It is summer and like most teachers, I don't find myself basking on a beach in Fiji, or backpacking through Europe, but instead working on making my classroom a mecca of education.
This year I am changing school districts and have moved from 7th and 8th grade history to 4th grade ELA (English Language Arts). I have been what I consider lucky because I have only taught in schools that were 40 years or older. These schools not only provide larger classrooms and the charming smell of old books, but a tendency to be the homes of hordes belonging to teachers of the past. Each time I have moved (this will be my third school) I have had to excavate the strata of teaching supplies from the past five decades. The layers are sometimes amusing, the Soviet Era globes and TEAMS, to TAAS, to TAKS (Texas state testing exams)materials. But mostly it is just crazy how much STUFF professional educators keep! I suppose when the time comes that my classroom looks like I should be featured on an episode of "Hoarders: Buried Alive", I will know I have arrived as a quality educator.
This year's classroom features veneer paneling all around the room, windows that used to be six feet tall, but were half covered when the ceiling was dropped to accommodate an HVAC system, and finally...SMURF BLUE PAINT!
So here is the before and after of the paint job, the color I selected has no real purpose other than to cover the blue, it was a reject bucket from a home project.
I plan over the next few weeks to get everything put together and share a few more images for those of you who are interested in all the hours put in by someone who only "works part-time" and has all "those extra vacation days." Don't get me wrong I can't imagine myself doing anything else that this work I love...but wait a beach in Fiji, hmmmm.
