My Adventures on a Cart, Part 2

Day 7 of 31 at TWT

Yesterday I started to write about my teaching life on a cart.  As often happens while I'm writing, I thought I had a small, quick idea... and then the words just kept falling out of my mind.  Teaching from a cart has been such a big part of my life that I had quite a lot to say about it!  So much, in fact, that I didn't even get to my original "main point", which was to give you a tour of my cart and how I make it work.

So today, in part 2, I want to introduce you to my current cart.  I'm really surprised I haven't named it, considering how I love naming things.  Not to mention my cart is a friend that never leaves my side at school!  Maybe this is a good time for a name -- better late than never!  Cartie?  Store-y? Rolley?  (I'm infamous in my family for naming things that way.) I kind of like Rolley, actually.  :-)

Anyway, Rolley has all sorts of amazing compartments to help me out.  She was already pretty amazing when I got her, with an enclosed bottom compartment, two shelves, a drawer with dividers, and slots for pens/markers!  However, I've really made her my own traveling room with some special modifications.

Look at all that space!  I was in love as soon as the secretary got her out of the storage room!

First, the top layer: The clear boxes are my pass-out-materials boxes, one for each grade level.  I discovered they had to have lids so worksheets wouldn't fly away as I sped down the hallway!  My example binders, laptop, and teaching clipboard (with attendance/formative assessment checklists, my plans, and my schedule on it!) go in the middle.  New after I'd had a room are the two little black bins: blank notecards in the left front corner and a place to put notecard suggestions for the "word of the day" on the right corner.  Last but not least, in the middle: a box of extra pencils for those kids who somehow never have one.

top layer

The front of the middle layer is all for students and contains my most essential procedures. First, turn-in drawers for each class, labeled in green.  On top of each set of turn-in drawers, the red slivers peeking out are my absent work folders for each grade level.  Each is an accordion file with 10 folders inside: 2 for each day of the week.  One says "(Day) required"; homework and other essential items that must be picked up. The other says "(Day) optional"; other stuff we did that they might want but doesn't NEED to be made up.

middle layer, front

Behind the turn-in drawers, on the back of the middle layer, are my prize boxes (one with big prizes and one with small prizes), speakers in the corners (the cord runs up to the top layer to plug into my computer as needed), flyswatters (for a vocab game we play), and my sports drink (I don't like drinking water!).

middle layer, back

On the doors to the enclosed bottom layer, I taped my hall pass holders.  After asking in Spanish to go, my students must choose the appropriate hall pass for where they are going and then sign out. (You can just barely see the green sign-out clipboard wedged beside the left-hand turn-in drawers in the first picture!)

hall passes!

Inside the doors of the bottom layer, the students can find supplies (markers, scissors, glue, dictionaries) and "What do we do when we're done?" activities.  On the left (hard to see, sorry!) is a big blue accordion folder of extra practice activities, filed by topic.  On the right, they can peruse my collection of children's books in Spanish, including many of my favorite childhood books!

bottom storage

That's Rolley!  Hope you enjoyed seeing how she helps me function no matter where I am!  Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion of this little mini-series: my "homework board" and my "walls"!

My Adventures on a Cart (Part 1)

Day 6 of 31 at TWT!

Lately I've been writing a lot about switching buildings (again) and not having a room anymore.  On my first day at School #3, I was even afraid my "cart skills" would be a little rusty.  But if there's anyone who's an expert at teaching from a cart, it's me.

In my first position (my first 2 years of teaching), I traveled between 6 buildings during the year (switching mid-day and then to 2 new schools each trimester).  Out of all those buildings, I had a room one time: half a day, for a trimester.  All the rest of the time, I traveled to the "regular classrooms" of my kids (every 3rd-5th grader took my class).  Because I had different classes every day (each class had Spanish once a week), this was a LOT of classrooms to wheel myself in and out of!  Ready for some more math?

my little old cart, with fantastic pockets!

(average of 5 classrooms per day) x (5 days a week) x (3 trimesters)  = 75ish classrooms in a year!  

Slightly fewer the year I had my own room that one time, but accurate for the 2nd year when I never had a room.  I was a cart ninja.  I could adapt to any classroom arrangement imaginable.  I had a system for everything inside a little cart that fit in the passenger seat of my car (for the travel between buildings).  I even found one that had a million little pockets for all my stuff!


Then I got my current position, which I've had for 3 years now.  The first year, I didn't have a room at any of my 3 schools.  Since I now saw the kids every day (and they were slightly older kids!), I suddenly had way more materials to pass out, way more complex lesson activities, and way more work being turned in.  I needed to figure out an even better system.  I also didn't need my little tiny cart anymore because I didn't have to travel to a different school during the day.  I graduated to a big cart and became an Advanced Cart Ninja.

