In order to best understand where my day is spent, you have to first understand where I work. Welcome to our room! G12. Where we laugh, we learn, and for 47 minutes a day, we call home.This week's question is:
What's in your room?
Welcome to our classroom! It's chaotic. It's pieced together. But it's home. For 45 minutes a day, my students and I share this space to learn, become better readers and writers, and enjoy our time together. Welcome, to G12! Classrooms serve both as a functioning work space, but also a jumping off point. The best classrooms that I've been in have been the ones that look like people actually inhabit it. Trust me, this room is inhabited, as judged by our collection of things.
As much as I can, I try to fill my room with question starters, like this picture of Billie Holiday. The joys of Language Arts is that you can tie things in at the drop of the hat. The other day, one of my students asked who the lady in the corner was and like that, we were listening to Billie on YouTube, talking about my love for her voice, and examining how her songs reflected many of the same themes as the Nikki Giovanni poem we were reading that day. Unplanned but a refreshing tangent that wouldn't have happened without the poster.
One of things I do to try to make a bare room "our room" is try to leave as many reminders around the room that this space is their space too. I ask my seniors to bring in a baby picture the first week of class and I post them. Students like to spend stolen moments during class to glance up and take a guess who is who. As their senior pictures start rolling in, we attach them nearby so that we can see the changes. A bit lovey-dovey and mushy, yes. But it gives them ownership in the space.
Everyone has those days. The ones where you need a little boost. I am not a coffee drinker, so I keep my boosts right on my desk. My motivators are my sister, my colleagues, my former students, my family and a beautiful picture from the summer I spent in the rain forests of Costa Rica. On a rough day, they're my reminder of why I do what I do.
My clipboard is my saving grace. I'll discuss in a future blog about how reading in my classroom works, but on my clipboard, I can keep attendance, track reading progress, make notes regarding things to talk to students about, track turn ins, and check out books from my class library. I've developed shorthand for myself so that I can know at a glance exactly what happened on a certain day with certain student. Makes record keeping less of a burden when it's with me at all times.
Couple things going on. Our district works on the daily targets model, so my front board it a quick place to check what we're accomplishing and make note of upcoming due dates. Just inside the door is The Bin. The Bin is a labeled way of getting handouts you missed or spilled cereal on eating breakfast (Moodle keeps kids updated on a daily basis what they've missed). It's also where we track books they've been reading/want to read. It's a bit of an all in one center. As you can also see, I am lucky enough to have a Smart Board. I'll write on technology in my classroom in another blog.
I think there is a by-law somewhere that all English classrooms must contain a podium or lectern. Mine came about from another hat I wore. I was technical director (set design/building/lighting/sound/props/etc) for Gahanna's high school theater program. While rummaging one day, we found this old podium and with a little Capital University purple and logo (Go Crusaders!) we turned into a rolling station for plans. It then became a way to pay homage to my graduating seniors as they signed and dated the podium after their last show. It meant a lot to me, so when I moved north, it came with me. Again, a great way to start a conversation and an even better way to hold a book.
Like every school building in the world, it was bland, it was white, it was in need of some color. The pennants are a stolen idea from my good friend Julie Zeldin. At the start of the new year, we each wrote out English resolutions for 2012. The resolutions face students and are a nice daily reminder that we all are working to improve. Plus... it makes the room look less like a bowl of oatmeal. The bright posters are part of the "new teacher inherits the posters policy," but they do help bring a little color to the room.
Every good super hero (ie: teacher) needs to be ready to swing into action at a moment's notice. My Captain W cape and mask (left over from a Super Hero dress up day for a spirit week) and my golden Caesar crown (left over from the English department's choice to dress like famous kings and queens of literature) make for good disguise. Especially when you have invading threats from the science department down the hallway. (Is it me, or are the science department members always trying to take over the world?)
You never know how you're going to connect with a student. I've found pictures are one of the great equalizers. I keep pictures of friends, families, my dog named Holden (yes... a literary reference... lit nerd and proud of it. That's him with my sister in the chicken costume in the middle), travels, sets I've built... anything that may start as an inroad to conversing with a student. It also makes you human. Students often forget that we are... GASP... humans with actual lives away from them. I know. The horror.
Welcome to what may look like a jumbled mess, but is actually the key to many of my successes this year. I know some of you who like your rooms neat and orderly are appalled by this, but to me it's reality. My book shelf at home takes much the same approach. Books aren't meant to be lined up and dusted, they're meant to be at a hands reach, tucked in tight where they may land, sometimes dog eared, sometimes with a little coffee stain in the corner... books are meant to be enjoyed and enjoying them means taking them into our real lives... which can get messy. I'm ok with that. This collection came from a project I'll talk about in a future blog regarding student choice.
At every chance I get I try to use my classroom as the family refrigerator. By that I mean, it becomes a place to display student work like your parents used to do when they posted that A on a math test for all the family to see. Whether it's propaganda posters for their favorite books, thin strips of poetic lines using black-out poetry of their horoscopes, or their self developed assessments for Fahrenheit 451, I try to keep their work at the front of the classroom so that we can celebrate how truly talented and successful they are.
I try to keep those who inspire me close. The "Work With Me People" sign came from one of the educators who motivated me to become a teacher. Barb Karol was my high school English 10 and 12 teacher and she was one of the ones who made me believe that I could be a teacher as well. She made being in class fun and exciting and brought to life my love for reading again. She is now retired, but I like having her close by when I'm teaching. The second sign is a present my Nana gave to my Aunt Judy when she first became a teacher. It is a copy of rules for teachers published in 1867. It includes such gems as the fact that female teachers who got married or were debaucherous were to leave the profession. My how time has changed. But it is a reminder both of my Nana and my aunt, but also that I am a member of a profession that has been around for centuries, a profession that should not be taken too lightly.
This is a modge podge of things students have given me, pictures, thank yous, birthday cards, new articles, illustrations of myself... they all are a fun reminder that we need to show each other that we appreciate each other. I don't tell my students how great they are nearly as much as I should, but I hope that this part of my room reflects that I appreciate them. Besides, who doesn't want a coloring book picture of a pre-Jurassic fish colored for them?
Any teacher who doesn't laugh, won't last. I am constantly laughing with my colleagues and these cards represent that. While their scale may not show it, they are poster board size and came from the physics teacher next door to me who I have an ongoing "feud" with. Their size and the fact that we take time to make each other cards is proof enough that laughter is key. Even on the toughest days, I still find time to laugh with those around me and that makes the difference
So that's our room in G12. It's pretty simple, but it's home. It's our space to share. A little colorful. A little chaotic. A little messy. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
