The Perfect Classroom

[Penguin222]

Hi! I can NEVER seem to get a handle on all the paperwork and materials used in the classroom. As a result, I feel that my classroom could LOOK better. I've seen pictures online of some classrooms that are highly functional, yet esthetically pleasing. HOW do I achieve that? :confused: How do I get a handle on ALL that paperwork? Ugh! :eek:

[Chef Dave]

Hi! I can NEVER seem to get a handle on all the paperwork and materials used in the classroom. As a result, I feel that my classroom could LOOK better.

Would I be correct in guessing that you are a novice or relatively inexperienced teacher?

If so - don't worry about it. Everything will get better with time.

I'm guessing that you are probably spending a lot of time with lesson planning. If you save your lesson plans and sequence them, the next school year will be a lot easier. You can even spend part of the summer reflecting on the past year. Think about what worked and what didn't work. Keep the lessons you liked. Revise the ones you didn't.

Come next year, you will have the advantage of knowing your curriculum and will have a year's worth of lesson plans to draw on. The time you would have spent on lesson plans can now be diverted to other projects such as learning centers or bulletin board displays.

Be aware that work in a classroom can easily expand to fill whatever time you have available. The appropriate use of time management is the key to getting these problems sorted out.

What you need to do now, for the remainder of the current school year - is to distinguish between wants and needs.

Identify what you NEED to do to fulfill your basic job as a classroom teacher and prioritize those needs in terms of which items you do first and which you do second and so forth.

Do not allow yourself to be distracted with minor cosmetic things like bulletin board displays. Although a classroom's appearance can make a good first impression, fluff without the substance of good lesson planning and instruction - is ultimately meaningless.

In terms of lesson planning, rely on your teacher's editions. Not only will your TEs include suggested lessons but most of them should have reinforcing activities i.e. worksheets, workbooks, written assignments and so forth.

The lessons will be pretty basic ... but you can use the TE's as a core for lesson planning and can always add creative elements to your units as time permits.

[busbus]

Hi Penquin222,

You can't do everything in one year. It's going to take time.

The esthetically pleasing rooms that you saw, didn't just happen. It took time, and in some cases, expense. So I would suggest keeping a lookout for poster sales, classroom gadget sales, etc. Sometimes you can get carpet or tile remnants from the local carpet stores for next to nothing or free. There are many ways to keep the expense down to something bearable.

Don't forget thrift stores and flea markets. Just be careful with what you purchase from these places. Don't want to cause health issues with lead paint or allergies with dirty stuffed animals.

Attend meetings and professional development where you know that vendors will be. Boy, can you get a lot a good freebies from them. Also, if you go online, some book companies and technology companies offer free stuff for teachers. I know of one book company that will send you about six free reading posters.

Try to stay organized with the paperwork and lesson plans. Let your curriculum guide you. Also, do you have a buddy teacher? He/she might be a helpful resource for you.

Be patient with yourself. "Rome wasn't built in a day!"

[ginger11]

Penguin222, How long have you been teaching. I am on my second year and I am still trying to get a handle on things. I always have to clean up my room...Its like I do not have a place for everything.

[leafy seadragon]

The perfect classroom is one that works for you and your students. Where you feel comfortable and where you know where everything is. It is great to be organised, it makes the day flow easier and transitions between activities are less stressful. Don't forget to put the little touches up that you love. Also, let the kids make it their space, display their work, give them places to put their things and a calm space is always great. After a while, you will know what you need to make the room yours. I'm glad I teach Primary and Spec Ed because I have my own room. When I taught High School I hated moving from room to room and only having a small desk space in the staffroom as my own. Enjoy, your room, bring flowers!

[Harriett]

I've taught for 23 years and every year I find a new way to do things. I always teach my kids that we need to put things back when we use them--they keep me on track. I cut out pictures of things I'd like to try in my room. Take pictures of bulletin boards and things you see you like.

