Chatting in the Halls

Reagan posted about how little we teachers get to chat it up with a pal while we are working.

We were just talking about this at work the other day. In my old school we didn't have walls between our classrooms. Nope. We had file cabinets. And shelves. And roll away closets. And, well, anything we could shove between our rooms. It was the 70's "open concept classroom" plan. (NO, I didn't teach in the 70's - the school was just old!)

It looked quite a bit like this. This isn't my room, nor my old school. Just a pic I found using Google search.

{source}
The elementary school I attended was open concept.
I didn't mind it at all as a student.
Do you teach in an open concept classroom?
I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Boy, did we complain. A lot. HOW could they expect us to teach without walls? We took so much for granted then. Yes it definitely had its downside and I wouldn't want to go back to teaching without walls. But...

What we didn't appreciate was that we could talk to each other - a lot. We could call each other into our rooms no problem (we always left a little person-sized gap between our makeshift walls).  Gotta go to the bathroom DURING class? No problem, next door neighbor teacher friend had it covered! We could stand between 2 rooms and handle it all. 

Then we moved to our new beautiful school. We had cabinets, storage, gorgeous brand new rooms with doors and walls you could staple into. We were so excited. 

Then the first day of school came and we realized we NEVER saw each other! We couldn't share something with each other whenever we wanted. There was a complete shift in our teaching dynamic. It was a HUGE shock to our systems, peeps! It took so long to get used to those walls that we had previously wanted so badly. 

Be careful what you wish for. That's the lesson in that story. Yes, the rooms are quieter (well until they upped the kid count to 30 - but ya know what I mean). No I don't have to worry about disturbing my neighboring teacher with squeals of glee or my loud voice - but I miss the daily, continual camaraderie. Now there are plenty of days that go by without interacting with a single adult. It's definitely a different work environment.

Yay for bloggyland!


I was happy that Reagan suggested we all need a Hall Pass so we can sneak away and just chat it up a bit. Just 'cuz.

Even though I think I use bloggyland as my continual hall pass - Reagan has provided some structure as to what we should chat about. :D

I LOVE creating things and thinking of different ways to help students learn concepts. Reinventing the wheel is great fun to me. However, my favorite products are definitely my year and weekly planners. If I had to pick one, it would be the Ultimate Weekly Planner. I seriously could not live without it and have used it, modified it, tweaked it and perfected it for over 15 years! Digital planning is an absolute must in my world. Organization makes me incredibly happy. If you'd like more info about my plans, you can read about them {here}. 

My favorite area tends to change quite a bit depending on what we've got on display on our walls. However, the reading center is always a favorite of the kiddos and mine. The white board in that area is our "focus wall" that I update weekly (or daily - depending on what's going on). It's both a peaceful area and provides a lot of information about what we're doing. The tree, couch and pillows are fun. I love to trade out the books each month so there is always something new to read and share.

I use all sorts of signals. Lately the kids have been responding to music or my "clicker" the best. But it all goes in spurts. My favorite "chant" signal is probably "Holy Moly" - "Guacamole". I keep my attention grabbers on my front table, just to remind myself to change it up as much as possible.

{freebie in my stores}

That should say "vices" because I have two.

1) Caffeine. I've noticed that I am MUCH more sane with a cup of coffee in my hand. 

2) My room decor & organization. A particular fellow teacher has walked through my room on FAR too many occasions and said "Welcome to Pier One." Followed by the sarcastic remark, "So, do kids LEARN better in a 'pretty' environment?" Frustrating, rude and mean. I don't know if they really learn better. But I think it makes them happier and I KNOW it makes me happier when my room is neat, color-coordinated, and organized. It definitely helps my sanity when I like being in my surroundings. :D

Loved this Hall Pass. Do you all have hall passes?

We don't have halls. We have outside, cement quad areas. We don't say "No running in the halls. No talking in the halls." Instead you hear a lot of whistles and "GO BACK AND WALK!" around our campus with children running/walking/skipping/jogging in all sorts of directions.

Thanks Reagan for the fun linky. I love checking out all of the other bloggy teacher friends P.A.S.S. items they have to share. Be sure you go check them out, too!