Classroom Setting

 I spent this week organising and setting up my classroom. It was overwhelming at first because it was such a new experience. I also did not realise how much of a taxing task it was too. 

I did not know where to start, but some logical advice from my mentor was "set up your mat area and tables first then you will see how everything will flow". As she advised, I did exactly that, once the mat area was sorted, everything else slowly came together. 

There were many things to think about when setting up this classroom. 

  1. Movement around the class
  2. Learning areas
  3. My area
  4. Tables and seating
  5. Mat area 

One of the things I found challenging (minor) was where I was going to situate myself so that I was able to observe all my students and the outside, also so that students were not facing outside and being distracted with what could be happening outdoors. I did in the end find a good corner where I could also utilise for reading groups too. 

The most challenging task I found when setting up my classroom was what to do with all the resources that were left behind by the last teacher. A teacher passing by came in to see me and I expressed my dilemma with her, she said if I could see myself using it then keep it, if not, place them aside and see who could use them. Even with this advice, I didn't know what to keep because I did not what we were focusing on this term in terms of Math and Literacy, therefore I ended up keeping them all 😳. I figured as the weeks go by and I gain more knowledge and confidence, I can sift through the resources and make a choice then. In the meantime, I will make do with them.

At first, I was a bit annoyed to have so much "junk" but in some ways, it is a blessing especially because I am new to this gig and do not have anything really to bring in to work with, not with my bank account at least.

At the end of the setup, my main focus was on making sure that the flow in and around the classroom was accessible for all students, the walls and learning areas were labeled, legible and accessible, and where I set up my area could see the whole classroom and outside the classroom.


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