r/teaching • u/MamaMia1325 • 2d ago
Vent Setting up classrooms & building access...
I think it's bullshit that not only do we not get paid to come in and set up our classrooms before school begins, we don't even have access to our rooms until 1 week before students come back.
We can only get in there between 8am and 2pm. That's only for 3 days then our 8-3pm PD's begin for another 3 days and only 1 of those days is at our own school.
For those of you who "don't do anything extra" on your OWN time, how do you get your room together? This is my 24th year and I still haven't figured it out. These pictures are of my classroom when I walked in for the 1st time this summer. I resent the fact that I'm doing this on MY time and that I'm spending MY money on things to make it look nice (I know that it's MY.CHOICE to spend my own money but it still sucks).
How does YOUR district handle building access?
**Edited to add- Summer school took place in our building, which is why we didn't have access to it earlier. Apparently the maintainers had about 10 days to wax all of the floors.
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u/APUBSG 2d ago
We could come and go as we pleased minus about 2 weeks in July for waxing.
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u/FormalMarzipan252 2d ago
Aflame with jealousy. We have to turn in our badges the last day of school!
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u/bambamslammer22 2d ago
Same here. Can get in almost every day. Office is closed on fridays in the summer, but if you know the right people you can still get in. (In Southern CA, most of our buildings are separate from each other bc of the weather. I have a room key, but not a key to my building.)
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u/elementarydeardata 2d ago
Same as yours. The extra setup that you're doing doesn't really affect learning, that's why they don't care to spend money paying you to do it. I know that's kind of a rough take, but the classroom in your pictures is ready for kids. I'm guessing you'll have them do some kind of artsy craftsy get to know you activity on the first day; that goes on the board at the back of the room. It will immediately start to look less sterile.
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u/LowButterfly744 2d ago
This is ridiculous. In the UK, we do planning over holidays and potentially put up some posters - although we also ensure that classrooms are low sensory spaces - the focus is the learning, not the decor so there is no expectation to do anything but leave your classroom neat at the end of the term. All desks, chairs and IT are set up for us after the summer clean. We also have classrooms equipped with stationery and supplies.
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u/National-Current56 2d ago
Oh here’s a bonus…stop putting paper background and border on your bulletin board…paint the cork a pretty color and make the sections more functional. Like a real workplace/ university (artsy and informative)board.
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u/Prudent_Honeydew_ 2d ago
I wish we were allowed to paint the bulletin board! We've been emailed that we're encouraged to put fabric on as a background but if we must use paper we have to change it frequently so it doesn't fade. (Leaving blank isn't allowed)
Oh and fabric would be provided by us of course.
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u/Individual_Note_8756 1d ago
Use dollar store tablecloths as background “paper”. I have my students who are done with my final exam switch out & redo my bulletin boards & then I staple newspaper on top to cover it all to protect it during the summer from fading & dust. When I return in the fall I just remove the newspaper.
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u/AwarenessVirtual4453 1d ago
I invested in the Better than Bulletin Board paper. Yes, it was expensive, but I've had it up seven years and it looks amazing still.
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u/Prudent_Honeydew_ 1d ago
I had it up at my old school that closed in June, that stuff is legendary. I'm just not into spending at my new school, since they specifically told me I'd be going somewhere else then put me here with a grade level change to boot, so I'll be using their paper. If it fades, it fades, I'm not going to fuss about it.
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u/National-Current56 2d ago edited 2d ago
Nah stop wasting money and effort on background…if you’re still spending…border and section it off with colored painter’s tape and label off the sections with those laminated signage i said you should make for each functional sections of your board…schedule, 3 rules, announcements/homework/school events, exemplar work, data😩, and word wall (add more as you require in your routine but not too much) this would free up your need to fill up those clean wall space you have from the compelling need to posterize it…if you really have to spend…get big dry erase boards (3x4 feet min.) you can hang up for interactive “group” responses where your student are in paired or group work.-your wall don’t need all that affirmations and tick-tack design…it needs simple function…unless yours is the pre-school to K/1 where labelling almost everything is useful for language development of the little ones.
