Before we get going, I think some basic information about my teaching situation is in order- I teach a very specific type of special needs student: deaf/hard of hearing. This means that I have a small class (only 6 this year!) and a specially designed room. There's carpet on the floors and walls to absorb sound so nothing echos which messes up what they hear in their hearing aids. I also have specialized lighting in order to reduce glare. But I have NO emergency lighting and that's always fun when we're under a code red and the blinds are shut. Pitch black. And kids who depend on being able to see me. Always a good time. I try my best to arrange my room so that I have maximum open space so that I can see my students and they can see me when I try to get their attention.
I think that about covers it, so, let's get this party started!
Anybody want to take a guess at the one thing that drives me absolutely insane every minute of every day I spend in this room? Anyone? The clock! It makes me nuts that it's always behind my head...and as if that weren't bad enough, there's a light that goes across the top of the whiteboard/SmartBoard so it's 3-D which completely HIDES the clock from my sight even if I turn around. How insane is that? I use my phone for everything since I can't see the clock (and then usually get in trouble for having my phone out when an administrator walks into my room...*sigh*)!
And here's my room from the back corner. That bulge above the whiteboard is much clearer in this picture. And let me just tell you how many people come into my room through the door (the one with the window) and then try to go out through the other one (and end up in my tiny closet). Always good for a chuckle. Hopefully with the center/manipulative storage unit that won't be a problem any longer. :) I'm also lucky enough to have a mounted projector for my SmartBoard so I don't have a bunch of extra wires and an A/V cart in the middle of my room (that came after tons of begging and pleading for about a year!). But, I'll admit, that sometimes it would be nice to be able to move my SmartBoard since it takes up about a third of the whiteboard.
Here's my classroom from the front. Textbooks and Journals are kept in the blue bins, the pockets on the tables are for our reward system. The door leads into the 3rd-5th grade Deaf/Hard of Hearing classroom.
Next to my word wall is my student work display. Those are the two boards I'm required to have...which is a good thing because in a room this small I only have room for these two boards. Those feather boas and two masks are authentic...bought somewhere on Bourbon Street (or a side street tourist shop. I can't remember anymore) in New Orleans. I had another student added to my roster since this picture was taken so now there's 6 pieces of yellow paper. On the first day of school I have my kids color a paper with their name typed up to add to the papers. They love knowing where their Jazzy Work will be displayed all year! :) I haven't really decided what I'll be using the long table for this year, though I'm hoping to get some computers in my room (*fingers and toes crossed!*) and that's where those will go.
Over here in a little alcove is where I'm going to teach reading. In the past I've taught it at the big table up front, but I never came up with a good solution for storing the materials. They were always kept back here on the countertop. And for the past five years I've had a nurse in my classroom all day for a medically frail child. Nurse would set herself up at this round table so she'd be out of the way. Well this year, she finally moved to the other class so I have my round table back! Yay! So I'm going to try it out and see if it's better to teach from back here. Being back here also gives me eyes into my reading area that I don't have from the front of the room which will be great for the few times I'll have more than 3 students in my room during this time. **Just as an aside- scheduling in our 3 rooms (2 teachers and 1 SLP) is a complete nightmare!!! It usually works out that because I have the younger, less mature students that need more adult help I rarely have all my students in my room at any one time without an aide. I'll make sure to do a post about what our scheduling nightmare looks like at a future date**
Also you can see where my kiddos Brag Tags will be displayed. This is the first year I'm going to try this and I really, really hope they understand this concept!
Across the room is my reading area. Again, I work with what I've got. :) My students are unable to pick appropriate books for themselves nor are they really able to read so they each get a box of books with their name on it and I rotate out the books about every 2 weeks. I have a bunch of books stored in the tall cabinet. They're usually pretty good about only looking at the books in their box or that are available on the shelves. See that rocking chair? Yea, that was mine from when I was about 2. And I can still fit in it...albeit a little sideways. But still, that counts for something, right? :)
This year I actually have built in calendar time!! So it's displayed here and we gather on the carpet around here to do our daily calendar routine. I got sick and tired of the same boring green and orange squares so I created my own calendar squares. Now I don't want to puke every time I look at it. The beanbags were not my choice. I'm just sayin'. These were the brilliant solution of my AP who thought that it would solve some of the behavior issues I had/have (he's gotten much better in the past year) with a student. My AP thought that when he got frustrated or needed a sensory break he'd be able to come over here and lay down for a few minutes to recuperate...Well, I knew that was NOT what was going to happen, but who am I to argue with the AP? I just wish she would have asked me first because I could have given her much better ideas of things to get. Anyway, the first time this student got frustrated he was led over here and told to relax for a few minutes. I turned around to head back to the front to keep teaching and a beanbag chair went flying past me. Yea...Nowadays he doesn't throw them, but he doesn't relax on them either... :-/
Last but not least, over by the closet, is my alphabet and schedule. I got sick and tired of posting the alphabet to the light box thing above the whiteboard and coming in every morning to find it on the floor because NOTHING sticks in these dusty, humid, moldy rooms. And by the end of the year the strips would be destroyed from falling down every night and curling up on the bottom because they're too wide for the thingy...So this was the solution I came up with and I haven't heard any complaints, yet. :) My schedule- once the kids arrive- contains their objective for each subject and eventually a small clock showing the time (it's on my never ending to-do list).
So, that's my classroom. I didn't think anyone wanted to see my TINY closet complete with a Signing Exact English (completely outdated and no one uses exact english anymore) book from 1973 that I'm NOT ALLOWED to get rid of. I've already asked. There's a bunch more crap in their that I'm not allowed to get rid of either and it makes me crazy since I have limited storage space to begin with. But, like I said, I work with what I've got.
