Here is a look around my classroom. It is 99% finished, but I am still waiting to get some things back from being laminated, picking up a border for the bulletin board this weekend, and the back wall will soon display student work.
View of the room from the font (entry door would be to the left):
View of the room from the back:
Taped off whiteboard idea found via Pinterest; Bulldog Bravos inspired by a "Bravo Board" found via Pinterest:
Closeup of the Bravo Board--my students will be working in teams this year, and I will put tally marks by their team colors when I see excellent work. The winning team will get a weekly or biweekly reward and bragging rights.
Be...YOU! Bulletin board board found via Pinterest (still needs a border):
School annotation chart and a magnetic noise meter, made to use in conjunction with "The First 20 Days: Establishing Productive Group Work in the Classroom" by Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher.
I sewed the curtains from Hobby Lobby fabric and hung the curtain rod in 3M hooks stuck to the wall. My father in law cut out the Arkansas shape and I painted the chevron/monogram. I'm so excited to have two windows lookout out to our butterfly garden!
Closer up view of the large sign I made and student work station. The quote on the sign will be a daily reminder to me and my students! "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." I was introduced to this quote during orientation week at the Clinton School of Public service in August 2011. I never forgot it. There is so much truth in those eleven words.
Here is my work area. It was very important to me that both my diplomas hang in my room. We say that we want every student to be college bound, but I look around and don't see teachers proudly displaying their own diplomas. If we worked in almost any other profession, you better believe those diplomas would hang in our office! This article breaks it down: "Lawyers, doctors, accountants, and other professionals hang their licenses and credentials on their walls to inform their clients they are fully trained. Teachers should not be informing their public of anything less."
I also have my name displayed very largely on top my my bookshelf. I only respond to my proper name, not "Hey," "Hey teacher," etc., so I try to make it easy for them to remember my name.
There are pictures of family on my bookshelf and several mementos from special memories. Having those helps when I'm having a bad day (as do the Andes mints hidden in the decorative box by my lamp).
There is also a mini fridge (stocked with iced coffee, V8 fruit fusions, and water) and microwave, made-over Goodwill lamp, and my teaching license.
So there it is! I really feels like mine now :)
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