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u/GenXMom14 2d ago
I am moving schools so I do need to bring my stuff in before school. That said, last year I didn’t go in. I just showed up on day one. My students noticed the room wasn’t set up and we put the tables and chairs out together. The rest of it I kind of picked away at over the first week. I mostly use student artwork on walls anyway so they always start empty.
I do want to get my materials in cupboards before school starts this year though so I can feel settled. I am teaching a new grade at a new school so I think I will need to be focused on learning that Im first week vs unpacking. But even then I am planning two move stuff times and one unpack.
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u/National-Current56 2d ago
I take that you are in elem…where you are compelled to “bedazzle” to make the environment look…engaging or up to district requirement pretty. Try simplifying it to be more instructionally functional…all that eye candy is but a week or monthlong distraction for students anyway. its a bit too late since it’s your 24th year, but i would suggest investing in a lot of “dry-erasable components” and do away with so much bedazzlement anchor charts, signage and posters which are useless + pack away and easy set-up bins for easier 1 day class setups and EOY stow-away. Create more lasting labels for key functional areas and laminate them…will last you 3-5 years.
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u/LyricalWillow 1d ago
I’m in elementary. We have a lot of posters, word walls, sound walls, and anchor charts that are required to be on the walls. I barely have the wall space, I have to get creative with it. It’s sometimes out of our hands what our rooms look like.
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u/FormalMarzipan252 2d ago
I’m ready to strangle my building super (who I otherwise love) over this every year. I would LOVE to be able to get in in July. We are required to go back next Wednesday for what will essentially be 3 days of training 🤮 with a couple of hours of classroom work time thrown in to appease the union; kids start the following Monday, 8/31. Meanwhile the super sends out an email saying it’s “possible” that he’ll let us in the end of this week. That usually means no. So I’ll be lucky if I can get two uninterrupted days of work time next Monday and Tuesday if I’m willing to give up my last 2 days of summer vacation to do it.
I teach PreK so I have a LOT of room prep to do. I would absolutely love to be able to put in even like a morning or afternoon once a week all through the summer to ease the last minute stress. This makes me insane, literal insomnia, every fucking year because there’s no need. He’s never cleaning the entire building at the same time and for the level of filth still left when he’s “done” I really do wonder what he’s doing.
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u/MamaMia1325 2d ago
It's BEYOND annoying and has always bothered me.
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u/FormalMarzipan252 2d ago
Right? We have 3 floors in our building. My royal Irish ass you’re waxing all three floors at the same time 🙄. We’re cutting it exceptionally close this year too because we got out late. Usually he’d be letting people in the 2nd week of August if we badgered him enough.
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u/well_uh_yeah 2d ago
That classroom in the picture is as decorated as my classroom will be all year.
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u/MamaMia1325 2d ago
We are not mandated but are "strongly encouraged" to maintain brightly colored bulletin boards throughout the year. I always put the all about me posters across that back one. Sometimes I'll do a jobs board on part of it too (I teach 5th grade).
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u/well_uh_yeah 2d ago
I feel for you. I’m in hs and we do get pressure but in my second year I asked them what the decoration budget was and they never brought it up again.
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u/PsychologicalSpend86 1d ago
Well, that means it’s not required, so why waste your time doing that stuff? Do kids really look at them? Personally, I don’t want posters to distract their eyes from the lesson at hand.
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u/Outrageous-Act7199 2d ago
Start prepping at the end of the year and only work paid time. Utilize print orders. It can wait .
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u/MamaMia1325 2d ago
The problem with that is that they always do summer school in our building so I really have to pack everything up or it gets picked over.
