Classroom Preparation: Am I Forgetting Anything?

Classroom preparation has been kind of hectic with my recent move to Olive Branch. As of right now, my apartment is a hot mess because I’m splitting my time between preparing my classroom and unpacking boxes. I’m exhausted to say the least. A special shout out to my mom, who isn’t even reading this, for all the help she’s given me: cleaning the classroom, making posters, and generally dealing with my insane combination of wishy-washiness/pickiness. She’s been the absolute best!

My room was pretty clean when I first arrived at Byers. I think my biggest frustration walking into my classroom for the first time was deciding what to do with all the incomplete textbook sets just hanging out in my room. (Answer: hide them in the cabinet with the doors.) I didn’t rearrange the desks too much, but I did move the shelves, the teacher’s desk, the filing cabinets, and the supplies tables. I made sure the rows of student desks were well-spaced so that I could easily walk between the aisles. I have tissues, hole punches, and staplers placed in several spots around the room. I want everything in my classroom to be easily accessible to myself (missing work forms, tickets, writing assignments, etc.) and the students (writing utensils, paper, etc.), as well as relevant to the tasks they will be completing (i.e. the baggies, discussed later). I am happy with the current set-up and cleanliness. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Before:

After:

My classroom prep has been a lot of mix and match, taking what I like from various second years and TEAM teachers. For example, I borrowed part of Liz Towle’s dismissal procedure: I’ve placed tape on the floor to indicate where desks need to be returned to at the end of the period. From the science and math classrooms, I got the baggies of supplies. To avoid passing out school supplies as much as possible – especially scissors and glue for the interactive notebooks – I’ve attached baggies of essential school supplies, like markers, erasers, and highlighters, to each of the desks. This can either go incredibly well and save me time in passing out these items when they are needed, or horribly wrong. I’m concerned students will walk off with my supplies. The baggies could be a huge distraction during class too.

For now, I am providing the students with pencils, should they need them. When they walk into class, they can take a sharpened one from the New Jar and return it to the Used Jar on the way out the door. I also have folders posted on the wall where students can locate make-up work. I have an agenda board, a space for “Star Student Work” and Student of the Month (one per a period), an “About Me” board (per the request of my principal), and a Word Wall. I tried to decorate the walls as much as possible, but it’s difficult without student work to hang up. I’m still working on hanging up posters and quotes, mostly because I just realized that is something I am missing as I type this blog.

I think I am almost ready for the first day. I am still tweaking my syllabi (syllabuses?); I probably will be editing them up until the last possible minute. I will be covering the student handbook, the syllabus, and procedures the first two days of school. I haven’t started lesson plans for the following week yet, which is a little scary since I have two weeks worth of lesson plans due on August 10^th. I need to print off bathroom passes, finish my “About Me” board, fix my rules poster (my writing is too small), and put some finishing touches on my procedures. Classroom preparation is largely complete, thank goodness. All that’s left is a lot of typing and touch ups.

I am both excited and deeply anxious for the upcoming school year. I’ve enjoyed decorating and preparing my room for the students. I’m teaching three preps though, and I’m not sure where I’m going to find the time to write that many lesson plans on top of all the other work I’m expected to do (grading, parent phone calls, my own school work, teacher game duties, etc.). I’m also afraid of losing control of my classroom. Over the summer, I worked in the seventh grade English classroom where the students were very well-behaved. During the school year, I’ll be teaching eleventh and twelfth graders and I have no experience working with high schoolers. The age difference will be intimidating. I’ve had moments of near panic over the last week where I’m suddenly overwhelmed by everything I have yet to do and the length of the school year and I’m not sure I’ll survive. I try not to think about that too much, though; I have too much work to do to be worrying. It’s easiest to concentrate on the tasks I need to complete on a day-to-day basis.

The summer training prepared me in so many ways: learning how to move about the classroom, getting comfortable speaking in front of students, general classroom preparation, and using specific praise. My biggest take away from summer school, though, was learning how to give out consequences. That may sound silly, but one of my biggest struggles was learning how to confront student behavior being as non-confrontational as I am. Giving consequences and reaching out to students and parents is still challenging, but I think it's getting easier. My consistency in handing out consequences still needs work, but I’m confident that will come with more experience and time in the classroom. I honestly wish the summer school program was a year-long student teaching experience. I learned a lot of the basics of teaching, but I didn’t walk away with the much in the way of useful lesson plans or cumulative teaching experience. In reading the Wong textbook, especially the part about induction programs, I’m baffled that school districts don’t have more extensive training programs for new teachers. No matter how you get into teaching, the first year is the hardest for everyone. The summer program prepared us well, no doubt, but I do wish it could have been longer.