Be honest -- who has binged The Home Edit on Netflix? Or bought the books, magazine, or follow them on Instagram? I see you with your hand raised! It feels nerdy to cop to watching an organizing show, but Clea and Joanna are hilarious and make it look so fun. One of my students showed up late last spring with one of their books under her arm for silent reading, and I completely fan girled. I did NOT change silent reading to partner reading just so she and I could read together, but I thought about it! 😉 She and I had the best time finding funny quotes about organizing and talking clear containers and rainbows. But....you may be thinking that you know me, you've worked with me, you've seen my box, or had to share my desk, and I'm no organizer! Since I started teaching, at any given moment, I can lay my hands on my plan book, my grade book, and my wallet. The rest is...fluid. I am an A+ shover of things in cupboards, and prefer piling papers to actually filing them.
In spring of 2020, while we were all huddled at home watching the news and clutching our loved ones, my school closed. It was supposed to close at the end of the school year anyway - it had nothing to do with covid. But it was an emotional time, and while we were asked to purge etc., it was tough. We couldn't talk to one another while we were at school, and the entire process felt very sad. I did make some edits, but mostly I just packed up my room, and stuck everything into boxes. Fast forward to October 2020 when my new school was (mostly) finished, we were still in a similar covid situation. We had scheduled times to unpack our rooms, and couldn't have help from family members due to covid protocols. That was really hard. I went into high gear, unpacked most of the boxes and shoved things wherever they would go. And for the past 1.5 years have been wandering around thinking about where things were in my Gearhart classroom, having absolutely no idea where they are now. Not to mention the three boxes that I didn't unpack.😬
After watching the Netflix series, my mom and I got a bee in our bonnets about "home editing" my classroom. Not just taking a Saturday and trying and make sense of my June decisions, but going through the whole process: Edit, Categorize, Contain, (and hopefully!) Maintain. We picked a week at the end of July and went for it!!
Edit & Categorize
Um, this is the horrifying part of the process. You take E V E R Y T H I N G out of cupboards, drawers, off shelves etc., so you can see what you have. Then you organize it while it's all out so you can see that you may have 364 post it notes (for instance 😆). We did these two steps together by setting up desks with categories and then floor space when that started to overflow.
We took (well, my dad took) two car loads to Goodwill, and filled up a couple recycle toters. In addition to a ton of...crap?, there were many treasures. Books and resources with names like: Mr Pence, Mrs Clapp, Mrs Noonan, SVSD POP (oops...), Ms Culver, Mrs Arthur, Mrs O'Leary, Mrs Nohavec, Mrs Kirby, and even a professional book from Mrs Pastrana (I'm sure she missed that terribly. Ha!).
If you've ever organized anything, this is the terrible part of the journey because there is no undo button, no easy clean up, just decisions to be made. If you've watched The Home Edit, you know that frequently Clea and Joanna argue about categories and zones, whether they made sense or not. Unbelievably, I get that now! In addition to organizing "discussions" mom and I both wore clothes inside out on different days. We were soooooo tired. 😂
Contain
This is the BEST part of the process, because it includes shopping!!! I had several containers in my room already, but some of them, no joke, had been with me for the long haul. They've been well loved, dented, and piled on for 24 years, and so an upgrade was necessary. We got some clear tubs with lids and a rolling drawer set at Container Store, and book bins and pencil cans at Dollar Store. (I also purchased 20 other things at Dollar Store that I'm not copping to right now. It's either going to be EPIC, or one of the worst ideas I've ever had. Stay tuned? Lol. )
Right??? Doesn't it look fabulous? I could never have done it without my mom. She's game for anything, and makes everything more fun. :) She has, however, insisted that I never buy pencils or pens again. So I'm going to have to start smuggling those into the building. Ha!
Maintain
I think to the naked eye, there's nothing that different about my room. Everything that is new is behind cupboard doors. Really the only visual of my previous organizing "strategy" was my desk area (which, I concede was A LOT). But it feels different. It feels lighter, and easier in E-3. That coupled, with some fresh energy from some classes I took this summer makes me SO EXCITED about tomorrow. I can't remember the last time I was this excited to start school. I mean, I love my job, but summer is hard to say goodbye to, and there's always a little sadness at seeing the end of August come rolling around. But this year, I can't wait! I feel like #25 is going to be a great one. :)
