I don't know much about real estate, but I do know that it's a commodity people will spend an insane amount of money to call their own. And though we inhabit a big, big world, I wonder how long it will take before we run out of said commodity. Society seems to gobble it up with abandon. The classroom is not much different.
If I could give new teachers (and veteran teachers alike) advice about moving into their rooms, I'd tell them exactly what Kristine Mraz and Christine Hertz recommend in Kids 1st From Day 1.
Minimize your own space.
After 25 years of teaching, I admit to still owning a teacher desk. Though I never sit there unless the children are absent, I feel like I need an organizational space of my own. But, my desk is small. It's out of the way. It's at the back of the room. It's not taking up prime student real estate, which is something I don't want to run out of.
As teachers think about their rooms this coming year, I challenge them to resist the urge to move in and monopolize prime student real estate. Might I suggest that corners and areas at the front of the room are exactly what we need to protect. Obviously, I'm not here to tell anyone to rid themselves of a desk or space of their own. Let's simply minimize it.
