My ninth year as a teacher begins this year. I cannot believe my second career has already reached that milestone. This past week has brought me to the realization that I was meant to be a teacher, it just took me 38 years and a first career to get here.
I have been blessed to work at several schools and learned so much from each of them. I also learned how many people really don't understand the educational system today and the dance you must complete around them in order to survive. I have met teachers who were naturals; ones who should have chosen a different profession; ones who, with some experience will blossom, and some who have been teaching for so long they cannot adjust to the changes the system is going through.
This past week I was very excited to learn that my new journalism class was going to be able to meet in their own classroom and not share their space with my history classes. I have never been so blessed and then I began to try and make it a comfortable room for better creativity and for the students to feel it was a safe spot.
I had tables removed because there were so many jammed in a very small room and I wanted the kids to have space to move around. One thing I have learned is a room where kids are creating, needs to be fluid. You cannot jam stuff in the space and make it inviting.
I have plants and an old typewriter, posters and enough tables to sit and write or work on design. I have a big spot in the middle that is empty and with that in mind, I decided to make a small seating area, where the students could chill. What a journey that is going to turn in to.
After perusing every site for educational furniture known to me an several Google searches, I have decided that companies have no idea how to create a comfortable area for teenagers. They are HARD on furniture. It gets knocked around and beat up, not because they are trying to destroy that expensive bean bag chair that looked perfect, but because they are not thinking about what they are sitting on, poking a pencil over and over in a bean bag, causes it to loose all the stuffing. Ask me how I learned that. .
So today I am going thrifting. I am looking for two chairs and a table. Something like a coffee table and two side chairs. A seating area if you like, that the kids can kick back and relax in to peruse magazines and other newspapers for brainstorming. How do you brainstorm when your chair is designed by someone who wants bulk orders of indestructible over comfort?
So once again, I am excited to find the perfect setup for the class. I am excited to see my students back on Tuesday. I was excited to have so many of my students drop by my room during open house just to say hello. I couldn't wait to redo my history classroom or get my class lists. Every thing in both of my classrooms is designed for the students.
After nine years I am still excited for the new school year. That will keep me up and moving for even more years to come. There is no boredom, only smiles and welcomes to the new students crossing in to a new year., I love this job.
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