In Love.

I'm absolutely in love with my new classroom. Because they redistricted my school and we lost 250 students, we also lost 27 teaching positions. Luckily, I was one of the teachers who was transferred to another school relatively smoothly. The new school where I'm working is brand new. Brand new, as in they just barely finished building it and the building codes are still being worked out. They're a little worried that they might not be able to open on the first day of school--something about a change in the government policies and having to re-do every sink in the school...boo.

Fortunately, the inspector allowed teachers to enter the school before everything was completed so that we could get our classrooms set up. I walked into the school for the first time a couple of weeks ago now. It is absolutely amazing! The first floor is orange, followed by a green second floor and a blue third floor. Evidently, it's supposed to remind you of the earth (orangeish brown), grass (green), and sky (blue). A super friendly custodian guided me to my classroom and I was astounded when I walked in.

Two years ago, I entered my first classroom and about had a heart attack for the exact opposite reason. The room was a pigsty. I went back to the main office and asked if there was some mistake and they had given me the wrong classroom. They informed me that my classroom was actually in better shape than most. The school used to be an African American school during the times of segregation. Needless to say, my classroom and everything in it was ancient, and the previous occupants had not done it any favors. I spent nearly a week of 8 hour days attempting to sanitize it and make it inhabitable.

My new classroom at my new school is spotless. I no longer have to deal with the nasty "white" (more like dirty brownish-white) flooring that made awful squealing sounds whenever chairs were moved. I have lovely carpeting which will promote group work in my classes. My room is equipped with a real dry erase board. (I had a dry erase/chalkboard combo board at my last school. Whoever thought of that idea was not the sharpest tool in the shed.) I also have a projection screen and a built in projector that will connect directly to my personal school-provided laptop...yeah!

I have brand new desks with nary a name carved into them. Also, they are not the ancient, wobbly desks with the nasty storage spaces beneath them. They are shiny and sturdy and trash-compartment-less. I will have FIVE working computers in the back of my classroom--each with it's own table and chair. I have a functional desk with lots of storage and no student will ever knock it down because it is not missing any screws :) I have 3 lock-able storage spaces (none at the last school). I have TWO bookcases and none of the shelves are falling down.

If there are any readers still with me at this point, just know that I am absolutely ecstatic!