Classroom Tour.

I thought it would be fun to give you all a tour of my classroom. Since starting a new semester, I changed some things around and out up some new displays. And while my classroom isn't perfect (you'll see some clutter in some pictures), it is far more comfortable than it was first semester. 

Enjoy!

  

This is the view when you come in through the door of my room. My room is almost in the middle of our building, and was a room that was added on in recent renovations (it was a courtyard, or some such before). You'll see on the far left side a paneled wall-it moves so that my room and the one next door can be combined into one big room, but it's obviously closed during school hours. You can see my front board in the distance, as well as the sign language teacher's desk in the distance.

 

 

On the left-hand side of the door, you'll find our storage cabinet. With the exception of our filing cabinets and desks, this is the only storage we have in the room. Sadly, those boxes on the top were "inherited" from the teacher who retired at the end of last year, and we have yet to go through them. There are a ton of boxes and books in the cabinet I need to go through as well. Not being in my room during a prep hour kills my organization! Anyway, the genre posters are new! They're fashioned after old movie posters, and the kids really like them!

 

When you walk in the door, this is what is along the right wall. It is a huge whiteboard that is semi-useless (the projection screen is on the other wall, or I would use this as the front of my room). So, I've turned it into a display wall. Right now I have my display on The Great Gatsby, which I am really a fan of. :) To the left of the display is the "Schedule" area, where I write down our tasks for the day. At the time I took this picture, I had grades from first semester taped up. Above the board are a couple of banners-one with the presidents, and the other is a timeline of important events in U.S. History. They go along this wall, then curve around the corner to go above the door.

If you go straight into the room (the view above was at an angle), you'll find the "big desk," aka my desk. Since I am in the room for hours 1-4 (the sign language teacher is in here during 5 and 6-I travel to 2 other rooms those hours), the big desk houses a lot of my supplies and personal effects. There is my big (wrinkly) State flag, as well as a white board full of reminders, memos, and student art work. The upper left corner of the whiteboard is a collection of mythological coloring pages from my students last semester. You can also see my big filing cabinets, our TV, and a a bunch of my junk. I usually keep a pretty clean desk, but I have a ton of stuff to file and put away!

Right behind my desk and next to my filing cabinets is our storage space for the laptop and projector (my overhead projector is currently hiding on the bottom. I am using the cart for it to move my Maus books between classrooms). This is one of the many student areas I have. Both of my classes have a set of folders for absent work. This is also where I store papers to be passed back, etc. On the board are where I put BIG reminder dates, etc. You'll also see some lingering books and folders kids have left in my room. 

One of my favorite poster sets is above the board...a big bookshelf with titles of classics. :)

 This just shows the rest of the front of the room. The table in front is where I keep copies for the week and other things for the kids. I will often have kids come work at the table with me if they need extra help, or if we're editing a paper together. The bulletin board on this side of the whiteboard is a student info board. We post announcements for them, the lunch schedule, etc. Everything on the bookshelf is for them-supplies in the bins, and books. You'll also see Angela's desk (sign language teacher). She comes in about halfway through 4th hour, so she sets up shop there until I leave. :)

More of the partition wall. We put up student artwork on the panels as much as possible. Right now the wall is home to some of my mythology students' maps of Greek and Norse geography from last semester. You'll also see one of the 2 skylights in my room (the other is near the door). I don't have a window, so I have these...it's interesting, not having a window, and when it is dark outside, so is my room!

 

This is a new addition to the room-my grammar guide wall! I found inspiration for this on Pinterest, so I started pulling it together a couple weekends ago. It covers a lot of the silly errors students make-like affect v. effect. 

 Next to the grammar wall is a set of literary and figurative language terms. This is another new addition. I had been eying these posters with these terms and definitions online, and when I started looking into them, I realized that it would make more sense to just type them and make them myself (the posters online were like...$50. No thank you). And here we are!

 This was taken from the front of the room-just to show you our seating arrangement. The desks were in some kind of horseshoe last semester, and it worked okay for a while. We tried moving the desks into groups of four, but we just don't have enough room, so this works for now. Anyway, you can see the big back bulletin board. The right side is for Angela and the sign language classes. The left is for me, and right now it has World War II things up. I also have two more posters sets along the top-one on Parts of Speech and the other has quotes from women.

 And here is a close-up of the World War II wall. I still have some pictures to laminate and put up, but it's coming together! My Rosie the Riveter poster is a favorite, so once we're done with WWII, she'll find a home elsewhere in the room. I'll also keep the atom bomb picture up through our Cold War unit as well.

Well, that's my classroom! Like I said, it is a work in progress, but it is cozy and bright. :)

Weekly Wrap-up for Janaury 27, 2013: The Nightmare.

I had really big plans for this week-starting my new classes, beginning discussions on World War II and The Great Gatsby (I was SO EXCITED to talk about the green light).

