Last night I dreamed I was teaching in a new classroom, except it had layers of stuff on the walls from three other teachers across twenty years of teaching. I couldn’t find anything, and I couldn’t change the set-up because I didn’t know what was important to my colleagues. It was awful.
Am I the only one to ever have a classroom set-up nightmare? Maybe.
But the thing is, where you teach and how it feels really does help shape your year. So what can you do right now, during this final push to summer, to leave yourself a beautiful, organized space to return to at back-to-school season?
Today’s episode will give you seven steps you can take right now to make your August exponentially lighter. If you can find time for these steps now, I believe you’ll head into summer feeling lighter and more confident about your return later on.
You can listen in to this episode below, click here to tune in on any podcast player, or read on for the full post.
Clean out the clutter in your room. Donate unpopular books that are just taking up space in your choice reading shelves. Go through projects and keep the best models. Toss whatever you can. Leave your desk lovely.
Clean out and organize your Google Drive. Clean off your digital desktop and leave fun digital wallpaper for next year.
ELA End-of-Year Tips
While it’s fresh in you mind, write down the top three projects/practices/systems you used this year that you want to be sure to continue to lean on and share with others going forward.
Write a Post-It to yourself with three things you would enjoy improving/creating this summer for your classes when you’ve got the time IF you get in the mood to work, then stick it on your desk or computer.
If you want to feel really relaxed about back-to-school, choose your first week activities now.
Order or request any books you’d like to read this summer for your choice reading shelves or full class curriculum text list.
Take a last look around your classroom space and make a short list of anything you might like to be on the lookout for this summer – more YA, a hanging plant, string lights, bulletin board backing paper, beanbags, a tapestry, etc. If you really want to get your classroom dreams down on paper this summer, create a mood board with ideas.
