Miss Art of Teaching

Back to school... the three words that you probably love and hate at the same time. I will miss the holiday sleep in, naps, dog cuddles and taking my time for my morning run. But I am ready for another year of learning and nurturing my students with love and care.  Recently I stocked up at The Reject Shop and purchased half price pens from Woolworths. I am looking at implementing a system in my classroom where students are held accountable for borrowed resources: pencils and pens. I will be in two classrooms this year and have decided that I will need two caddies filled with supplies. One caddy will have pencils and pens based on the table number/colour and the other caddy will be based on numbers from 1-20 (since it is a flexible classroom). To be dismissed from class, I will need the pen/pencil to be returned. No more walkabouts. 

This year I want to balance social life and work life more. Last year I was almost burning out like a first year teacher. Funny thing about my teaching life is that I had a really easy first year and as the years added on, I was setting more challenges for myself. I am constantly trying to balance a lot more on my plate as there is so much I just want to do. This year, I am coping a lot better as I am used to the workload and I have a MUCH MORE organised classroom. Today a Year 7 put his hand up and asked a really important question 'Why can't all the other rooms in the school be as cool as this room?' It really felt like a big high five was passed around to me. I am finding that an organised room with the right amount of visuals and aesthetic appeal can really help students relax and take responsibility in the classroom. I don't want to jinx it but there has been hardly any rubbish left behind by students, sink is always clean and I am getting ALL my pencils, rubbers...