Just thought this might be an interesting topic to see what others experiences were. Still being a student myself, I am really wondering what my first classroom will be like! So...when you got your first classroom (or first at a new school) what was in it or what was it like? Did a previous teacher leave materials, resources, or junk in the room or was it totally empty? Was there anything unusual or different? Did the school provide you with a lot or a little? Share away
My classroom had no doors (open concept), no windows, and opened into a big pod area. Inside I had two white boards, a bulletin board and cabinets with a world map and rolls of wall paper inside. I had a huge teacher desk, an old computer, a file cabinet and one bookshelf. I also had chairs and tables (no desks), a TV with built in DVD/VCR and this weird round thing that I found out later was a stool. I was later given an overhead, a stapler, a tape dispenser with one role of tape, a pack of white board markers and an eraser, math curriculum with manipulatives, reading curriculum but no teacher manual, science curriculum (kits) and I found a mini screw driver in my desk. Other than that I had nothing. I was given several things by other teachers as they went through their things at the beginning of the year, but other than that I bought everything else in my room. Then I was given a budget to order things like paper clips, staples, and so on (no supply room). I actually went without teacher manuals and resources for our reading, spelling, SS, calendar math and writing programs for pretty much the entire year since I was an extra teacher. I had to make copies of another teacher's books, it was great...
I've never been in the same classroom two years in a row. I got lucky each time I taught and was given plenty of stuff to use. I've gotten rooms that were really gross, and rooms that were really clean and almost ready to use. It varies greatly by school, and by the teacher leaving the room. We get $200 each year to buy things for the classroom.
You make me remember when I walked into my music room (2nd teaching job) for the first time. i was being taken on this tour of the campus, and the principal took me to this door behind the stage, down steps, through another door, and into a darkened basement. (BTW...it WAS possible to get locked BETWEEN the doors and if you didn't have keys you were trapped to scream until someone heard you - which good luck on THAT one since it was actually underground and between buildings-, unlocked the doors that locked from the other side...and set you free. This happened to this one 5th grade girl one summer - she was coming for a private clarinet lesson with me and was planning to come into the school through the office building. No one knew she was there, and if I didn't go looking for her-goodness knows WHEN she would have been found. She nearly had a nervous break-down after 45 minutes of shouting, crying, and fearing she would be trapped until school began in the fall.) The dark basement belonged to the church's office building...but warned that I shouldn't get TOO loud...after all, it was a rather dignified area with people's office's above us...and parishioners coming and going...some of which were there to discuss major life events. Such as death, dying, and ...that sort of stuff. Now, ONLY because I knew they were desperate for a music teacher could I find the nerve to say..."No, I don't want to have my room here. This would NOT be condusive to ANY work getting done-let ALONE a music classroom/band rehearsal room." (Or, I thought, ANYTHING other than a funeral luncheon...which I came to find that they DID use it for at times.) Huh....well...there really isn't any other place..... UNLESS... And she took me to this out of the way staircase; down the hall, and to the back-where the gym and the stage meet. (Only one office and 2 bathrooms were on the first floor...oh and the kitchen that was only used when they were having a gym full of parishoners) ..so up the stairs... To this HUGE abandoned room - which at least five years ago was given up as a science lab. (It still had science tables and stools piled against the back.)...Mind you...this was a week before school started and the place was filthy. But it was HUGE! Two staircases, one in the front, one out the back (which i used for classes coming in and leaving). Enormous windows across the front wall, which began over my head and went up to the 2nd story high ceiling. They would let light in but weren't a distraction. There were full sinks on the front side (it once was a mini-banquet room until people didn't like bringing food up and down the narrow staircases) and had a long slate table/ledge along the side... where eventually my students would sit waiting for their time to rehearse.) My office was a huge walk in utility closet, and there were two other closets that i never ended up cleaning out. I didn't have to...my office was enough for myself, my things, and the instruments the school owned...plus room for me to work on dance steps. The principal apologized for the stools-but I thanked her...I WANTED the kids on stools and not in chairs. They sat up straighter when we needed them, we could push them aside for dance faster, and pull them down to the stage for shows. Oh, to give you a feeling how big it was up there...when waiting for their time to go on stage for the Christmas show, I could house three large classes of second graders, their teachers, and parent volunteers... and they couldn't be heard by the audience merely a 3 minute walk away. OR... room to spread out so that 6 squares of jr highers could square dance..and others sitting at the side waiting for their chance to go into dance. (My heart is racing thinking about this again!) I said yes..IMMEDIATELY! I don't think I would EVER find a more perfect room for EXACTLY what I needed. After two years in heaven I started to have to share the room with the art teacher for her upper intermediate and jr high classes. (And her drying racks, and her paint fumes., and her using my table/ledge as project storage. Good thing she had a great personality or it would have been war.)
