Ready, set, FIRE - Ms. Potter's English I classroom

Welcome to Ms. Potter's English I Class!

This week, we had teacher inservice. I could tell numerous stories about the disorganization of my school at the moment, but I think I will leave this post as a visual dedication of my classroom. I used every bit of time I had this week to cover my walls with investment materials, decorations and of course, everything fire I could imagine.

Room view numero 2. I am in the new building at my "striving school," but this new wing is solely for the incoming freshmen. I think this is a GREAT idea because the freshmen won't be interacting with upperclassmen as much and, therefore, will not be peer pressured to "act a fool" or cause problems.

Room view numero 3. As you can see, I have a beautiful, new classroom and I've very thankful I was placed in this wing.

This is the first thing you see on the left as you enter my room. This will be used to house student binders and our textbooks.

Here I will post the class with the highest average on weekly quizzes to push the students to increase their scores as a class. The class with the most tallies at the end of the unit gets a healthy treat baked by me! (I refuse to give out Hot Cheetos or Honey Buns...I'm thinking a granola-based cookie or muffin would teach them how to eat healthier snacks.)

The other great part about this picture is the poster collection I was required to put in my classroom. These posters were purchased with grant money. You can barely read that they say, "alliteration," "symbol," etc. and they are, to me, a poor use of government money. Why did we not use the money instead on purchasing class sets of novels? Hmmm

I LOVE this wall. We are learning new vocabulary words each week and we will glue them on this visual so they will see themselves learning "hotter" words gradually throughout the year. Can't wait to see what it will look like with dozens of words on it.

"Class Points: Heating up with good behavior" These are the class thermometers and they can earn class points for good behavior. I laminated these so I can mark them with a dry erase marker as they "heat up" and then wipe it off to reuse it. The reward will change each week; the first reward though is going to be music time during class work time with my fire-themed playlist on Grooveshark (thanks for all the song recommendations!).

Big Goal. Enough said.

My corner of the room.

The students will fill out their own personal fire worksheet with high school, college and career/life goals and then they will pick one to post on the class fire. This will help me see what goals they have in life and how I can incorporate them into my teaching!

That's hootttt...I sorta wanted a picture of Paris Hilton here, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it haha.

I spy with my little eye...a reminder of someone special....

One of my favorite/most treasured buttons and, of course, my alumni Delta Gamma flower for inspiration!

Last, but not least, my Red Hot Student Work board. Formerly the "we be burnin" board. I changed the title once I realized (this week) that those lyrics were referencing smoking weed. Who knew?!

Hope you enjoyed this visual tour of CW38 (my classroom). Until next time...