Teaching Tuesday: Decoration and Organization for the High School Classroom*

*That's fancy-talk for "Classroom Tour," by the way.

Today was the first day back with students.  I am tired and already feel overwhelmed; but, honestly, it's good to be back in my game. All of my new freshman were smiling and eager, and it was really nice to be starting the school year in a familiar place with two out of my three classes being the same kids as last year - almost like we were just returning from Winter break except with suntans (them, not me) and new school supplies (I'm shocked marketing merchandisers haven't caught on and started doing a big push for "re-stocking" school supplies in January.  Anyone else?).

Anyway, today I'm sharing some photos of my classroom in hopes of "inspiring" some of my fellow high school teachers that we don't have to leave all the cute decorations and Pinterest-worthy organization ideas to the primary grades. :)

Step right in...

My "information center" is home to a weekly calendar, a white board decal for each class' announcements, and important details about the school schedule, emergency plans, etc. I also have my Yellow Sheets for missing work, my make-up work binder, and extra pens (that look like flowers to prevent stealing) for the students.

My desk is big and takes up a lot of space in the room.  To try to best utilize that space, I make all kinds of office supplies - stapler, hole-punch, tape, paper clips, pencils, etc. - available to my students on it.  For the most part, they are respectful and mature enough to handle this "easy access."

Behind my desk, I have a large (ugly) filing cabinet with a drawer for each grade level to store their writing assignments all year long.  The white box on top is for class hand-outs that have been copied and papers that need to be returned to students.  (That idea is new this year, and I think I'm going to really like it.)

Completely opposite from my desk is another bright bulletin board (which I made from plastic tablecloths) waiting to be filled.

In the front of the room, I have a special bulletin board specifically for posting my lesson plans each week.  This helps cut down on the "whatarewedoingtoday" drone that will start in about two weeks  (P.S. Would you believe the fancy lesson plan template I made isn't going to work this year because we switched to a new Blackboard?  Ugg.  I hope some of you are using it!)

There are also labeled bins at the front of the room where students can store their journals...

And a large bookcase with all of our supplemental novels.  *New this school year, I've numbered every single book in my classroom.  I have also assigned every student a number that will be used to identify him/herself all year.  The numbers are done in alphabetical order, so they will help me quickly alphabetize assignments before putting them in the grade book AND keep track of who has lost or damaged a book.

And, finally, toward the back of the room, I have a two more plastic drawer sets.  I have numbered each drawer (one for each of the six groups in class) and stocked it with scissors, glue, fresh markers, highlighters, etc. etc.  I found this idea on Pinterest and love it!  The best part? Groups can take their entire drawer back to their desks and return it after class.

Alrighty then, that's all for today.  

Midweek Confessions will be back tomorrow.  Please come join in!