At least that’s my excuse.
Here we go on part two of our tour of room D5. Be sure to click on each photo to see the full size. I added labels this time for your convenience.
Where to begin? I found the Cone of Silence years ago on the side of the road while I was skating. It’s really a speaker dome, for use in places like museums, where you would step under it to hear something about the exhibit without disturbing the blurbs at the next exhibit. It looks just like one of the bubbles of the Cone of Silence on Get Smart
The mannequin underneath is called the Target because of our “lockdown” drills. Ever since Columbine, we’ve had a once (or more) a year drill where we pretend there’s a gunman on the loose on campus. We shut off the lights and huddle in a safe place, while the admin check all the doors to make sure we locked them. The only windows in my room are tall and narrow and right next to the door. We huddle against a concrete wall next to the door. Anyone who looks in sees only the silhouette of the mannequin across the room; he’s the target, we’re behind the peeper’s field of view. (We always joke about taking the intruder out from behind with the Quiet Stick.)
The Tom Sawyer doll on the wall is a relic from when I allowed them a lot more leeway on end-of-novel projects. I think I have enough of those still around to merit a whole post about them. And there’s another Weepul.
I once had 32 of those AlphaSmart word processors. I still have about 28, but only 5 or 6 still work consistently. I actually lent one out this year. It was a good idea back in the day, but they’re pretty obsolete now.
This is the center of the classroom, both literally and figuratively. There’s the overhead with the wireless slate on the glass and the clicker receiver (w/skull accessory) on top. The Popple collecting fines. Old school VCR for the 1938 Tom Sawyer and “Monsters on Maple Street.” Speakers, red pens for trade and grade, essential dvd’s, the lcd projector pointing at the ShmartBoard. And sitting waaaay back there in the corner, behind the servant so diligently (and silently) working, is… the Cage.
First off, I cannot believe howw BIG your room is! You are beyond lucky.
Second, we are very similar in what and how we teach, but your messy room would drive me insane. No offense! I am sure my uber-organized and neat room would do the same to you.
No wonder the kids love your room so much . . .
Hi Mr. Coward,
This might sound like a really lame question… but could you please explain how you set up “trade and grade” with your students? I tried doing it with my eighth graders last year and it completely backfired… there was much sneaky erasing and changing of answers. As a result I’ve been grading everything myself since then and it is very time consuming!
My questions is where do you get all of your Weepuls? I LOVED those when I was younger (still do) and I think my students would too.