You might remember that last year I moved to a new school after swearing I'd never move to another new school. You may remember that we were housed in a different school last year while we waited for this school to be finished. You may remember that my wife broke her hip earlier that August. The week before we opened in our new building, we unpacked and moved in.
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| Going down the ramp to the lower section |
The tour
Actually, let me back up a bit. Back in June, on the actual last day of school (no kids), while we went out for breakfast to say goodbye to our excellent host school, Frank (CSE principal) arranged to have our boxes and materials moved to the new building. While we didn't get to unpack and arrange our stuff, we did get to tour our new site for about an hour.
We were very excited!
Because our school was still under construction, we could not stay all day. To add to the excitement, we even met the new hires: new teachers and an education assistant.
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| June 2023. Still under construction. |
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The back side where one playground goes,
in front of the gym and the library/learning commons.
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The "before" shot:
My teaching mountain
(Can you see the dismantled risers?)
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Okay, now fast forward to August.
I had one day to unpack my stuff to be reasonably set up for school. No, this wasn't a district or a school or even a construction restriction of time; it was the limit I set on myself. I wanted to be at home as much as possible to help my still-recuperating wife with care and driving to appointments.
Usually, I like to take at least a week, to get used to a space and chat with my co-workers, (How was your summer, nice new shirt/tan/tattoo/spouse, etc.), but this time, I sent an email telling people I only had a day to get ready and I was going to close my door and just get it done. They were very understanding.
I cranked up the tunes, and chipped away at the pile of stuff I had, lovingly collected over 3 decades. I went with a zone defense, dismantling the mountain a box a time, putting stuff in pre-determined zones so I would not have to retrace my steps.
I amazed myself and got to a point that I had things looking reasonably organized and ready for my first group of students. I must have also amazed one of the district guys who moved the stuff in because he walked by and told me he didn't think my classroom was going to be ready for September based on the volume of stuff he moved in.
Here are some "after" pictures of how my classroom looked for the first week:
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| nice big windows with a generous counter |
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Frank ordered these versatile tables on wheels.
Some have whiteboard surface and
the tops all flip up for storage and for display.
(Notice: no risers.)
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| A decent amount of storage |
The interiors of the rest of the school all have a warm feeling, using natural textures and light:
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A cozy nook under the stairs
for reading or just relaxing, refreshing, or refocusing. |
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Well-lit hallways
with warm, wood panels |
They built a school on the side of a mountain?
There are challenges to building a school on the side of a mountain. The kindergarten students have to go down some stairs to get to their doors to their classes. If you kick a soccer ball over the fence, you can kiss it goodbye. It confuses they heck out of people when they come out of the parking lot to go to the office, and then they realize that the front of the school is on the top floor and the rest of the school is downstairs.
But there are some huge upsides to having a school on a mountain:
1. We have a great trail that runs beside our school.
2. We have a cool playground that is incorporated into the side of the hill. Students could get dropped off above and take the slide down to their classrooms below.
3. The views.
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Photo by Carrie V.
I've lived here for decades and I did not know such a view even existed. |
(Carrie V is winning our photo contest)
Visitors who come to our school on days like these are always late because they can't pull themselves away from the parking lot.
What is your new school like?
It was a long wait to get into our new building, but it was definitely worth the wait. The daily buses are now distant memories. Our first year core of teachers and staff was amazing and our new people are stunningly awesome. The new building is a great facility in a breathtaking setting.
What does my new school feel like? It feels like home.
home