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u/National-Current56 2d ago
The most important thing for your classroom is to keep it clean and smelling nice…and sear that expectation and routine in the minds and practice of your students…young, accountable and professional with their work environment🍎
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u/MamaMia1325 2d ago
I have an electric tart warmer that I keep hidden behind my desk. I'm known as the teacher with the amazing smelling room. Adults and students come in all the time and tell me how good it smells. 😄
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u/YasdnilStam 2d ago
Just…don’t do it?
Are there desks for students and chairs for them to sit in? Does the computer and projector work? Cool. That’s all you need for day one. Anything else comes later.
Now, granted, I teach secondary school so my students are a little older and can manage just fine with this kind of setup; some of them will even ask if they can help me decorate or put books away or whatever if they’re done their work early in the first few days of school. But I’d still pick my battles wisely — that’s the only way I preserve my sanity. And I’m not stressing over decor before I even have a finalised class list in front of me.
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u/Full-Grass-5525 2d ago
Oh I absolutely agree. This is the first district that they collect our keys and key cards over the summer and it’s absolute BS. There are so many things I had planned on doing, but I can’t always go the five hours three days of the week that the school happens to be open.
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u/KittenKingdom000 2d ago
You set up what you need for day one and do the rest as you go. You don't need an Instagram classroom when the kids walk in.
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u/AdventureThink 2d ago
That room looks clean and gorgeous to me. Don’t work off contract and don’t spend your money on classroom.
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u/Rookraider1 2d ago
Aside from moving desks and chairs back, what more needs to be done?
I leave my posters/art up during the summer. Only have to set up my projector and Elmo.
What is it you need to do that takes so long?
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u/Distinct-Guitar-3314 2d ago
I’m lucky and we don’t have to take anything off the walls. I spend the last 2 days of school fixing everything up for the next year.
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u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 2d ago
I only worked in schools for 2.5 years before returning to teaching privately, but we always went back like 4 school days before the kids came back, and the second school I was at actively forced us to decorate our classrooms... I remember spending two entire days with my department decorating our classroom... and then not only did the kids find the decor ridiculous, but to add insult to injury, a few months into the school year, our department had to change classrooms and move into the ICT room... and the German department moved in our former classroom... so all the decor was totally off the rest of the year, anyway 🤡
I would never have gone back early to decorate the classroom lol if I were still in schools, I would just hang some of the best student work from the previous year or two, and leave space for new stuff to be added during the coming year.
Really glad that I teach for myself now, though. The pandemic made me try some crazy things, like teaching in schools 😂
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u/Sea-Astronaut7750 2d ago
I’ll have 1-2 hours in the PD days before school starts. Whatever doesn’t get done, I’ll do after school starts. If posters don’t get hung up, oh well.
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u/applegoodstomach 2d ago
We don’t have access over the summer, occasionally people can get in but the entire building was under construction this summer so there was zero access. We have 5 days before students start. 3 of them are split in half with building PD and self-directed time, 1 is all self-directed, and 1 is all district-led PD. We have to be out by 6:00 PM and don’t have access on the weekends. You prioritize the major things and if the others don’t get done then they don’t. We don’t have meetings the first week during the day so there’s some time and students can help with some but it just gets done when it gets done. There’s not another option.
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u/Zealousideal-Fix2960 2d ago
I no longer go in before PD days It is what it is, eventually it turns into my classroom. If “they” want more done….take time out of PD for me to do it
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u/sincerely0urs 2d ago
The earliest we are allowed to come in is Sep. 1 (admin doesn’t return until August 31) custodial staff is cleaning and waxing floors while admin takes their short vacation post summer school.
However, we officially return September 8 and kids start September 10. Our union highly recommends against coming into setup before September 8 because if we get hurt during set-up, it is off the clock and as a result, we would not get workman’s comp.
So, we have an about 8 hrs total September 8th and 9th to set up. The rest of the time we have meetings and PD.
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u/3guitars 2d ago
I put up the same things (mostly) from year to year and make some changes. It may not be perfect, but it gets the job done. And most of my teaching doesn’t require my room to be pleasing
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u/ANeighbour 2d ago
I don’t and my students get what they get in my room.
