T-minus 6 days…

Wow, another crazy day! We started with a session on memory techniques with a fabulous local psychologist. We worked on memorizing each other’s names (the whole faculty was there) and it made a huge impact on the community building of the faculty conference. After lunch we worked on interactive notebooks.

The best part of the day was when I blasted music in my room, borrowed a staple gun, and covered my board with fabric:

Now my board is colorful!!

First Day in Room 1007

I lugged a car-load of things to school today and, with the help of Tuck (the building engineer), wheeled it up to my room. A janitor Gilbert helped me move furniture (the room had never been used before) and the head janitor David consulted with me on how to hang things around the room (we’re not allowed to drill holes).

I also met Bertha, the attendance officer; sadly, I think we will know each other much better by the end of the first week of school!!

The good news of starting to set up my room was a result of the bad news of missing new teacher orientation due to my background check not clearing yet – hopefully that will change before the first day of school!!

Here is what I accomplished by the end of my work time today:

I've got the desks in groups for now with the reading table in the back corner. I'm working on hanging things on the walls and will be covering the bulletin board (not pictured) with bright green fabric!

When I got to the room the tables and chairs were stacked in the corner (as the caption says, I’m the room’s inaugural teacher), so I moved them around until I was satisfied – there are 14 tables grouped by two for lecture time (all of my classes are under 30 students), 2 tables in the back for a reading station (I’m collecting science, technology, travel, etc magazines and books), 1 table on the other side of my desk (to be used for relevant daily materials), and 1 table I can’t decide how to use.

I made 4 memo boards (you can see one along the right side of the picture) for students to display pictures and articles they like. They will be hung along with some performing arts posters and nerdy stuff :) I hope my Physics Teacher magazine comes with some new posters soon!

What the room still needs:

• A couple more pieces of art/posters
• Some plants
• More books and magazines
• STUDENTS!!!

If anyone has any extra magazines related in any way to science, I’d love to take them off your hands!

More to come after our faculty conference!!!

BIG NEWS!! (x3)

1) Almost as exciting as getting a teaching job, is getting the keys to my classroom :)

All the keys I'll need to get me in and out of the classroom, building, and (most importantly) desk/filing cabinets!

Here are some views of my naked classroom:

View from student entrance - white boards on the left.

Students enter the class from a hallway that overlooks the strip and mountains!

The right side of the classroom (door behind view)

I have the privilege of moving all that furniture!

View of the student door and my desk from the teacher door.

Yup, that’s right a teacher and a student door: the teacher door leads to a secret hallway that connects all the science classrooms with the science teacher room, bathrooms, etc! And finally…

The white boards (2 on the right and 1 on the left), bulletin board, my desk, and the front lab bench.

I know I want to put up a wall that is dedicated to pictures and cut outs of science in the real world and I’ve got some posters of my favorite Broadway shows (I’m all about being well rounded!) that all need to be hung somewhere.

I also have the biggest craving to paint all the walls Kermit the Frog green! If any one is reading this (since it’s definitely still summer vacation!!) I am looking for some input into how to set up and decorate the room. Please send me your clever ideas!

2) In other news: remember way-back-when when I blogged about the Channel 13 Celebration of Teaching and Learning? Well, I’ve just written them a post recalling some of the highlights of the weekend.

3) Planning for my first year will begin soon, so stay tuned for the “My First Year” series that I’ll be starting in the next couple weeks along the same lines as last year’s student teaching reflections.

No Smoking Sign

I took this photo on a recent flight and I think it might be a fun way to make a no smoking statement in my classroom.