All of that was thrown away when I came home on Wednesday to find Matt in bed shivering and looking horrible. I woke him up to talk to him and learned that he had been vomiting since BEFORE he went to work the previous day (Note: On Mondays and Tuesdays, we work opposite schedules. He goes to work at 4 in the afternoon and works through the night). So, Matt had been getting sick for over 24 hours.

I let him sleep for a couple hours, then woke him up with a hot bowl of soup. It didn't go well. He couldn't keep it down, and looking at him, I just knew something wasn't right. We decided to go to an urgent care facility a little down the road to get him looked at. I was concerned about his blood sugar level, since he is a type 1 diabetic. I was right to worry. After they got us into a room, I mentioned his diabetes, which got them moving (I should have mentioned it when we walked in). They tested his sugar and he couldn't even sit up. His sugar was at 402 (which is HIGH). Immediately they told me to take him to the hospital, so over to the ER we went.

After being admitted, they took us back almost immediately to a small room and got him hooked up to IVs, etc. His blood sugar was higher, he was still getting sick, and it was horrible. He was so dehydrated that they couldn't get into his veins to give him medicine and insulin. At one point, his blood sugar was so high (over 500) that when the nurse asked him to identify me he said, "I have no idea."

They made the decision to put him into the ICU after that, so we traveled upstairs. The meanest nurse told me to go "Wait somewhere" while they set him up. At that point, it was super late, I was alone, hysterical, and just wanted my husband to be okay. I may have lost it a bit in the waiting room, and eventually she came to tell me I could come see him.

It was so scary to see him hooked up to a lot of machines. They were worried about his heart rate since it was so high. But at least he was awake and talked to me a bit. The room had one chair, so I sat down and settled in for the night. I kid you not, that mean nurse told me at least ten times to go home (Matt agrees that she was really rude). I was not about to leave my husband alone in the ICU. Thankfully, another nurse brought me a blanket and tried to make me comfortable so I could sit with him during the night. I slept a little, but woke up every time they checked his sugar. At around 5, I snapped awake and Matt was awake too. He looked so much better, so we talked for a little while. I had to run home to feed the animals, call in for a sub, and sleep for a couple hours.

I was back by 9:30, and they decided to move him out of the ICU since his sugar level stabilized. At that point, it sank in he would be okay. From there, we spent the next two days waiting for his other levels to regulate themselves and getting some food in his stomach (he hadn't kept anything down since Monday night). He was finally able to come home Friday.

I am so glad to have him home. He feels a million times better, and it's great to see him looking like himself. He has a lot of bruises on his arms from all the needles and bloodwork, and the tips of fingers are bruised from them testing his sugar so much.

I feel really drained (emotionally) from everything that happened, but I am so grateful for my co-workers. They really helped me pull together lessons and make sure the subs were comfortable with my classes. The media specialist, a good friend of mine, stepped in and taught my history classes on Friday so the kids would have a break from book work.

The kids have also been quite sweet. I posted on my webpage that I wouldn't be in, simply saying my husband was in the hospital, and I've gotten some very concerned and sweet e-mails hoping he gets better.

I'm so happy to have such a warm and supportive group of people around me, but most of all, I'm glad Matt is home with me and on the mend.

Weekly Wrap-up for January 20, 2013: The Halfway Point!

On Tuesday, I am starting the second semester of my first official year of teaching. On one hand, I'm thinking that this crept up on me, but on the other, I'm excited for the content and excitement that comes with the spring!

I'm going to be busy. While I am losing a prep (I'm not teaching mythology this semester), I am gaining an section in each of my other classes-so I will have 3 U.S. History classes, and 2 sophomore English classes. In addition, I'm co-teaching theater, so I don't have a prep hour during the school day. I will be busy, yes, but I am excited for the challenges.

And to be honest, I am so excited to only have two classes that need prepping (the teacher I am working with for theater is doing all the planning). I feel like I can put a lot more of myself into those classes and come up with some amazing lessons.

Right now, I'm working on creating a display for The Great Gatsby. I'm printing out a ton of pictures, quotes, cartoons, and more that are related to the book and collage all over a wall. I'm also adding in some "20s" themed decorations-lots of glitz, feathers, and sparkles-to set it all off. There will also be a lot of yellow (oh symbolism), and I can't wait to get the rest of it up!

I'm also finishing up a bulletin board for my World War II unit. Right now I have my big Rosie the Riveter poster up, as well as a huge poster of an atom bomb detonation. There are some other things on the wall now, but I'm adding much more. I've found some pictures from Maus to display (since we're reading it), as well as other images of the time period.

I think both units are going to be amazing and set the tone for this second semester!

But I'm really excited about the collaboration going on between myself and another history/english teacher in the building. She is actually the teacher I subbed for two years ago! She is going to come into my history classes to give a presentation about her visit to a concentration camp, and share some of her family's experiences from during the war. In return, I'm going to her senior composition class to talk to her students about the classics and reading them! It's a win-win situation and just really inspires me. This is what teaching should be about!

