Work Environment

So I was looking back through my blog a bit...I don't really know why I do that, but I do, anyway, and I came across a couple pictures I posted of my classroom way back in my first year of teaching.  Keep in mind, those are pics of my classroom that "made my students feel unloved" according to Mrs. Evil, my former vice principal and arch nemesis (current).  Fortunately, she got fired.  What a horrible statement, but seriously, she made my life hell that year.  That's not really what I wanted to get into (especially now that things are much better with the new administration).  What I really wanted to share are some pictures of my classroom that actually makes my students feel loved....or something.  Some of them are actually from the end of last year, but it's basically the same this year.  Except they painted the walls white instead of sickly blue, and we got new desks and my chairs all match this year.  However, the chairs are all now sickly blue.  But at least students aren't dragging their favorite chair to their favorite desk at the beginning of class anymore!

The front door of my classroom.  Welcome!

The other corner of the front of my classroom, and no, my map does not roll up.  It is permanently stuck in that place unless I climb up on the radiator to switch it to the US map, which I very occasionally will do if I REALLY need it.

All my students keep their work in their folders which they keep in these bins under the chalkboard.

If you turn around from the front door, you will see the back of my classroom. There's my class bulletin boards, my Great Work board, a place for students to check their grades, my World History Word Wall, and the Mastery Wall.

Here's a closer look at the Mastery Wall.  (Yes, I very discreetly blanked out my students' names.  I'm not sure if you noticed)  On each assessment, I see what state learning goals students scored at least 80% on.  So let's say questions 5, 6, 13, 21, and 23 are about Westward Expansion, and you missed number 23, but got the other four.  You would have gotten 80% Mastery on 5.1.4.a or whatever the state number is.  Then you would get a sticker in the corresponding box!  Believe it or not, my high school students LIVE for those stickers.

This is the other corner of my classroom I haven't shown yet.  Tucked back there is another door that is missing a knob, so I made that my teacher's desk corner.  The red bulletin board is full of students' goals for my class.  Above that is my US History World Wall. There's also the Student of the Week Board, No Name paper board (since doing folders, that hadn't been too much of an issue), my cupboard of art supplies, and a bunch of binders I give away.  This shot is from last year (as you can tell by the mismatched chairs).  I have the same projector, but this year I have a cart with wheels and a laptop to go with it! How fancy, right?

Here's a closer shot of my US History Word Wall.  Awesome.  I think it's a little useless, but supposedly it makes my students feel loved.

And here's a close up of one of my student's goals.  Woohoo! 

The last thing I haven't shown yet is my Wall of Fame.  It's on the closet next to the door of my classroom (the one with a knob)  My students love it and drag their friends/babies/parents/parole officers/pets/perfect strangers into my classroom to point out their name on the Wall of Fame.  So far it's a bit empty this year because we haven't taken any tests yet.  You get your name on here if you score over 90% on a unit assessment. This pic is from right after the first test in the third trimester last year, so there are a few names on there (which I have blurred out) but it's because I only had about 13 students coming total.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of Mrs. A's classroom!  Come back anytime, but remember, you have to come IN the back door (the one behind the filing cabinet) because it's the only one that will unlock from the outside, and go OUT through the front door, because the doorknob is broken off on the inside on the back door, so you can't turn it.  Also, it might be a good idea to come in October-November-ish after the humidity goes away, but before it gets too cold in Baltimore, since one of my windows is still broken from hurricane Irene.