Last year, I got a room at School #1 and two half-rooms (my 6th grade classes were all in one and my 7th grade classes all in another) at School #2. This year, I got rooms at School #1 and School #2.  I graduated to Teacher With A Room!  Except at School #3.  At School #3, I continued refining my big-cart skills with things I had incorporated into my rooms that were now "essential".  I became an Outstanding Cart Ninja.

my awesome cart right now!

I was going to tell you all about all the parts of my cart, but this post is already too long.  Tune in tomorrow for Part 2 and get a closer look at everything I have on my cart!

Yet Another First Day

Day 5 of 31 at TWT

Today was (once again) the first day of the trimester.  Another weekend of moving out and moving in.  Another night and morning with a pit in my stomach and thoughts spinning through my head:  What would the kids be like?  What would the "personality" of each class be like?  Could I make the rooms work?  Would the technology work?  Could I still function from a cart after being spoiled by having a room for 2/3 of the year?

Another day in a blur of new faces and new names.  More getting to know each other, establishing expectations, and practicing procedures.

Last night, when I was supposed to be falling asleep, I started thinking about first days and how I vehemently dislike them.  (Really, I vehemently dislike the hours leading up to them!)  I realized that I've had a ridiculous number of first days in my short teaching career.  How many? I started counting.

In my first job, I taught Spanish to over a thousand 3rd-5th graders once a week for twelve weeks, changing schools every trimester like I do now.  (Except I also traveled during the day, for a grand total of 6 -- that's right, 6 -- schools per year.)   So really, I had 5 first days every trimester, since I saw the kids once a week and had completely different classes every day.

(5 first days x 3 trimesters) x 2 years = 30 first days in my first two years of teaching.

Then I got my current position, where thankfully I get to see the kids every day (for a trimester)!  So, only 1 first day each trimester.

(1 first day x 3 trimesters) x 3 years = 9 first days in the past 3 years of teaching

Of course, I also taught summer school several summers.  A couple of the years, I had 2 separate multi-week "sessions", and one year I had 2 classes simultaneously.

(1 first day x 2 sessions) + (1 first day) + (1 first day x 2 sessions) = 5 first days in 3 years of summer school


Wow!  30 + 9 + 5 = 44 first days in 5 years of teaching (counting today).  


Astonished, I tell Husband.  He says "Some people don't have that many first days in their whole teaching careers!"

You'd think after 44 first days, I wouldn't get nervous anymore.  You'd think I'd know that the day will go fine, the kids will be sweet and fun, and we'll have a great trimester together.  But I still had to take a deep breath before I shoved my cart into the first room.

And you know what?  It was great.  The rooms are fine, the technology worked, my expert traveling cart skills (a topic for another day!) came back like riding a bike.  Best of all, the kids were sweet little balls of pent-up excitement for Spanish, each class seems to have a good balance of diverse kids, and we had lots of fun getting to know each other.

I'm pretty sure I deserve a nap now!

After 60 years

Day 4 of 31 at TWT

As soon as we sat down, the waitress started coming around the table to unfold our napkins and place them on our laps.  Wow, I've definitely never been to a restaurant as fancy as this!  When she put down the menus, there were at least 2-3 unfamiliar words in each item description. "Do you recognize that beautiful couple?" she asked with a wink, opening the menus in front of Husband's grandparents.  "Ohhh!" squealed his Grandmommy, laughing as she recognized her own wedding picture from 60 years ago.

the special menu insert

While we enjoyed some bread and waited on our appetizers, the waitress came back with a platter of complimentary hors d'oeuvres, in honor of the special couple.  The small private room (at no charge since Husband's grandparents are loyal customers) echoed with happy chatter until we finished our salads and soups.  A stunned silence fell over the room as the waitress started replacing our generic dinner tableware with specific forks and knives depending on our meals!  "You have to say something to cover up all this clanking silverware!" she joked.  I'm guessing everyone is as shocked as me to discover that there are different forks and knives for seafood meals, but doesn't want to say it out loud!

As our dinners were served, whispers crept around the room as we tried to figure out what all the side dishes and garnishes were.  Sides weren't listed with the main dishes on the menu... I think these are lentils?  Little did we know that once everyone was served, the waitress was going to officially announce every meal's components and preparation! 

In between exclamations about how delicious all the food was, we enjoyed stories from 60 years ago:  I learned that in the South (at least back then), the bride and groom cut the cake after the rehearsal dinner at a special "cake-cutting" celebration with the wedding party.  We heard stories from the wedding preparations, the wedding, and the honeymoon... followed by the cross-country trip the couple took to start their new life in California due to Husband's Granddaddy's army service.

When desserts came out, the waitress cheerily announced, "We couldn't let 60 years of wedded bliss go by without a little fanfare!" She presented their desserts on candlelit platters: "his" and "hers" blue and pink candles with white candles to represent the anniversary.  The manager of the restaurant stopped by to congratulate the honored couple.  "Do you have any advice for the rest of us?"  he asked.  "We're still trying to figure out how it works!" joked Husband's Granddaddy.