And if you can't tell, I'm feeling really good. Now that I'm under treatment, I feel like a lot of pressure is off of my shoulders-I feel a bit free, actually. And feeling better physically? Nothing can really top that. :)

For today, I'm going to keep working on getting things ready for the week. I also need to sit down and read some more of Anna Karenina. :)

Book 150: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams.

“What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof?—I wish I knew... Just staying on it, I guess, as long as she can...” 

I've only had one other experience with Williams, and it was pretty positive. And when I decided to pull this title down for a read during the readathon a couple weeks, I was expected a fast read and nothing more.

I think I should have learned by now that all the plays on my list are there for a reason. I can't so easily dismiss them.

Beginning this one, I was struck by the similarities to another play on my list, The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman. It took me a little while to place my reactions to Hellman's play aside in order to concentrate on this one, and once I did, I realized that a lot of the similarities were only on the surface (both focus on a dying cotton plantation owner and matter of inheritance). And I believe the years between the "publications" of each play show a remarkable different. Hellman's play, first written/performed in 1939, is definitely fiery and full of passion. There is a lot of scheming and plotting on part of the main female character to insure that she will be left wealthy. She pushes her family and insists on having everything she thinks she deserves.

And while Williams' play also has a strong female lead in Maggie, there seems to be a lot more at stake for the family members. There is a lot more depth to the backstory, and it appears that Williams play is more about the individuals than the plot. Each of the characters has a motive and a desire that is brought to the surface of the play, then they disappear a bit into the background. As I was reading, I kept catching glimpses of each struggle, all kind of bubbling there under the surface.

Essentially, the play is about Big Daddy and his fortune. He recently went to the doctor, and while most of the family knows the truth-that he is dying of cancer-he doesn't. So, his two sons and their wives are trying to win favor to get his inheritance. And as they push and prod him, all kinds of issues come out-alcoholism, infidelity, jealousy, repression, desire, and death. All of these issues influence the characters in different ways until it all comes out-the truth about Big Daddy's impending death, the truth behind a friend's suicide, secret desires, and a whopping big lie.

By the end, I was reading and flipping pages as fast as I could to discover what happened. It was fast-paced, tense, and incredibly unsettling, but I really did love it.

However, like all the plays I've read for this project, there is only so much I can interpret from reading the lines of the characters. I wish I could see all the plays on my list, then read them. I think I would pull far more from the performances. But I am glad I have one more by Williams to read-A Streetcar Named Desire-and a slew of other poems. :)

“In all these years, you never believed I loved you. And I did. I did so much. I did love you. I even loved your hate and your hardness.”

Book 149: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

 “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”

I'm pretty sure there is nothing new or insightful I can say about Tolkien's The Hobbit. It is everywhere and there has been so much conversation about Tolkien's Middle Earth that anything I DO say will just be swept under the rug.

Instead, I can tell you about my own experiences with the book, in hopes that my personal relationship to the book and Tolkien are enough to get you to read further, and perhaps, comment below. :)

I was obsessed with fantasy and science-fiction as a teenager. I discovered the genres in middle school, and quickly flew through some amazing series and examples of each. Then I ventured off to high school and learned that apparently, girls don't read those genres, let alone LOVE them. So I swept them under the rug in my first year and attempted to read "girly" things and books that would convince my Honors English teacher I was smart.

Eventually (and thankfully) I grew out of that stage and realized that it didn't really matter and that I loved fantasy. I purchased The Hobbit and read it for the first time (and later The Lord of the Rings, which I wrote about in this very early post on my blog). I fell in love with Tolkien's world and was convinced that there was nothing greater than Middle Earth.

I've read the book numerous times since then. In the Mystery/Science Fiction/Fantasy class that I took as a junior in high school, The Hobbit was part of the curriculum. I adored the whole unit (and the class), and we even watched the very old school animated version of the book. It was my own nerdvana, and I loved it.

Since high school, I've revisited the book from time to time. In fact, when I cracked open my battered copy on this most recent reread, all the memories of reading it came back-being in my mom's car, carrying it to school to read after a test, reading favorite parts in college as a break from other books, and lugging it in my move out of my parents' house and into our current apartment. It is a very well-loved book and holds so much comfort for me.

There is something to be said about that-finding comfort in a book and remembering not only the characters, setting, and plot, but also that places that you have been while reading the book. I wish I had the same strong feelings about each book I read.

As far as the story, it was everything I remembered. Since I read this in the fall, you can assume that I read it before we went to see the new movie (which I loved). On this most recent read, I really tried to focus in on the dwarves and Gandalf's role. I noticed only a few new insights and was happy to see that the new movie built on a lot of the back story (and hello, Radagast. He is awesome).

In any case, I loved the book, loved the memories it brought me, and I can't wait to read it again. :)