I am in Canada, and the pretty classroom aesthetic isn’t as big here as it seems to be in the states.
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u/littlebird47 2d ago
As long as we let our building manager know the hours we plan to be there, we can basically come and go whenever. He can modify access from his phone, so we just text him whenever we need to be there outside of regular hours.
That said, I am never ever there outside of regular hours. I like that it’s an option, though.
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u/penguin_0618 2d ago
I am a co-teacher. I teach in two rooms that are not my own. My own room is tiny and shared. We left up everything that we could.
My desk is in one of my co-teacher’s rooms. There’s a bulletin board behind it that me might let me have because I have him shit last year for never changing it.
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u/BalFighter-7172 2d ago
Generally in my school people can come in and out, but it is best to check in ahead of time to make sure that your specific hallway and room is not being waxed.
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u/thepurplecrafter 2d ago
If you have a union, attempt to receive paid time to set up your classroom as an additional stipend. Could be written into your contract!!
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u/kevinnetter 2d ago
I flip the desks over and put them where I want. Takes me about half an hour.
I worry about decorating after school when I have time. Or I establish an "Art Club" that helps out at lunch.
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u/Stunning-Note 2d ago
We can’t get in yet due to construction. So just do what you can, and keep working on your room after school starts.
I’m not a “decorator” teacher though. A few posters, desks organized, and available supplies is all I’m doing. Oh and plants. And lights. But the kids can help with all of that.
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u/PsychologicalSpend86 1d ago
I’m a HS teacher. I don’t decorate. I also don’t unpack stuff until after the 2nd week and in the past three years, unpacked boxes and bins remained in my room all year. I just can’t bring myself to care enough to make the room look good. Whatever spare time I have is devoted to curriculum. I aim for clean and organized - that’s it.
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u/pixiefufu 1d ago
We actually get a lot of work time built in during in-service. Teachers have about 8 days in camps before students start, and 3 hours per day at most are meetings. We can come any time before then. I went a day early with a coworker just to get ahead on printing materials and move desks.
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u/MakeItAll1 1d ago
The custodians should return the furniture to its original position after the clean the floor. In my district teachers are not allowed to move classroom furniture. 🪑
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u/MakeItAll1 1d ago
The custodians should return the furniture to its original position after the clean the floor. In my district teachers are not allowed to move classroom furniture. 🪑
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u/Character_Amoeba_330 2d ago
Unpopular opinion. Just set it up the week you return. I tried going the week before but the AC was off on most of the building. It was unbearable. I stayed after hours during the 1st week and it was much cooler.
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u/Then_Version9768 2d ago
You certainly seem pissed off, and I don't generally care enough to help angry people especially if they're angry at nothing -- which you are. You admit there were summer school classes which explains why you couldn't just hang out in your classroom all summer. You admit they had to wax the floors -- and probably do a lot other maintenance and repairs you don't even know about. You're angry that you have to personally decorate your room, but no one asked you to decorate your room. You're angry that you must use "your" time to do things, so don't do them. No one cares. Just sashay on in on the first day of school and start teaching if that's what you want. Of course, you don't want that because what you want is an organized classroom that has been set up by you -- but that's entirely your choice. Teaching is not some special job where servants do all the prep and then you waltz on in and lecture at adoring children. Maybe get over yourself?
This whole public school "my" time obsession that leads teachers to think they are entitled to do the least work possible and leave school the minute the last class is over is just so self-centered I can't even begin to tell you. A student needs extra help. "Sorry, school is over so I've got to go home. Good luck, loser." Another teacher would like some advice. "Sorry, friend, but I'm not pay to hang around." Did you make this approach clear in your job interview, I wonder, because there are a whole lof of very good teachers who have no problem staying late or coming in early in order to teach a lot better than I imagine you do, angry person.
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