Stripping Down to Nothing

I figured the title might be "attention grabbing". By no means did I mean that I was stripping down to nothing! (it's way too cold here right now for that) What I meant, as you can see, was stripping my classroom down to nothing. I figured I don't write a whole lot about school or my classroom, considering that I am teaching and all. But, this is one of those new year, new beginning type things.

So, why did I remove all of the tables and chairs from the classroom? If you haven't seen the pictures of the room in my earlier blogs, there are 4 groups, with 2 tables together making a hexagon for each group, and 6-7 kids at each table. Anyways, I have been constantly telling my students about how important it is for them to keep the room clean, and how the classroom is not a garbage can. Despite my plea's to keep the room tidy, the kids continue to leave their pencils, erasers, and other trash on the floor daily, and it's been really getting on my nerves that the kids could be so sloppy and inconsiderate. Not to mention I have to constantly apologize to the cleaning people when they come in to clean the desks and vacuum the floor. They spend a good amount of time scrubbing the pencil and marker marks the kids put on the tables, and have to pick up big trash and vacuum the small trash which is all over the floor. Really, it's kind of embarrassing. 

By the end of the week, I had been feeling completely and utterly fed up with the mess the kids were making. So, on Thursday, after the kids left, and before the cleaning people arrived, I decided to do a garbage inventory of the floor (and mind you, that the floor wasn't even that bad on Thursday, it's seen far worse). As I counted the things I found on the floor, I wrote the list on the whiteboard. It read as follows: 12 pencils, 7 erasers, 2 bottles, 2 tissues, 3 crayons, and 37 other countable pieces of miscellaneous paper, pieces of tissue, plastic wrappers, and things of that sort, totaling about 63 things I found on the floor that should not have been there. This of course didn't count the other items that were too small to count, such as very tiny pieces of torn up tissue crumbled into little balls and shreds, or the pencils shavings that the kids often dump on the floor. 

After counting the mess, the cleaning people came and did their thing. Then it was my turn to do mine, which was the stripping down part. I closed the door, blasted some screaming death metal (this helps me with the rage I feel some days after school), and started moving the tables and chairs.

When all was said and done, I was able to put half of the tables against the back wall, with all chairs underneath (which prevents kids from trying to crawl underneath the tables). The remaining tables were placed throughout the room, most being used to put papers or books on. Now, there was just empty space in the middle. This was looking good, and I was feeling pretty amped about the change.

So today (Sunday), finally arrived. Prior to the kids coming, many teachers often come in and say good morning, and many were very shocked with my room, and asked me why I did it. But once I explained, they understood (I think). Then, it was time to get the kids and bring them up. When they walked in the classroom, they were definitely shocked, and immediately were asking questions. Some had already guessed that it was because the class is so messy. Once everyone was settled, I explained to them that if they are going to make sure a mess of the room, and write all over the desks, then they will have no desks or chairs to make a mess of. And the more mess that was on the floor, the more mess they were going to have to sit on daily, and that they would have to "earn" the tables and chairs back.

Well, I think that the kids might want to earn their class back, because I had many students that were uncomfortable from having to sit on the floor for so long, with out laying down or anything. Good torture if you ask me. 

So this was the exciting event to kick off the week. I really am hoping to see improvement in the classroom neatness, which I feel I have already seen today. Now, with no tables or chairs to block the view, it is very easy for the kids to see the mess they make, and easier for them to clean it up.