Settin' Up Shop

Well, it's about time to go back to work.

(we wouldn't want all those Tea Partiers thinking we teachers were a bunch of lazy, whining unionists, loafing around all summer and mooching off tax-payers, now would we...)

Anyway, as I've mentioned before, this year I'll be moving down to 6th grade in order to teach Ancient History - a position I've been gunning for for nigh on two years now.  As you'll recall, 7th grade Social Studies used to be World Geography and Cultures - a position I've held for four years.  Alas, this year it was being retooled into Civics and Economics... which is about as boring and painful for me as watching mold grow.

(I'm allergic to mold)

So, as Spiderman* is good enough to point out for us, with great power comes great responsibility.  Moving down to 6th grade meant a lot of work had to be done, both physically and mentally.  I had to toss out all my old lesson plans - which was a painful, painful endeavor - and begin creating new ones (not as much fun as you'd think).

I've never taught 6th graders before, and the mentality there is bound to be different than that of seasoned 7th graders.  For starters, they're younger.  Generally, my 7th graders ranged in age between 12 and 15.  6th graders, therefore, are going to be in the 11 to 14 range.  There's overlap there, so it most likely won't be too much of a drastic difference.  However, 6th graders are new to the school - they're fresh out of elementary school, they're doe-eyed and awkward, and haven't developed that middle-schoolish hormonal self-destruct function that so many of my students have had in the past.

Lesson planning aside, the worst part about moving down to another grade level was the physical aspect of the ordeal:  moving to the Trailer Park.

 

At my school, the 6th graders, for the most part, are held in a vast sea of portable classrooms on the edge of the school.  This may or may not have anything to do with keeping them as far away from the 8th graders on campus as humanly possible (lots of those 8th graders are larger and hairier than me - I don't blame them).  So beginning last week, Yours Truly began hauling out all the furniture, files, boxes, and stockpiles of crap out of my old classroom and moving them - all by myself - into my new trailer.

In the sauna that is Florida in the summer, you can imagine how much fun that was to do with a handcart.

Anyway, after a week or so, all my stuff was moved out of my old room and into my new room.  As I began the tedious and time-consuming chore of hanging up crap on the walls, unpacking boxes, and filing away paperwork, I brought along the Cannonball to get her out of the house (and Kris' hair).

Fortunately, we had a laptop hooked up to an LCD projector... which means we had plenty of Care Bears on hand.

So here's some pics of Alayna and my room for the upcoming school year.

Enjoy:

 

The Trailer Park

My Trailer

 

View from my Veranda

 

View from the Rear Steps

And the Move-In Process Begins...
This was my room looked like when I showed up to start the whole process...

____________________________

By the End of Day Three - Everything Moved In

_______________________________________

 
The Cannonball shows off some of her artwork

 

 

Runs in the Family...

The Care Bears... again.

 
Alayna, showcasing a procedure rarely seen in the classroom.

 
Hard at work...

...what's sad is that her work is bound to be better than some my middle schoolers' work

________________________________________________

(Updated as of August 20th, 2011) Here's what my room looks like now:

 
Mr. Hough's room

  

 

 


 
 
Emergency/Teacher Door (from my desk)

 
The Command Center (a.k.a. Teacher's Desk)

 
 

 
Front Entrance

 
Behind the American Flag is a storage room.  They used to be bathrooms, but a few years they took out all the sinks, toilets and plumbing.  Most teachers use theirs for storage, but I use mine for...


 
An Impromptu Man Room

- Mr. Hough

* = technically it was Voltaire, but he's not as cool.