Great Colleagues, Not So Great Classrooms

Today was the third day of MS 328 Summer Institute. Unfortunately, our principal and assistant principal were required to go to an administrative meeting, but the new teachers and a few others still met for a morning of professional development. We talked about the needs of English Language Learners and I got several new ideas for adaptations in my classroom. Halfway through the morning meeting, a small creature skirted across the floor. A not-so-little mouse was picking up the crumbs from our morning breakfast of bagels and cream cheese.
Later Mr. Holt and I, another TFA first year, made our way upstairs to the classroom we will share for homeroom. There was a ton of stuff in the closets up there and a whole family of plants in the back corner. I tended to the foliage, clipping off dead leaves and watering the parched houseplants, and Ryan arranged the furniture around the room. Kristin, who I will be sharing a room with next door, is a veteran teacher of ten years and had a bunch of wonderful motivational posters put up before we left for the day. I will consider these two rooms, 213 and 215, my home base and am happy to share them with these positive, hard working individuals.
Now about my other room. This one I will also be sharing with several other teachers. Alex, the dean of discipline who has been at our school building for fifteen years, took me through the gym and up the stairs to what will call the “twilight zone” classroom. This room, 331M, is in between the third and fourth floors of the school building (my school is housed on the first and second floors) and must be accessed through the back stairwell, by first walking through the gym. My students and I must get to this room within the three minute passing period. The good thing about the twilight room is that no one will bother my class while we are there. I guess that’s a good thing. Anyway, Alex couldn’t get into the room to show me what it was really like (supposedly a real classroom, but not in the conventional sense), but none of his keys (including several masters) worked.
Still, I am optimistic and looking forward to tomorrow. My school does have wireless internet access in all rooms (but probably not the twilight zone, now that I think about it). I will be helping Ryan and Kristin make sure our rooms are all ready for next week. I’m also starting to realize how much planning I really need to do within the next week. I have to think about how I want my class to run so I can communicate that to my students from day one. I also need to write parent letters and prepare diagnostics, so obviously I’ll be very, very busy. Fortunately, a have a few fun things planned for the weekend and then a lot of free time to really buckle down.