer that this shows than right here on my website/blog.  Good gracious...for someone who thrives on writing, who loves to put the proverbial pen to paper (or finger to key), it's pretty pathetic to see the lack of writing. No, it isn't as if I have a huge fanbase, hanging on my every word, but I need to write for reflection, for deeper thinking, to share my ideas with myself and dig a little deeper.  It's a little concerning that I didn't carve out time for it.

So, with a new school year, comes the time to renew and refresh.

The teacher rebirth.

That's one thing that is so cool about this profession. You can literally reinvent your practice EVERY SINGLE YEAR!  Right the wrongs, adjust the learnings, change the nuances, change the path...what didn't work can be easily removed, what did may be honed.  It's one of my favorite things about what I do.  Recreating the space and the moments each year.

It's actually been hard starting back up this year.  My first summer, I worked almost every day to reinvent myself.  My second year I did a lot...and the pattern continued. This year, as I ended my fourth year and approach my fifth, I switched off instead.  I stopped the thinking, didn't do the reading, let the cotton wool invade my brain.  It was good - but starting up again has not been easy.  I had to worry that I had lost my passion.  I started to get concerned that I wasn't as excited, that I wasn't going to be able to give as much to my future students.  I mean, that's what I have loved about teaching, the way it fires me up every day.  But as time has moved on, a couple of conferences and good books later, I am beginning to feel the fires ignite and the desire rise up again.

Take last night for example.  A restaurant with a good group.  My poor friend just asks one question about teaching, and I was OFF! Lecturing the crowd about the creation of moments to make connections and impact learning (shout out to the Heath brothers and their AMAZING book, The Power of Moments).  As I listened to myself (something I seem to do upon occasion), I cast an inner smile. Ahhhh, there it was.  The fire is back in belly.

Let's go!  Room 1113, we have one heck of a year ahead!