[RibbityRibbit]

I'm finding that every year my room gets better. I find better ways to use space, to organize and decorate. It does take time, though. And I work hard in my classroom in terms of keeping it up. I do go in often on the weekends, and use my Friday prep to clean/sort each week. This is my fifth year teaching, but third at this school.

I look for finds at yard sales and craigslist. I got a great IKEA storage unit (from their children's section, it holds plastic crates and is sort of step shaped) I use this for all my math manipulatives and was my best garage sale find at $15, as I had seen if for $80 or so. Finding furniture that serves more than one purpose saves a lot of space! Don't buy any furniture unless you see a way you can utilize it in more than one way- for example, I buy low file cabinets instead of tall so the tops can be accessed by the kids (folders, materials, etc.) I use the back of shelves to post information, the calendar, posters, and so on.

I also keep a lot of plants in the room. The kids have the job of watering, and it really brightens up the space. I don't do a theme (like jungle, race cars, etc.) but have stuck to a similar color scheme. This really helps the room seem cohesive. Since you have to buy things like tubs, containers and boxes, buy them in one or two colors and it makes a difference. Cover the bb's in a corresponding color but don't spend a lot of time on decorating them. Just putting up kids work seems to be enough for me. I get a lot of comments on the space. I love being in my classroom. It just is so cheerful, I feel good every time I go in!

Another easy tip is to always back papers you put on the wall with a border made simply by a piece of construction paper. I often use two, a colored piece and a black piece, and it makes everything stand out. Also, lining up work in an interesting way when you post it, helps make the room more aesthetically pleasing. I also have used the same font on most everything I type for the classroom walls. I actually use two, one for big things (a curly cue type font) and another for smaller typing. This is FREE and seems to make a small difference. Just the consistency helps.

[wig]

In addition to everything mentioned, realize that pictures are NOT going to be taken of the classroom if it looks disorganized. You really do not know that the rooms you see look like that all the time. Often it depends on what is on your plate at any given time.

[wordseater]

Well, for me the perfect classroom is, as somebody has already said, the one where you feel comfortable, because you feel that your students are understanding the matters... because you feel there's a good relationship between you and your students... where knowledge is important and you realise that your students really fell this...
I've been teaching for 11 years and what I feel is that, here in Portugal, education is getting worse and worse... :confused: Students have to do almost nothing to pass and we, teachers, are asked to do reports and more reports about our performance! And, moreover, what I see from my experience is that even with all the technology, all the interesting ressources we use, nowadays, students think it's not necessary to study and so I feel I'm only wasting my time with no good results, most of the time, just because students don't undertand the importance of studying, learning and knowledge...

[klkatz]

i think it would be fun to have the students design the classroom. give them the oppporunity to draw up their layout and explain why the put things in certain places... might be a good activity to do the first week of school to get the kids eased into learning, to learn their personalities and to help them to know that their opinion matters. just my two cents.

[jsfowler]

My problem is that just when I get my room to look the way I want it, I get moved. I have been in 5 different classrooms in the last 8 years!

[sgaestel]

At least you have a classroom...it is very difficult to decorate a cart!

[busbus]

My problem is that just when I get my room to look the way I want it, I get moved. I have been in 5 different classrooms in the last 8 years!

I hate the moving, also; however, in my many years of teaching, I've only had to move three times.

At the end of the school year, according to District policy, all room displays are to be removed, books and materials are to be stored away, and all desks have to be cleared. Therefore, it is necessary for teachers to redo their rooms at the beginning of each school year. Most of our classrooms in a school are designed just about the same, so, if you have a design and room arrangement that you like, it's easy to duplicate them in another classroom.

The one thing that I was able to do when I had to move to another classroom, was to move my furniture to the new room. I took the furniture from the new room to my former classroom. This may not be viewed as fair for the next teacher; however, it took me time to accumulate the selected things that I had. And, there were things that I had done to enhance the ambience of the room which I couldn't take with me.

The problem with moving to another classroom, for me, is the moving of all the stuff that you want, need and accumulated.