It was about a third of the size of the classroom I had now; it was located at the back of the school library in what was a conference room. There were eighteen students in my class. There was no room to have an area for mini-lessons, an extensive classroom library, or much else. My library was there with about 800 books at the time, yet I now have 1,500. When I arrived, nothing was in the room at all. I ordered a few things like a chart stand, but there was not much more than that.
The teacher before me apparently had a sticky note and white out fetish-i had a GROSS of bottles of white out, and a case of packages of 10 of sticky notes. That's all he ordered. I found videos from 1992 (science-yeah, they were up to date), and some of the same textbooks I had when I was a sixth grader there (the kids got a kick out of getting "my" book). Several books, some were ok, but most looked like library rejects.
My first room was an old chorus/music room with three other people's offices in it. I felt like I was always being watched (and I was...) It was big, but had nothing in it, and I often came in to find that someone had decided to store something in there. (Apparently, no one had bothered to let them know that it was a classroom, not a storage room). It did have a bathroom, which was lovely.
My first classroom had most of the furniture I needed, a row of shelving below bulletin boards that stretched across a long wall, lockers, a desk, and most of the stuff for kinder centers. I got supplies like post its, staples, etc from the office. My second room the teacher before me left a lot!
My first classroom (at this school) was actually a modular building. It was split into 2 rooms with 2 bathrooms and a small kitchen area. It was stuffed with things. I'm still here and after 4 years I'm still finding things in the closet/storage area. In addition, my first week there I had teachers from the elementary stopping by and giving me advice, books, help moving things and encouragement. It's a great place and I'm fortunate to be here!
My first classroom will be a brand new classroom in a brand new building with a smartboard, a document camera and a cabinet full of electronics I haven't identified yet. I will have too much furniture though because they over ordered and they can't store it because it makes them look bad to the state. I have no idea what else will be provided. The previous K stuff will be split between 2 new teachers because there used to only be one K room.
LOTS of junk. Even trash. I was disappointed. All I really had that was useful was basic furniture and a basket of basic office supplies on my desk. Everything else was gone. I realize now why - teachers are scavengers when another teacher leaves. They clear EVERYTHING out of the room and make you start from scratch...
Overwhelmed I just moved into my new room yesterday. I am so overwhelmed. hmy: I will be teaching science and math so my classroom is the science classroom which is great because the lab is on one side of the room and the desks and whiteboards are on the other side. However, there are materials in my room from 2 previous teachers. A fellow teacher and I cleaned out the bookshelf yesterday. We found textbooks from the 80s, a book from the 30s, and supply catalogs from the 90s. I have even started in the supply/chemical closet yet. There is so much to go through and the majority of it is of no use to me.
I had bulletin boards, over head, screen, chalk boards, some old files, some construction paper, desk, chair, 2 computers, and old files.
My first classroom was a single wide trailer about 30 feet long 12 feet across and at least 30 years old. There was greenish mold growing on the walls and there were holes in the floor that were carpeted over. The baseboards were peeling back in places and I had to use elmers glue to glue them back down. The janitors supposedly "washed" the walls of sheet rock over the summer and left the air conditioning off which caused mold to grow. The previous teacher left nothing behind but a filthy room and a science demonstration cart which she later came by to retrieve. I had no textbooks, no supplies.....nothing but basic furniture. I taught that whole school year without a textbook or a teachers manual. When I complained repeatedly about the mold issues I was ignored. I bought everything my students and I needed.
My first classroom was also a disaster. I was in a semi closed off room off a larger room. We would pull the sliding wall, and put a table in the classroom. That was it. No materials, no supplies, no books, no toys, no nothing. I stayed a week. Later on in my career, I started a play group in my daylight basement (a long story). The only things I had were the toys from my children. My first table was a leaf from my dining room table held up by two chairs. The chairs were a variety of child sized chairs that I borrowed from everyone I knew. My play group suddenly swelled to 12 children, and I decided I better take this seriously and I purchased some real equipment. I was pretty proud of all the equipment and supplies I was able to scrounge, purchase, and borrow. It made the job exciting.
My first room had absolutely nothing! Not even table and chairs and I was hired 2 days before school started! YIKES! Another room that I had moved in was packed to the rafters with stuff (From the 50's!) I had to do a lot of purging to even get started putting things away! It just depends on the school, room, and who was there before you!
Empty My first job was teaching second grade. I got hired in October after they split a growing class. The room I moved into had a chalkboard and no cabinets or shelves. The janitor scrounged around to find me whatever shelves she could which wasn't much. I ended up with one tall metal shelf, a long wooden one, a refurbished small wooden ball rack, and a hand-me down divided shelf. For my classroom Library books I bought plastic crates to display my books. The janitor went to the principal and gave him a list of things I needed (clock, flag, file cabinet, bulletin boards, etc) !
