Silliness

This year, I am finally moving to a room that is sandwiched between the 7th and 8th grade general education rooms. This is great for my students because it minimizes transitions as well as the stigma of walking down the long walk of shame to the special education room. Now it's just a room in the middle school wing.

But, not only is this room included in the middle school wing, it is smaller than the previous room, the windows are permanently clouded, and it has carpeting. The small area will help reduce off-task behavior because there are fewer places for students to walk/run to and the desks are such that it's more comfortable to be at a work station than in an open area that provides no real educational benefit. The clouded windows will completely reduce students' desire to look out into the streets to spy on the goings on at the corner "store" because it is absolutely impossible to see through the windows and the corner "store" cannot be seen from 204. Finally, the gross green carpeting in the bright orange 204 is a beautiful welcome because it will greatly reduce noise.

The only negative of switching rooms is the actual switching rooms process. Half of Wednesday and most of today was spent carting supplies like computers, desks, chairs, and lots and lots of books from room 218 to room 204. I got a lot of the things into the room on Wednesday; Thursday was spent listening to one sad fact after another; and today was spent taking the computers off their broken carts and put onto tables (with a fellow teacher and her mother connecting them for me), arranging the desks so that everyone can see the board but won't be blocked by the overhead projector, arranging the file cabinets, setting up the copy machine, arranging the desks, finding enough chairs for my students, bleaching everything--everything, hanging up bulletin board paper and corresponding boarders (which is quite a challenge when you're 4'11"), and putting all the books that are in room 204 so far onto shelves.

The printers for the computers don't work and two of the screens are dying.
The desks are cleaned by the graffiti is still visible.
The overhead projector is dirty and I haven't come across the pens yet.
When I moved the file cabinets, I smashed my finger and think I may have chipped a joint.
The pastel-flowered contact paper is still stuck on the cabinets.
I haven't tested the copy machine to see if it's working.
The bulletin boards are empty.
I don't have all the books from 218, including the books I need to start science lessons.

So, why not stay late or go in on the weekend. Teachers are professionals, right? Well, CPS teachers are not allowed in the building unless there is an administrator, so at 4:00 this afternoon, the school was closed, and it won't be open until Tuesday morning when students return. So, lesson plans will be written at home and everything else will be done in a whirlwind atnd at the last minute early Tuesday morning.