(Imaginary) Classroom Tour

I'm back to do another link on the Blog Hoppin' Teacher Appreciation Week.  Today's topic is "Classroom Digs: Classroom Tour."  The problem is, I can't get into my classroom and I don't have any pictures of my room to share.  We don't start school until after Labor Day, two days of professional development, and then a four-day weekend.  Right about now is the time in the summer when I start to plan for the year, though.  I get kinda antsy after no solid plans for too long.  Who's with me?

Since I don't have access to my REAL classroom, I'll give a tour of my Pinterest classroom.  Granted, I'm not as artistic as some of these awesome teachers, but I'll give it my best shot.

I teach Middle School Spanish, so my theme is pretty much "teaching Spanish."  Creative, no?  My district has a policy to use the walls as content reinforcement, not just pretty, inspirational decorations.  I have a few of those things, though.  On my closet door I have an old bulletin board set with two traditionally-dressed Mexican kid cartoons.  And in different spots around the room I have piñatas, some commercial and some student-made.  Some years I also have a Cumpleaños (birthday) display, but I list the students' birthdays in Spanish so I guess that's content reinforcement, too.

As you enter the room, on the right side wall is the classroom computer area, four computers and a printer.  Behind the computers (so barely accessible to me) is a wall of chalkboard.  I use it as a permanent bulletin board, since I can't change it.  I posted my National Standards there (a poster I got many years ago), some helpful websites (my Quia site, my class website, and the online textbook site), and a world map.  The part of the board closest to the door is where I put the Cumpleaños display, since it's the easiest to reach.  Above that is a bulletin board strip (that I can't reach, even if I stand on top of the desks) where I have the Spanish alphabet with phonetic hints.  I teach the alphabet during the first week of school, but most of the time students only learn it from a song.  This year I'm also going to use a new presentation I made that showcases different parts of the Spanish-speaking world, alphabetically.  I'm really excited about that and hope the library color printer has enough ink! And every year I say I'm going to decorate my clock but I haven't gotten around to it, probably because there's no way I can reach it and I don't want to bother a tall friend with that much taping.

 
Another option is to have the custodian swap out the standard-issue clock with this gorgeous thing!  It's too small for the kids to actually read, but I'd be happy knowing it's there.

On the back wall are my cabinets and the sink.  I'm blessed with a sink, so when kids ask to go to the bathroom to wash their hands (that's 7th grade code for "wander around and possibly meet up with my friends to chat") I can send them back there.  The water fountain on the sink doesn't work, but some years I stock the area with little Solo cups.  If it's that hot that the kids NEED a drink, they can get one right in the classroom and not wander the halls.  There are lots of cabinets, below and above the sink, and a great counter.  The problem, though, is I'm attracted to clutter so the cabinets are so full that I can't really use them.  I'm working slowly on getting rid of things I no longer use (like the board games for recess, since my school eliminated recess about eight years ago) and labeling the things I do use so I can find them easier.  And the counter is only good for students to sit on during group work - if I stack things on there then they can't see the bulletin board behind it.  I use that bulletin board for my teacher posters.

Next to the counters are my file cabinets.  I used to have five of them, because I hoarded when friends retired.  I've since gotten rid of most of my files (because honestly, almost everything is on my computer nowadays) so I've given away all but two of my cabinets.  On top of the cabinets I have my student supply center - papers for students to pick up when they've been absent, extra paper and pens.  I'm really loving the idea to put Justin Bieber on top of my classroom pens.  There's absolutely no way those pens would "accidentally" wander out of my classroom if JB was on top of them!

Above the back wall I have a set of useful expressions for Spanish class.  I downloaded them for free from Mis Cositas, an absolutely awesome site for foreign language teachers.

I printed them, colored with crayons (during final exam week a few years ago), and laminated them so the crayons melted and the pictures are nice and bright.  I say it's my Word Wall (we were required to have a Word Wall for the past two years, which I personally feel is pointless in Spanish since all we DO is vocabulary and kinda requires students memorize it), but last year I caved and put up "new" words on the front chalkboard, too.

I swapped out my teacher desk and classroom table last year.  My desk is now in the back of the room, which I really liked when another teacher shares my room.  The classroom table is now in the front where the teacher computer is.  Admittedly, I sit at the table more than my desk, but at least the table is more clear of papers.  I covered the front of the table with a large Guatemalan flag, so no one realizes it's a table instead of a desk.


The next side of my room is windows.  There are two sections of wall, one on either side of the window, but I had bookcases there.  I gave away one of the bookcases last June (to limit my hoarding), so now I'll have the remaining bookcase in the back near my desk and use the area behind my computer table for resources that used to clutter the windowsill. 

The black stacky thing on the left is similar to what I use in my student supply center, but I labeled each level with the class period (in Spanish words, of course).  The Lucite sorter on the right is similar to what I bought in June to hold my growing collection of manipulatives.  I have six units (and a final exam review unit, and four separate culture projects that are stand-alones each marking period) so I sorted the manipulatives by unit.  This year as I go through each unit, I'll decide which ones are worth keeping and which can join the "no longer needed" collection (in the garbage, but I'm still a hoarder at heart so I don't admit I'm just throwing things away).  I also got an awesome desk sorter thing a few years ago, when we were given budgets to spend on our classroom.  (Now we can ask the office for things like staples and tape, but not necessarily big things like this.)  I never really had room on my desk for it, so I'm excited to really use it this year in the area where the bookcase used to be.




I also want to make one of these.  I think it would really come in handy now that my desk is so far from where I spend most of my teaching time.  The problem is, I have so many half-finished projects at home that I don't want to start another right now.  The Princess (my daughter) doesn't let me work without her "help," so I have to find time to do these kinds of things when she's not around.

Finally, to the front of my room.  I have a Smartboard flanked by two chalkboards.  The board near my computer table is where I put my teacher memos, calendar, things like that.  Close to the Smartboard, I write the daily information like day of the week, date, and weather.  On the other side of the Smartboard, I write the daily agenda including the essential question, planned activities, homework, and upcoming test/quiz/project dates.  I made new signs for all of these areas (and more) that I'm really excited to use this year.


So that's about it.  Oh, and there are some student desks in there, too.  I usually have about 30 students max in a class.  At the beginning of the year, I have them arranged in pairs.  As we go through the year, I try different configurations (usually groups or a three-sized square) to see what works best with the noise level.  We move around a lot so I don't worry about them staying with the same partner too long, but I do change pairs/groups at least once each unit.

Now I'm even MORE anxious to get into my room and play!  I'm heading in on Thursday but just to pick up my teacher ID.  Did you know that Six Flags Great Escape (in Lake George) is giving free admission to teachers and school staff?  That means we'd only have to pay for The Princess (or we can afford one of those Speed Pass things so Doug can go on more rides without waiting).  I think that's awesome!