My home away from home...

Well, I thought it was about time to share pictures of the place where I spend more of my time that at my house...you guessed it, SCHOOL!  Since most of you will never get to come and see my classroom, I thought that I would share it with you via the blog. 

I have a wonderfully cozy room-where I can control my own heat and air...I am VERY lucky!  For those of you that do not know, I am an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher at an inner city school in Tennessee.  I LOVE working with the demographic and socioeconomic population that I do.  I feel like they are thankful and appreciative for all that I do.  It is truly encouraging when you see kiddos who don't even have food to eat every night, come to school with a smile on their faces.  It really puts things into perspective.  My bad days never top the ones that some of these children have daily. 

With that being said, I like my room to feel like a cozy home, not a cold, boring classroom.  I only use soft lighting-lots of lamps, which is proven to help inner city students feel at ease and more prone to learning. 

Here is a view from the door...

The view from the window to the other side...

 The desk area...

The window area by the desk...

The writing board...

The front of the room...

The view of the library...you better believe I have my UGA flag up!

And my behavior chart...ha!

I'm in the process of putting up my 'winter' themed door and flag...more pictures to come of that soon!  It's the little things, like decorating for the seasons and holidays that make all the stress, tests, scores, etc. a little more bearable.  Plus, my kiddos love when I break out all my snowmen!  Gotta keep it PC...I am the ESL teacher after all, I should be the most culturally aware and sensitive person in the school!