After a year of touring just about every room in the school for my lessons last year I was so pleased to be given a room all of my own this year! Not just any room, a brand new room! New chairs, new tables, new desk, new whiteboard, new interactive screen, I even got a brand new leather chair for me to park myself in!
The new room has revolutionised my teaching and has completely altered my impression of teaching! Last year the first couple of minutes of just about every lesson was spent logging onto the computer, finding my board marker and apologising for being late! I was also at the mercy of the room owners, if they fancied a bit of 60 minute make over then my seating plan was not worth the scrap of paper it was scribbled on! But this year, oh this year, my own room, my own place, my own drawers to stuff with whatever I please, (currently Haribo and Halls Soothers) the computer is always on and ready, my power points all opened for the day! Pens, pencils, rulers and board markers on the desk. If I want to be anti social I can stay in there at break or eat my lunch in there, any miscreants that need a detention know exactly where to go. People also know where to look for me although this can of course be a problem! Everything I need is to hand, I can store my books and any marking I need to do, my car no longer looks like a second hand book stall at a church fundraiser. The benefits of my own room cannot be over stated.
It does however come with problems, I feel a responsibility to keep it clean and tidy! I am over protective of the tables, the displays and especially the chairs! Anyone caught swinging on them is given the look usually reserved for fighters or homework not doers! If anyone even dreams of using a ‘sharpie’ on a single sheet I become apoplectic with rage! It goes without saying fountain pens are a no go in the new room. It’s like when I used to have a cleaner at home, I give my room a once over before the cleaner gets here at half past 4! Make-up wipes have proved to be useful for this as has nail polish remover and pads! What the people at Tesco think I am doing with all of these is beyond me!
The main problem however I have found, the people who use the room when I am not teaching! These people rush in last minute search around for a board marker, log onto the computer,complain that I have moved the room around again and leaving their books all over the place! I mean honestly, what is their problem? Haven’t they got somewhere to leave their stuff?
geogblog2 