Back to the Classroom

I went to my classroom today. My main purpose was to turn in my receipts from the Austin trip, but I knew I also needed to start wrapping my head around what actually needs to be done, that must be done at school, before school starts.

After bringing the bags of my first Staples purchases of the summer into my classroom, I dug through my IB materials from the Austin trip and walked into my principal's office with them in hand. It was great to sit and chat with him about the workshop in Austin, my impressions of my new co-workers, and the year ahead. It was worth the time and the drive in to just sit and debrief with him today.

After that, I skirted back around the VBS groups in the upstairs hallway and past the barriers put up to dissuade these groups from venturing down the hall to take stock of my classroom. The walls were painted last month (including the inside of the closet walls), and then the floors were cleaned. This means my room is even more disarray than usual, with everything taken out of the closets and off the counters by me for the painters, but put back by others for the floor cleaners. I have a huge job to unload shelves and put everything away where it will be easily accessible by me and the students come the first day of school. Not to mention the job of cleaning the accumulated grime off of the chairs, desks, shelves, cupboards, and counters. I made a list:

• Physical room arrangement
• Counter clearing
• Shelf/cubby clearing
• Shelf/counter cleaning
• Desk/chair cleaning
• Bulletin boards inside classroom
• Bulletin boards outside classroom
• Cubby set up
• Nametags on desks
• Welcome bags

I didn't bring my bag of rags with me, and wasn't really dressed for hard core cleaning, so I put the desks in table groups, and made my list. I still have two long tables to position before I can cross even the first item off of my list. But I shouldn't complain. I can go into my building whenever it's convenient for me this summer. I know from my colleagues in public school that this is a luxury not to be overlooked or taken lightly. I have heard stories of teachers being given mere hours in their rooms to prep for the first day of school, as they are denied access to the building unless their administrator is present. As a career Catholic school teacher, who has always been able to spend as much time in August setting up as I want, and as the wife of someone in the business world with a downtown office where we stop to use the restroom and get pain relievers or sodas/coffee when we are downtown, I don't understand a system that doesn't allow professionals free access to their workspace. But I digress.

So I didn't accomplish much today. I keep telling myself it's August 1, and I have literally all month to prepare. But I'm fairly certain I'll be back soon to do some of the scrubbing and other work required to get the space ready for the students on day one. I also need to sit down tomorrow and make a list of the other things that need to be done, but can be done at home. I sense that is a longer list, so I should get started while I still have plenty of time.