Building My Classroom

So it’s that time of year when I need to start working on my classroom. Just as every year in the past, I have to move into a different classroom, and like many of my moves, the physical layout of the room is drastically different than every other room I’ve been in. So what does that mean? It means starting from scratch. Again.

I know where everything goes in my classroom from last year. I know the corner by the window is where my bookshelves go. It’s also where the computers go, as well as the 30 gallon fishtank. I know that four bookshelves fit perfectly against the classroom heater. I know that my hexagon table goes back by the sink, and the booths fit against the south wall.

In my new room, I’m spending a ton of time working with a tape measure and Google Sketchup. You think I’m a nerd? Well I am. But my room is also full of boxes, student desks, my classroom furniture, classroom furniture left by last year’s occupants. The school computers (which we are NOT allowed to move or unplug) aren’t even grouped together, and while I don’t know where I want them yet, I know I don’t want them where they are. So working in a digital space allows me to see where things fit. I can move my three 150 pound booths around the room with the flick of a mouse rather than sweating as I pull it across carpet, weaving in between stacks of boxes.

While I used to find this part exciting, it’s lost that magic. I frustrated. I really liked my room last year, and I simply cannot replicate it in my current classroom. The stage in which my classroom currently resides, can be equated to that puzzle where you move one piece out of the way so you can move another piece, and so on. I can’t put anything away because I don’t know where it goes, but I can’t figure where things go because I have a hard time moving them around the things that need to be put away.

I’ve set up my teacher desk where I want it, and guess what… no electricity for 15 feet. I put my microwave and refrigerator where I want them. No electricity for 25 feet. My three booths won’t fit on the wall where I want them because booth #3 will block over half of a doorway.

In the end, I know I’ll figure it out. I always do. But I can’t wrap my mind around the actual CONTENT and CURRICULUM for the year until I figure out the physical space. Yuck.