Tour of the Classroom

Part 3, the Student Teacher

Though it's a ton of work and responsibility, I try to have a student teacher every couple of years. Because someone was willing to do it for me, and I'm still grateful for that.
Here are some things that have come up so far:

Always be prepared.
Always be flexible when your preparations don't work.
Don't yell. Ever.
Don't take it personally.
If you have an issue with a colleague, talk to the colleague. Right away.
Instead of correcting the students, ask them questions.
Planned ignoring is good discipline.
Be punctual.

This one is really good. She's smart, she thinks on her feet, she's not afraid to learn from the kids.

I wonder if she will remember me as she works with her student teachers?

De-Cluttering The Classroom

Among the things inherited from a retiring colleague were three (!) file cabinets jammed with teaching materials. I managed to weed through two of them before the kids returned, but this last one has stood by the lockers since then. It was filled mainly with colorful, 2 pocket folders. A copy of a (mostly useless to me) worksheet was glued to the front of each (and there were literally hundreds) folder, but the folders were mainly empty.

I tore the worksheet off the cover of each folder, kept 25 for my class, offered some to students, and put the rest in the teacher's room on the give away table.

Now that I have finally gone through all old guy's stuff, the room feels officially mine. Just in time to move again!

A Scrappy Project

The Friday before school started, I was tasked with sorting through the possessions of a retiring teacher whose classroom I had inherited. All I will say about this is that there were piles and piles and piles, and the custodians and I were utterly overwhelmed with the volume of stuff I had no use for.

My principal helped out when she could, so did friends and the assistant assigned to my room. When it was time to leave for the day, I told my boss I was taking the weekend off, even though there was more work to do before kids came back. She said,
"Good for you! Make sure you do something for yourself this weekend."

So I did. I made a cover for my planbook.




It's a fitted, sleeve kind of cover.




With pockets on the inside for pencils, pens, and notes.




Made of patches and strips from my collection, and leftovers from recent projects.



I love it when my skirt matches my planbook!

Tour of the Classroom, part 1

After teaching 2nd grade for 11 years (if you count that 1 year at the christian school (which made me agree with Gandhi ("I like your Christ, but I don't like your Christians. Your Christians are not much like your Christ." or something like that.)), I was moved to 5th grade social studies. This position is far more intellectually vigorous and far less manual labor intensive. I'm enjoying the new challenges. A lot.

Of course I had to move classrooms, which gave me the opportunity to get rid of most of my crap and start new.




Here's what my desk looks like most days around lunch time. The piles move fast and will be gone by the end of the day.



Here's what my desk looked like just before the school year started. I made a cover for my grade book. And a cover for my iPhone. (The trim on my iPhone cover is from and old pair of flip flops.)

I will probably be moving to a brand new classroom in midwinter. New 5th grade classrooms are part of our school's capital improvement program.

Themes for this year are:

Beauty.
Own it.
Only hang on to useful stuff.
Light, space, and air are the most important interior design elements.