Throughout the night, they both kept remarking that they never could have dreamed 60 years ago that they'd be here now.

I hug Husband. Where might we be in 55 years?

Goodbye Room

Day 3 of 31 at TWT

I love having a room.  I love creating an exciting, homey space that surrounds kids with language and culture.  I love using every space in the room to support their language use and develop their curiosity about other countries.  I love arranging the room in a way that says, "This is a community. We are going to have fun learning together!"

It makes me sad to tear down a room.  I think of all the successful moments, the discussions, the laughter.  I see my kids bent over their tables, excitedly engaged in activities together.  I see them shrieking and jumping up during games.  I see them using posters to help themselves, trying out the "word of the day", asking questions about the countries on the walls.  I see them whispering and giggling over familiar picture books in Spanish when they have a few extra minutes.

my room at School #2, until 3:30 yesterday afternoon...

But then I see empty walls, so bare and boring.  The soul of the room is gone.  It doesn't look anymore like a place where kids have learned and laughed and grown.  Goodbye room.  Goodbye community.  Goodbye connections, tough questions, and anticipation.

...reduced to this by 8:30 last night.

At School #3, I don't have a room.  I don't get to put up decorations, move the desks into tables, or infuse language into all the procedures, supplies, and setup of the room.  While all the activities will remain, the backdrop of language and culture is gone.  Communities will still be created, laughter and engagement and connections will still fill the rooms.  But the soul of the rooms will be diminished.  In each, there will be someone else's soul; someone else's arrangement and content and philosophies overlaying the atmosphere.  It will work.  The kids will learn and grow and have fun.  But it's not the same.

Goodbye room.

Cajas, cajas

Day 2 of 31 at TWT!

   

at Latinaish.com

(A note to my fellow "slicers": Every Friday is Spanish Friday!  Please use Google Translate if you don't know Spanish.  Husband uses it to read my Spanish Friday posts, and it does a fairly decent job.  Hopefully it'll do well enough that you can get the gist, since I don't have the time or energy to write this twice!)

Hoy es el último día del segundo trimestre.  Otra vez, el último día con mis estudiantes.  Otra vez, mi último día en esta escuela.  Otra vez, tengo que decir adios y llevar todas mis cosas a la próxima escuela.

(Para los nuevos lectores de mi blog: Las clases que enseño duran por sólo 12 semanas.  Por eso, enseño en 3 escuelas diferentes durante el año: Escuela #1 durante el otoño, Escuela #2 durante el invierno, y Escuela #3 durante la primavera.)

Ha sido un día divertido, con fiestas (mis estudiantes traen comidas de países hispanohablantes), abrazos, y tarjetas de adios (1 de una estudiante y 1 de una clase entera).  ¡Comí tanto que casi no quiero cenar!

Ha sido también un día ocupadísimo, con notas finales y muchas cajas que llenar.  Recuerdo de mi niñez un libro que se llamaba Cajas, Cajas.   ¡Ahora me siento como si estuviera dentro de este libro!  Ya son las cinco de la tarde y tengo rellenadas once cajas y cuatro bolsas grandes.  ¡Pero todas mis carteles todavía están colgadas de las paredes!

Estoy tan casada que quiero dormir... pero hay que continuar.  Pronto vendrá mi esposo para ayudarme, cenaremos, y regresarémos para llevar todas las cajas, cajas, y bolsas a nuestros coches.  Y entonces, dormiré por fin.

Every day is Tuesday!

 31 Day SOLS Challenge at TWT!

Tuesday used to be such a "blah" day.  Far enough into the the week that I'm often already tired out, and yet still so much of the week left to go that it sometimes seems like Friday will never come!  But that all changed when I started blogging and became a part of the Tuesday Slice of Life community at Two Writing Teachers.

Now, Tuesday is a day to look forward to, a day filled with excitement and happiness and encouragement.  I get to write, which ultimately is stress-relieving and fulfilling.  I get to strengthen relationships with my slicing friends by reading about their lives and responding to their posts.  I get to (obsessively) check my email and discover wonderful, refreshing words of encouragement and compliments!

This Tuesday, I wrote about the wonderful connections that I've developed through blogging -- and especially through this community. Now it's time for my first-ever March challenge (since I didn't start my blog until last summer), and I couldn't be more excited!  Every day is Tuesday now!  Every day will be filled with writing and reading and friendship!

Here are my goals for this month of 31 Tuesdays:

• Make myself make time for blogging, even when I think I don't have any (like this week!)
• Build stronger relationships with my Tuesday-slice friends
• Meet new friends
• Share more glimpses of what's happening in my classroom
• Become a better commenter by striving to give more specific compliments more often, because that's what I like best!
• Learn to write shorter posts
• Write about a wider variety of topics
• Develop a lasting habit of blogging more often
• Be enthusiastic about writing every day!

Here we go!  I can't wait!  :-)