Back to School

Back to school affects the whole family in our house. I spent this week getting my classroom ready to go back to teaching seventh graders. I'm excited about the new school year, as always, but frustrated by the days spent in meetings (also, as always!). Still, it's a pretty exciting time. We all head back on Monday, and my classroom is finally just about put together. I really love teaching, and I can't wait to get started again. We had a motivational inservice speaker today who asked what we would do if we had $86,400 deposited in our bank account each day, with the caveat that whatever we didn't spend was removed at the end of each night. A few people jokingly (or in some cases, not so jokingly) called out that they wouldn't be here, meaning school. The thing is, if I had all the money I needed in the world, I'd still be in school. (As evidenced by the fact that I got a check today for more than my two week salary for one week of work at my husband's employer!) It's truly what I feel called to do.

So anyway, here's some pictures of my classroom:

This is my homework board, where I post the assignments my kids love to.... ignore. But hey, that's seventh grade for you! It's my job to convince them otherwise.

This is my desk. Take note. It will only be that clean two or three times a year. Though usually it's considerably more tidy than the desks of my colleagues - I can't function in a mess, so I keep it to a few select piles instead of an avalanche! This is one of my bulletin boards. It's always a challenge to figure out how to cover the vast empty wall space in my classroom, which is two-thirds bulletin board. This bulletin board is from a calendar Uncle Bob (who taught for thirty years) gave me to use in my classroom.

This is my writing center, where students can grab a dictionary or thesaurus. I also stock plenty of paper, art supplies and ideas (on the posters).

This group of fictional friends graces the top of my classroom library. Sure, they're a little young for seventh grade, but maybe they'll bring back the days when my students thought reading was fun! (Some, of course, still do!)
And finally, the view of my classroom from the door. Yes. It's a triangle. No, I don't want to talk about it....
By the way, do you know the punchline to the story about $86,400? You might have heard it before...

You see, every day, we have 86,400 seconds deposited into our life. And if we don't use them, we lose them. In my job, I am privileged to use some of those seconds every day to educate the youth of America. Why would I want to be anywhere else?