A Final Bit of Reflection

Coulda, shoulda, woulda...

This blog (just like my first ever first grade classroom) coulda been a lot better than it has turned out thus far. I shoulda spent more time on it throughout the year. I shoulda read more, written more, thought more, reflected more, studied more, rearranged more, organized more, analyzed more, questioned more, answered more, and just plain old "hoed out and throwed out" more.

But as is often the case when people undertake something extra, even something as cool as this project, something they are really interested in and committed to...my "day job" (and even sometimes my personal life - GASP!) got in the way of me doing all the more I wished I coulda and thought I shoulda. What I learned along the way is that although my classroom arrangement may not (yet) be perfect, my students are happy, confident, thoughtful, reflective, independent and accomplished thinkers, readers, writers, math wizards, scientists, friends, and human beings. And really, what could be more important than that, at the end of the school day?

Yup, I woulda liked to have done more with my classroom makeover this year, but then what would I have to look forward to in 2009-2010?!

My Desk...STILL a work in progress!

My ultimate "teacher desk goal" since early in the year has been to GET RID OF IT! I quite literally NEVER sit at the teacher desk. When I do sit down to do work in my classroom, I'm either at the computer or at the small group meeting table. There is no reason for this hunk of furniture to be taking up room that could be used in a more child-centered way. It truly serves only as a clutter gatherer and definitely wastes what I feel can and should be valuable instructional space. Having said all of that...in the midst of a crazy, hectic school year the time to undertake the project of doing away with the desk and reconfiguring the space seems to have gotten away from me. Thus, I have done my best to at least somewhat battle the clutter and look forward to a few summer work days to finally kick this thing to the curb!

Better than in the fall?? Maybe a bit.

Small Group Meeting Area - AFTER!

Okay, I am going to be brutally honest here...this corner of the room is still on my "To Do" List but progress has definitely been made** since the beginning of the school year. One thing I have learned is that I am actually not trying to create a "pretty" space, but rather one that truly WORKS for small groups, particularly for reading instruction. As I feel I am in the process of learning how best to "do" guided reading instruction in first grade, I am also feeling my way through how best to configure the instructional space. This area continues to be a work in progress.

**See "Before" post to decide for yourself just how much progress has been made!

File Cabinets...Friend or Foe?

As I began the year in my new classroom I had every intention of starting off on the right foot with a highly organized space. But with more unpacking, organizing, and arranging work to do than time to do it in, something was going to have to give. In my case, it was the file cabinet drawers. What I first considered an amazingly vast space to fill with amazingly organized files quickly became more appealing as a great big pit to fill with the junk I didn't know what to do with and didn't want parents and other classroom visitors to see.

Here is a photo of one of the drawers early in the school year...sort of hard to see just how messy this is, but it is basically a heaped up pile of discombobulated posters, pocket charts, bulletin board materials, and other assorted "stuff."


Here are the file drawers now. I am not going to lie and report that they ALL look this neat but I am about 80% there at this point.