My new classroom and first week of school

Now that I've gotten 1 week of school at Midway under my belt, I thought I'd show off my classroom and talk about my first week. Things are almost night and day compared to Waco High. Different won't always mean better, but it does for now.

Here is my room: 235

{The Fridge is to display all my favorite student work; my agenda board gives them daily and week-at-a-glance information}

{giant flatscreen TVs instead of projector screens--I can project my computer screen, doc camera or iPad through it!}

{my desk/haven}

{love the credenza and built-ins--I have so much storage!!}

{found this post of Words of Wisdom on a friend's Tumblr post, written by a high school teacher. Hopefully a few kids will take the time to read and apply all 100 lessons!}

{I had a sneaky visitor one evening!}

I love my room (very far back corner of the building) because you have to want to come see me. It's a quiet corner, close to the teacher parking lot and far from snooping eyes.

So far in my first week, I've been amazed at how CALM things are. The kids are calm, they are polite, they are friendly, they are compliant. There is no inherent mistrust of me because they don't know me yet. I do have a lot of underperforming students who will have a tendency to act out, and also a lot of pressure to get them up to par, but I just can tell already that they're different.

For example, in 4 days and 6 class periods a day, I saw TWO cell phones being used without permission. TWO!?!?!? And even kids who are off-task and chatty respond to correction maturely and promptly. This won't always happen, but I'm impressed that it does so early in the year. They also seem a little more prepared and closer to their own grade level than what I've experienced in the past.

I will say that I met and taught some FANTASTIC kids at Waco High who would impress the pants off any teacher around. And I taught some kids who challenged me and tested my resolve every minute of the day. I'm hoping for more of the former at Midway. I've got a big job to do to get these kids on-level and passing their STAAR test, but I know I'm better equipped to do that job with these kids who are fun, supported, willing and sweet.

I'm hoping for a great year!