My first class was in a charter school that was just opening. We were opening at a school that closed down, so it had lots of shelf and storage space, a teacher desk and two chalk boards. The previous teachers completely cleaned out the classes. The school provided student desks, crayons, pencils, paper, markers, highlighters, pencil sharpeners, etc.
My first classroom was four years into my career, and I was in the classroom that belonged to a teacher on a one-year leave. I was her replacement, and all of her stuff was there. I had two file cabinets, a two-door cabinet, a wooden teacher desk, a teacher chair, 30 mis-matched student desks, an overhead projector, a television on a cart, and two HUGE bookshelves. No bulletin boards. No windows. No space for anything else. ONE electric outlet, and only half of it worked! I did love my chalkboard!
I felt like I'd won the jackpot: job of my dreams, grade level of my dreams, incredible room stocked with math manipulatives in matching labeled boxes, an efficiency-apartment-sized closet with a library of teaching resource books, organized realia for the two big simulations, student files organized and neat, one file drawer full of "just the good stuff" for each subject area. Plus the teacher who left became a reading specialist so I could ask her anything! Even a mini-fridge. Plus enough cushions/pillows with removable covers for the whole class to have a comfy reading spot. I am and remain forever thankful!
That's what my first room was like. I think I had a pack of construction paper and some rubber bands. Luckily, they gave me a $500 purchase order.
My room was full of unorganized crap! The teacher left last minute and apparently felt that she needed to get her stuff so quickly that she just threw everything that wasn't hers into a big pile for me to take care of! It was terrible! Half of the stuff was broken and not clean...I didn't want to touch anything! I had no curriculum, but luckily the other teacher saved me on that and let me use anything she had in her files. I'm switching rooms this year and kept my stuff as organized as possible for the new teacher. I even left my stapler, tape, etc. I was being nice...until...I got to my new classroom and the former teacher took EVERYTHING out of her desk! So unfortunately I had to break back into my room and take my desk supplies too! I know she will be able to get some from the office...but I didn't want to have to do that to her!
My first classroom didn't really have much - the teacher quit during the summer and I (being an aide) was promoted immediately... he never came back to clean it out but he really had nothing other than books and furniture. I only had a couple classes and my co-teacher was right next door so I used her stuff really.. Then I got moved into a larger classroom (with a full schedule) a month into the next school year. There was SO MUCH JUNK. It took me a week to clean out one filing cabinet. The next year I came in before school started and did a MASSIVE cleaning. Mostly junk really - overhead transparancies, OLD OLD OLD books, broken furniture, boxes of bad pens, etc... It was a mess!
We rented a basement set of rooms from a church. I hated it! I had to store all our stuff every weekend so they could use the rooms for Sunday school. I couldn't leave anything on the bulletin boards. People of different religions were uncomfortable. The previous teacher had been there 23 years and left all her treasures (junk). I celebrated when the district said the rooms didn't meet the disability act and we couldn't be there anymore and ended up at a brand new school that was heaven. Going into an empty room was wonderful - no junk!
My first classroom was a nice room, but it wasn't made to be a classroom. It was longer than it was wide. The desks were oversized. I had all the basics, and a 500 dollar spending allowance. I was very lucky.
My first classroom was the room we called the Princess Room. It was off of the main building, up a little flight of stairs, with windows on 2 sides. I loved it, even though it was small. I was hired in February when the teacher before me quit. She took everything with her, including her plan and grade book, so I had nothing, not even all the textbooks for the class. (We eventually got back the school-owned materials, but it was much later in the year.) All I had was a chalkboard and a very funky tri-fold display with a Black History month learning center that I had made. There was also no curriculum binder telling me what was to be taught. When I asked for it I was told the school didn't have one, just teach what is in the books. I spent many long days and nights that year figuring out what I was doing. (The curriculum problem was solved the next year when I wrote the K-5 scope and sequence that we use now.)
First room had a huge shelf, reading curriculum materials, teacher desk, mismatch of tables the custodians had pulled together and a few supplies that some teachers had dropped of. When I say a few, it was a nice neat pile on my teacher desk. My p sent me to the district office to complete some paper work and the warehouse to pick out chairs. I remember seeing that room today and the warehouse too. The nice lady at the district office warehouse, said to me when she saw me, "I'm so happy you need chairs, we have plenty", as she opened the door to a large room of kid chairs. I was fresh out of college and started in November. My second room was at a different school. They had pulled together a lot of supplies and things beforehand, so it looked like I had a lot of stuff, but the room was a storage area and had tons of PE equipment in it. That got moved out before my first day. I started that class in September after Labor Day. The next school/room I went to had enough stuff in it to supply three classrooms. I spent two summers cleaning that stuff out. My current school, the room I went in to, I went about a third of the way in to the school year. The teacher leaving was told to leave her stuff until I at least got my feet on solid ground. She had an ocean theme going, so her reading center was a wooden boat she used in bible school. She did come at Christmas break and get her things so that I could make the room my own.