[MMTeacher]

I feel very disorganized most times. I have been teaching for 5 years now. 2 years- autistic middle school, 1 yr. 1st grade, 1 yr. 2nd grade, and now will be teaching 3rd grade for two years in a row!!! Finally!!! Same curriculum for 2 years in a row. Hard to get organized when you have things in so many levels. Especially being in Special Ed. Students are always on different levels. Anyone else have this problem?

[spolebitski]

I myself was looking for the "perfect" classroom. In my third year of teaching I was ready to really make my classroom my own. To begin with I started in K-4 then was moved to 3rd Grade and finally with a week before school was to begin I was moved to 1st grade. During my first year in 1st grade I changed the classroom a lot. We had rows of desks, pods of desks, a big circle of desk (and I taught from the middle - this was really cool because I could easily move from student to student). I had my room down (complete with new smartboard) then in october I was excessed (due to seniority after our 3rd friday state count). I was assigned to a K-4 / K-5 position only to be excessed for next year. I will once again looking for another classroom.

The moral, take all the ideas you use and see from other to apply in your classroom. Over time you will have the "perfect" classroom and when a colleague says it won't work respect their opinion but remember it is YOUR classroom.

[BuBerry3]

I am so motivated by all of these ideas! This last year was my first year of teaching (I am so thankful to get to teach a second year!) and I felt that my classroom was a disaster. I am glad that I am not the only one that has had struggle getting a flow to the classroom. I like the ideas of having a color scheme to pull things together as well as having plants in the class. This last year we could not use staples and had two walls that were brick! Quite difficult to get things to hang and discouraging when everything falls...I am quite thankful to get to staple this year and plan to really take the time to have everything put together. Thanks for all the ideas!

[mommomra]

I have a theme! I use frog accessories. I have frog borders for bulletin boards. I have a metal frog crossing sign(diamond shape/yellow). I have a frog table and frog lounge chairs in my reading center. I have a frog weather man, frog month cards, frog number line! It really helps make a room come togeter and it is so sweet when a student gives me a 'frog'gift!

[lynn bambusch]

I love themes! Since my students have behavior issues, I taught them that they had to "Be the fish that swims away". I tell them that people will always be "throwing bait" at them, and if they take the bait, the other person is controlling them. They need to "swim away". I have fish all around the room, and give out "fish awards" if someone avoids trouble. But next year they are moving me from grades 5-6 to 7-8, and the whole fish thing seems too young. I need something new. But my classroom never looked neat, my students knew that handing something in by putting it on my desk was useless. My desk was called "the black hole. It forced them to be more organized, anyway.

[Brit]

lynn -- don`t get rid of the fish theme if you still like it. We totally had that theme at a camp I was at as a teen and it totally worked. it was just more focussed on swimming against the crowd and being an individual. they had a GREAT graphic for the poster -- a bunch of really scary lookin`fish going one way and one small but determined one goin`in the oposite direction. It worked more because it was a Christian camp, and the icthus (sp?) and everything, but it`s still workable.

I don`t know that it`ll work in anywhere, but as I write this, I just keep hearing the song in my head that goes ....ooooo..BARACUDA!

[lynn bambusch]

Brit, how funny. I think if I use a baracuda it could actually work for older kids. I'll keep that in mind. One of my favorite posters, which will move to the new school with me, has a shovel and a pile of dirt, and says "When you're in a hole, stop digging!"
I'll keep working on it, thanks for the encouragment.

[priyaanka]

I believe that if students are in a safe environment, then learning can take place. Perfect classroom would contain things as a lot of motivation in air, a good learning environment and a lot of learning. And I think it should be full of colorful interactive things on the walls. And The ABC’s would be central and also the numbers would evidently be posted on walls. The desks will be sat up to be in some groups of three of four. This will resemble so they will have a little social response and also so they can assist each other in some conditions. They will change seating frequently for the reason that they will learn to work with people they are not accustomed to and also so they will have a option to meet each person and become friends. :teacher: