Imagine this: you have 13 eighth graders and they are all happily cleaning their room. They are dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, organizing, and de-cluttering. They have taken apart the couch to vacuum it (and under it) and are banging the cushions outside to remove dirt! They are even doing it with a smile on their face. And when they are all finished, they thank you for helping them achieve such a clean room! Although not perfect, my classroom is now clean enough to support the five brand new laptops and new Elmo we just received from the stimulus money (we have to RIF two teachers but the federal government sure is doing a bang-up job getting us new technology!).
Honestly, I think the kids were just as tired of our nasty room as I was. In addition to my four language arts and social studies classes, this room is used for art (messy), music (somehow messy), shop (the bane of my existence), faculty and school board meetings. There was so much sawdust and regular dust that we probably should have been wearing face masks while cleaning. It's all clean now and I even put up a new bulletin board: The Civil War! It's been an exciting day!
PS... it also snowed last night so when I get home I'll be doing my 5 miles in the snow. Yuck.
Honestly, I think the kids were just as tired of our nasty room as I was. In addition to my four language arts and social studies classes, this room is used for art (messy), music (somehow messy), shop (the bane of my existence), faculty and school board meetings. There was so much sawdust and regular dust that we probably should have been wearing face masks while cleaning. It's all clean now and I even put up a new bulletin board: The Civil War! It's been an exciting day!
PS... it also snowed last night so when I get home I'll be doing my 5 miles in the snow. Yuck.
So that's how to get them motivated!
ReplyDeleteYour aside about grant money bringing in tech while the district lays off teacher is sad and yet, all too common. I say that as a supporter of tech, too.
Kevin
Love it when the room is clean!
ReplyDeleteI had to take a picture of what clean looks like in the room so students could clean up the mess they make (although I teach second grade).
I can't believe one classroom is used for all those different subjects. Glad you have a clean room now. The whole school should thank you and your students.
ReplyDeleteI marvel at this because I have 16 8th graders (mostly boys) and I can't even get them to put their desks back in place after lunch or to pick up their own pencils and papers off the floor every day.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they felt really good after cleaning the room! Great team work and accomplishment!
I could identify as you wrote about watching them work. Today I took some fourth graders out to trim shrubs in our Outdoor Classroom. Talk about workers!
ReplyDeleteShop in a classroom? Really?
Haha- this is funny. Every year, I tout something I call the "GRC" to my Enviro Bio class. I won't tell them what GRC stands for, I only set the date and talk it up, excitedly, as the late-spring date approaches. When the "big day" arrives, I provide them with "energy" snacks & drinks (umm...chips & soda)and divulge that GRC stands for the Great Room Cleanup. Surprisingly, this has always been met with enthusiasm as the students wipe, dust, organize and throw stuff out. They LOVE this un-ordinary class...these are 11th and 12th graders.
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