First Impressions of my new classroom

Today, I decided to drop off the bug infested boxes that have been hanging out in my garage since the end of the school year. I took them to my “new” classroom at my new school. And, really there were just bugs around them—I didn’t find anything in them.

Thankfully the office had a cart that I used instead of having to carry everything in box by box. I have done that before and while it is a good workout, it is not the best idea when it is 100+ and you are trying to make a good first impression on your new coworkers. Take it from me, I don’t sweat pretty.

So, I head down the hall to my room. I open the door and I see computers and desks. Perfect since I will be teaching a combination of technology and engineering classes! I am across the hall from the library and not far from the office. A perfect location in my opinion!

I start looking around...I only have 19 computers and I should have about 27 kids in each class. I will make it work. I figure if I have to split the class in two and have one group working on the computers and the other group working on some sort of project I can do that. Luckily, the computers are new for that lab. (I think we got them from one of our high schools, but they are new to my class.) One teacher told me to be glad I had newer desktops, the old ones took about 10 minutes to load up. Yikes.

One other negative, I also have no storage space. I don’t have a closet, shelves, or even a cabinet—but I do have those ugly boxes. I am debating between a few things. I could take the easy way out and buy a nice table cloth to put on top of a table, and then hide my boxes underneath. Or, I could buy some shelves and put the stuff in the boxes on the shelves.

I guess I could throw the stuff in the boxes away, but what if I need it one day?
Man, was I spoiled as a science teacher; I had tons of lab tables and a nice science storage area. Even last year as an elementary school teacher, I had more cabinets than I knew what to do with. I could just shove the stuff in the cabinets and I never had to look at it again.

But, I am excited to be back in middle school. I worked on de-manning my room today. It looked very boyish. I put some fabric up on the makeshift bulletin boards. Some of the little girls whose parents work at the school came by; they introduced themselves and told me they liked the fabric! Score.

I will get there. Hopefully I will figure out my storage dilemma. If you have any better ideas, let me know.