First Day

So I was definitely at school until after midnight last night finishing things that I procrastinated on. I am incredibly thankful for wonderful friends who actually know how to decorate and are willing to stay up with me until midnight doing so. Thanks to Melanie especially – because of her, my class looks more like a place to learn than a place to be incarcerated. Here are some pictures of my room this year!

Classroom 1!

Looking from the back of the room to the front. For the first time ever, each high school classroom has a computer and projector!

I really just love all the corners in this picture. Also, I love my class verse poster that a former student designed for me.

My computer desk. I wish I could hide all those ugly wires and cables. But I did bring a candle and a framed picture to make it look like a homey little desk.

From the front of the room looking back. My corner of the room. And my map that I just had hung today!

The three things hanging on my file cabinet. One is the verse that was my constant reminder for a lot of last school year. The other is my reminder to be happy when the sun is shining AND when it’s raining (which is does for 9 months out of the year, much to my dismay), and the last is just about the cleverest thing a student has ever come up with.

My water bottle always leaves a condensation ring on my desk which papers get laid in, and then said papers get all nasty and wet. So this year, I made myself a coaster out of felt! And I don’t want to brag or anything, but I basically think it’s adorable.

Computer corner again.

Hanging on the wall is a framed 8 x 10 print of this photo:

Aaaaaaand… My favorite part of the classroom which Melanie and I stayed up until after midnight finishing…

This is the first year that I have something other than math themed Far Side cartoons stapled all over my bulletin board. And I kind of love it. All creative credit goes to Melanie though. I just cut out shapes.

One more display is in the works. I’ve been gathering quotes from around the internet all summer, and earlier this week, I sent them to the printer. I’m having full page photo prints made of each one, and I’m going to make essentially a photo collage wall of the quotes on that blank white part between the windows because, let’s face it, this wall needs some help.

It’s not quite ready yet though, because I decided at the last minute that since I’d sunk money into getting the photos printed, I should get them laminated. Pictures tend to get kind of nasty and smudgy during rainy season. Also, geckos poop on them. So they’re still at the laminator’s. Some of the quotes include these:

I’m hoping that once they’re all ready, I can find some creative way to hang them so that they all look cool together… Maybe Melanie can help me with that.