I was so thrilled to get Ashley’s Peek of the Week submission because she teaches in such a unique situation!  Ashley is her school’s 1st-8th Technology Teacher AND she teaches an 8th grade literacy class.  Ashley blogs at Teaching in the Net and has excellent ideas over on her blog!  Be sure to stop by after taking a peek into her classroom.

Here we go… welcome to Ashley’s classroom!

Ashley wrote me detailed noted about her classroom, so you’ll see those descriptions in quotes. 🙂

These first three shots are panoramic views of her classroom.  One end is her technology class and the other end is the literacy class.  Ashley cracked me up with her note about the fluorescent lighting being terrible. We feel you, Ashley.  We’re all in the same boat! 🙂
THE
GREEN BULLETIN BOARD IS MY “TYPING SPEEDSTERS” BB. WE FREQUENTLY TAKE TYPING
TESTS TO MEASURE CURRENT TYPING SPEEDS AND STUDENTS MOVE UP (OR DOWN) LEVELS
DEPENDING ON HOW FAST THEY TYPE.

THIS
IS THE FRONT OF MY TECH CLASS. I USE THE SMART BOARD AND PROJECTOR EVERY DAY.
THE ORANGE BUCKET HAS CLIPBOARDS IN IT. MY STUDENTS COME IN AND SIT ON THE
FLOOR AND WE DO ACTIVITIES TOGETHER. THE CLIPBOARDS MAKE IT EASIER SINCE WE’RE ON THE FLOOR.  OUR SCHOOL-WIDE LOG IN INFORMATION IS ON THE
WALL ABOVE THE SMART BOARD. IT IS REFERRED TO BY STUDENTS OFTEN.”

 “THIS
IS MY TEACHER DESK/AREA ALONG WITH THE PRINTER THAT ALL STUDENTS USE. THE BIG
POLE IS SORT OF THE “SPLIT POINT” BETWEEN THE TWO CLASSROOMS.

THE
“LETTER KEYS” ON THE WALL ARE THE HOME ROW KEYS.
I ALSO HAVE POSTERS THAT SHOW THE LEFT AND RIGHT HAND. I TEACH SPECIAL ED
STUDENTS WHO NEED THAT VISUAL REMINDER OFTEN.”

“THESE
ARE THE COMPUTER LAB EXPECTATIONS. THANKS TO ASHLEY HUGHES FOR THE COMPUTER
CLIPART.  These
are keyboarding shortcut posters. They are tools for helping kids use the
computer more effectively and quickly.

The
menu on the right shows our process of saving documents. It’s a long process, so I go through
it verbally as well as pointing to each section with my kiddos often. I almost
sing a song to help them remember the process.”

“All
of my tech classes have log in loops to help them with usernames and passwords
for the TONS of websites we access each week.”

“I
MADE THESE CURTAINS A FEW YEARS AGO. THEY ARE HIDING ALL OF MY FILES, JUNK,
RUBBERMAIDS, ETC. DON’T YOU JUST LOVE HOW THERE ARE 2
CEILING HEIGHTS RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER?

YOU
CAN ALSO SEE MY (LITERACY) DAILY SCHEDULE BOARD. MY STUDENTS NEED TO VISUALLY
SEE WHAT WE ARE DOING EACH DAY. THEY ARE HIGHLY ROUTINE-ORIENTED AND THEY GET
ANXIOUS IF THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT’S COMING UP.”

“THIS
IS A HOMEMADE SHELF. I USED A LONG PIECE OF PLYWOOD, COVERED IT IN WHITE
CONTACT PAPER AND SET IT ON TOP OF 3 CONCRETE BLOCKS. I NEEDED SOMETHING LOW
BELOW MY WHITEBOARD AND STRONG ENOUGH TO HOLD DRAWERS, BOOKS, FILES, ETC. THIS
IS MY QUICK GRAB TEACHER AREA.”

“THIS
IS MY LITERACY BULLETIN BOARD. IT IS FOR ANCHOR CHARTS AND POSTERS RELATING TO
WHAT WE ARE LEARNING. IT ALSO HAS A POSTER WITH OUR LITERACY CLASS ROUTINES
(WHAT STUDENTS SHOULD DO WHEN THEY COME INTO CLASS EACH DAY). THE SHELVES ARE
FOR “QUICK GRAB” STUDENT SUPPLIES LIKE STAPLERS,
TAPE, PENCILS, ETC. THE PICTURE FRAME HAS A PAGE THAT SAYS “STUDENT SUPPLIES”. I PUT STICKY TACK ON THE BOTTOM
OF IT TO KEEP IT FROM FALLING EVERY TIME I OPEN ONE OF THE CLEAR/BLUE DRAWERS.
I THINK I GOT THAT TIP FROM DIANE AT FIFTH IN THE MIDDLE. GENIUS!”
 

“THIS
IS MY LITERACY STUDENT WORK BULLETIN BOARD. THERE ARE VOCABULARY WORDS WITH
THEIR SYNONYMS WRITTEN ON THE “WATCH BANDS” (IT’S HARD TO SEE IN THE PICTURE).
THANKS TO FROM THE POND FOR THE WATCH (CLOCK) CRAFT. I ADDED THE STRIPS FOR THE
WATCH BAND.

THE
TABLE BELOW IT IS A MESS. IT’S MY CATCH-ALL TABLE. I WANTED IT
CLEAR ALL YEAR TO BE ABLE TO SET STUFF THAT I’M USING IMMEDIATELY. SOME OF THOSE
THINGS HAVE BEEN SITTING THERE SINCE CHRISTMAS.”

“MY
LIT STUDENTS KEEP THEIR LIT CLASS SUPPLIES IN A MAGAZINE FILE HOLDER (WITH TAPE
ON THE BOTTOM FOR ADDED STRENGTH). AT OUR SCHOOL, ALL KIDS GO TO THEIR LEVELED
MATH CLASS 1ST IN THE MORNING, THEN TO THEIR
LEVELED LITERACY CLASS 2ND. SO MY LIT CLASS DOESN’T KEEP LOCKERS OR ANYTHING IN MY
CLASS. THEY HAVE TO HAUL THEIR MATH SUPPLIES WITH THEM, SO THAT’S USUALLY WHAT GOES IN THEIR DESKS.”
 

“THIS
IS THE STUDENT (AND TEACHER!) SUPPLY SHELF. I TOOK A LOT OF TIME TO MAKE
PICTURE LABELS FOR ALMOST EVERY BOX. I LABELED THE FRONT AND THE BACK OF EACH
BOX SO WHEN STUDENTS PUT THEM BACK ON THE SHELF, WE CAN SEE THE LABELS ON
EITHER SIDE. (I HAD ISSUES WITH THEM PUTTING THE BOXES ON THE SHELF WITH THE
LABEL SIDE ON THE BACK. UGH.

(P.S.
IT GETS REALLY HOT IN MY ROOM SINCE IT IS NOT AIR-CONDITIONED WELL AND THE
COMPUTERS HEAT THE ROOM, SO YOU’LL NOTICE, I HAVE 3 FANS IN MY
ROOM.)”

Ashley, I so enjoyed taking a look into your very unique classroom!  Thank you for sharing and for giving us all such detailed descriptions.  Your students are so lucky to have you!

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