BEEfore...and After!

It's Sunday and I am hanging out in my pajamas debating whether I will spend this last Sunday before school starts just like this...or if I will venture out into the world.  In the meantime, I wanted to post some pictures of my new classroom...just 'cause I am so stinkin' excited to have a classroom again!  

After not having my own space for a year I know that I can teach without a classroom.

But...I also know that I really, really missed having my own classroom.

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This might be one of the biggest art rooms I have ever taught in.  No wait- it definitely is.  There is a front storage closet as soon as you walk in, a gigantic rectangular room with a half-wall separating the front 2-D classroom from the ceramics 3-D portion, a huge kiln room, a big ol' storage area in the the back of the room, outside storage AND a cool patio area and picnic tables.  The school is old...like...way old, established in 1922.  I am not sure how old the building I will be teaching in is...but I am sure it's up there.  I could not have asked for a better classroom, though, I love it.

Of course when I received my keys the first thing I did was go and take a look.  After doing a touchdown dance and almost crying it dawned on me.

I had a ton of work to do. 

And I had no idea where to start.

I started to feel overwhelmed.  My first afternoon in the new room I spent the whole time trying to figure out the table configuration.  This took forever.  I know that I am an artist, but drawing it on paper doesn't work.  A 3-D model of the layout and furniture would not work for me.  I have to actually see it, which isn't a big deal...unless that means that I have to move heavy furniture, which I totally did.  So for about three to four hours I just moved tables, sat in the chairs, looked at the room as a student and as a teacher needing to get to my students quickly...do they have room to work...can they see the board...is that a cuss word on the table...oh geez...I even consulted with my new colleague and thankfully he had some great ideas.

I did my best, and I will probably (definitely) edit and revise the layout as the year progresses (especially since my classes might be kind of large)...but that was my first task.

Next up for me was the front storage closet.  I would have loved to go straight to bulletin boards and artsy decorating but I knew that this was more important.  I needed to know what supplies I had, create storage areas for student work and organize my resources.

This task took me about a day and a half to complete.  I started working on the closet on Wednesday when I went to school after my district meeting and by the time I left on Thursday I was pretty much finished with this second task.  I need to get everything labeled and do some additional sorting but it's a start!  I will write a post in the future about the storage area with information about organization...because it's going to be crazy organized...just the way I like it!

And I just kept at it.  Sorting, organizing, throwing stuff out.  This is totally my gig, I love doing this kind of thing.  And finally I could get to the fun stuff, decorating and making the room feel more personable.  I am posting a link to a wide-angle view of the room (using http://www.dermandar.com) as well as a gallery of images with some additional information.  

...and there is still so much to do.  I have a whole second half of the room to deal with...but not going to worry about that right now...but soon...soon.