Ready to Start (The Backlog!)

 I finished setting up my classroom at the 11th hour. 

It feels so much better to have groups instead of 26 random desks in rows and columns. 

My "little project" that ended up taking hours turned out well, too. I'll try to make something similar with work from this year (Ideally, during the year, so kids can see their work on the wall!).

A lot of my stuff is older and showing wear and tear from yearly teardowns, but I feel good about how the room ended up. 

There won't be a seating chart to start, because I don't really know any of the students yet. Before COVID, I let students pick their own seats 1st quarter. Then I came up with a chart 2nd quarter to shake things up and force them to talk to new people.

FRIDAY UPDATE:

So how'd the week go? Pretty well! Last year, my classes all ended up LOUD. This year, I have a few where it's been hard to get anyone to talk! So far, it feels like a huge improvement from where we started last year. The new principal has been adamant about patrolling hallways and enforcing a tardy policy and I'm all for it. 

She also asked us to wear our new staff t-shirts for a group photo.

It looks organized at first, but if you look at it longer you'll see there's no consensus on whether we should stand or sit. Hopefully, that won't be a metaphor for the year!