If I were a dog, I would deserve a firm smack on the nose, perhaps with some sort of rolled-up magazine or newspaper, for writing this post. Then again, if a dog actually wrote a blog post, perhaps that would be cause for celebration and not censure. Maybe this metaphor doesn’t quite work. I don’t know.
I spent about an hour this afternoon sitting in my new classroom, just sort of staring at everything. Have some pictures. Ignore the clutter and the untidiness; there were parties yesterday and the janitors haven’t gotten everywhere yet (and the teacher did a terrible job of getting the kids to straighten the room.)
As you can see, the room is cavernous. It’s set up as a science classroom; there’s storage underneath the countertop all the way around. That thing in the back is a vent hood. I can burn shit in there if I want to.
There’s room for, like, a million kids in here, and tons of table space too. There’s 30 student desks, plus three round tables, four computer stations that are probably going away, two rectangular tables, a couple of bar stools for the counter space, and a couple of desk areas built in under the windows. The versatility for seating arrangements is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Both of my previous classrooms could fit inside this one at the same time.
Lots of board space, too. The whiteboard is electronic, and there’s some chalkboard to either side of it, plus a fair amount of bulletin board space, especially if I get rid of the computer stations, which I’m planning to do.
God help me, I sat in this classroom today and for a couple of minutes I was actually looking forward to this fall. I cannot do this. I cannot allow myself this luxury when I don’t think I’m going to be getting paid for the entire school year.
This year was rough. I have no reason to think next year was better, as the two cardinal rules of teaching in Indiana are that nothing ever gets better and everything always gets worse. And “worse” next year is going to be unprecedentedly worse if I can’t get out this summer.
But damn. This classroom.
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