Who died and made you king of anything?

All right, first day of school is tomorrow and I am ready.

“Are you sure?”

What do you mean am I sure?

“Are you sure?”

Sure I’m sure.  Why wouldn’t I be sure?

“Well, what have you done?”

I’ve got my classroom set up, and I–

“Are your desks in rows?”

Right now, they are.

“Why are you putting desks in rows?”

Well, there are so many students and such a small space, it’s one of the few ways to get movement in the room.

“But desks in rows are a product of a 19th-Century industrial educational model.  You are sorely behind the times.”

Uh, well, it’s not like it’s like that all year.

“But it sets a bad tone.  It tells the students that you are in charge and that it is not their class.  I bet you have a teacher’s desk.”

Of course I have a teacher’s desk.

“That’s another outdated symbol of your false authority.  You are not supposed to be the sage on the stage.  You are supposed to be the guide on the side.”

What does that have to do with me having a teacher’s desk?

“You don’t own the knowledge.”

Yeah, I’m pretty aware that I’m not infallible, but seriously … does that mean I can’t have a teacher’s desk?

“Yes.”

Where am I supposed to put all of my stuff?

“You’re not supposed to have stuff.”

I’m not?

“No.  You should not be marking your presence anywhere in the room.  Everything should be bare so that students can come in and create the space.”

Does that mean I have to take down that really cool poster I have?

“Is it of Garfield?”

No.

“Well, you still have to take it down.  It’s their space.”

I don’t know.  I think it would be kind of boring to stare at a blank wall all day.

“Your walls should not be blank with all of the technology that is embedded in your room that will surely spark the inner drive and creativity of their young minds.”

Before I say anything, define technology-embedded.  Because I have a laptop and a projector.

“That’s not enough.  Where are the computers?”

I had some but they all crashed and they haven’t been replaced.

“Why not?”

Budget problems.

“Unacceptable.”

Huh?

“A true educator, one devoted to his students, would find a way to give each of those students a working computer.  And have a holodeck.”

A holodeck?

“Yes.  A holodeck.”

Enthusiasm and trepidation before the new school year

photo credit: Merelymel13 via photo pin (cc license)

My annual “work week” begins in about 9 days so it’s time to actually start thinking about getting “back into the swing of things” as they say.  I don’t know how much I actually am going to be doing this week, aside from doing what I can to enjoy my last week of summer break, but I am definitely going to have work on my mind while doing so.

I don’t know if I’ve grown cynical over these past few years or what, but as I read more and more posts and articles (and have to brave Target), I don’t get the rush of excitement that so many other teachers seem to get each year.  Sure, I look forward to the new year, but every moment of enthusiasm seems to come with a sense of dread.  Well, that’s a little dramatic.  It’s this trepidation, I guess you could call it.  And rather than drag this painful intro out any longer, here’s a rundown of sorts:

My class schedule

Enthusiasm: In what has to be extremely rare because it’s never, ever happened to be before, I have the exact same class schedule as last year.  This includes planning, lunch, and duty periods.  So it’s going to be easy to navigate the schedule and prep won’t be too hard, especially since I am not taking on a new course this year, like I was last year.

Trepidation: I honestly don’t have much worry about the class schedule, to be honest, except that I guess you could say that this means I run the risk of being stuck in some sort of rut.  Then again, I tend to revise and revamp things all the time from year to year anyway so I’m not running the risk of being “captain worksheet.”

My classroom setup

Enthusiasm:  There are so many ways to set up a classroom, at least based on all of the blog posts I’ve seen  about classroom set up lately.  I am not the type of teacher who gets rid of his desk; however, I do try and think of different ways to set up my room.  When I walk in next Tuesday for the first day of the work week, the desks will be in rows because that’s how the custodial staff arranged them after they waxed the floor during the summer, but I know that I’ll think of how I can create a space that is a welcoming, comfortable learning environment.

Trepidation:  Unfortunately, with upwards of 25-30 students per class and four classes using those desks each day the desks can’t always move around in an efficient manner.  In fact, sometimes rows of desks work because it’s one of the few ways that people can sit down and move around the classroom without being trapped or feeling claustrophobic.  In all honesty, I avoid anxiety about my room setup by not overthinking it.  I figure that I have so many other things to worry about that whether or not the desks are arranged in a way to optimize learning isn’t that important.  Plus, considering how much the furniture in my room “migrates” over the course of any given day, the effort to constantly rearrange furniture seems like a bit of a waste.