hogwarts in high school

     Back-to-school is my second favorite time of year, only behind Christmas. I'm obsessed with school supplies, planners (please do yourself a favor and buy Plum Paper; it will change your life), every aspect of a new school year. This is my 8th year in the classroom (how is that even possible?), and I will be in a new school system much closer to home. I feel that a teacher's classroom should be an extension of himself and that he must be comfortable in it if the year is to be successful. One thing my students say about my class is that it's always organized; I have been diagnosed as obsessive compulsive, so it certainly makes sense. In my career, I've had a road sign theme, red & black, a beach (someone in her infinite wisdom had painted the walls to resemble sand and sky, I kid you not), but I wanted something quintessentially me this year, so I decided to do a Harry Potter theme. Something else you should know is that if I'm going to go, I'm going to go all out. I'm very much a details man, so I had to include all of the smallest specifics in my scheme. Also creds to my awesome wife for this blog title today! #alliterationalways She also gets creds for suggesting an HP theme.

     One of the first things I did was download some HP fonts (book cover and chapter titles) for making some signs. I love labels for everything (and I mean everything), so I downloaded some HP-themed logos like the deathly hallows, the lightning bolt, the snitch, the sorting hat, character likenesses, etc. to use as my backdrops for the signs. I will be teaching 3 preps, so color coding is key. Everything relating to Algebra A is red, Algebra 1 is blue, & Geometry is green for clarity. 

Learning Targets, Bell Ringers, Homework, Assessments for each class.

I downloaded a fabulous HP sign kit from Printyca at etsy to use as signs around the room just for fun. I also found some fun Potter-related quotes to hang up. 

These signs were such high-quality & worth every penny!

I even made my rules resemble the educational decrees found in HP & Order of Phoenix - down to the minutiae at the bottom. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't make some of these on your own - seriously this was all in MS Word.

I think Delores would be pleased.

     I'm an organizational fanatic. Some things that I've found helpful are having a definite make-up work system in place - somewhere where your students know exactly where to look to find out what they missed and don't have to ask you "Did I miss anything yesterday?" (Insert angry cat stare.) Eat Write Teach has an excellent template that I've adapted for the day-to-day information from class - objectives, bell ringers, homework, etc. - with an entire week using 1 sheet of paper. I used the template last year and was very pleased; I tweaked it a bit more to make it better suit my needs for the next year, and I think that I will like it more. I also employ a partial-credit-for-late-work system in my classroom to allow students to still recover points if they forget an assignment or were just overwhelmed a couple of times during the semester. Again, EWT has a handy form to use for this purpose. If a student does not have an assignment when I call for it, he must complete this form and turn it in to me; he then has up to 2 days to turn it in for partial credit (-20% each day for me). When I collect these, I immediately highlight that square in my gradebook and enter a 0 in the computer; I will change this when I get the completed assignment. For the naysayers (of whom I was one for the first six years of my career), I saw a marked increase in homework completion by using this system. I also have a tardy book in which students sign in if they do not report to class on time; I include a classroom management profile and parent contact log on the back of each student's record for convenience. I keep all of these items on a table right upon entering my classroom so students have the major things as soon as they walk in the door. 

The make-up folder is an edited History of Magic cover (so proud!) and the tardy binder is the Time Turner Tardy Log. The tissues are covering a hole in the table! The partial credit forms are in the yellow folder.

     My desk area is my haven. Every year, I tell my students that I don't go pilfering in their lockers, so they don't pilfer in my desk. A healthy dose of evil eye accentuates this point. My computer is right by my desk so on the rare occasions that I am able to enter in a grade or respond to an email, my back isn't to the students. My filing cabinet is in the same corner.

Desk area looking from student desks. Yes, It is catty wompus this year! I had a revelation!

Desk area looking from back of room.

Desk organizer from Staples. I bought this while I was still in college because I was that obsessed with it. It will change your life!

My desk organizer is essentially how I stay sane. It has everything I would need throughout the day - hall passes, tardy book forms, make-up book forms, completed yellow sheets, that random page of information that I was handed at the faculty meeting that someone will invariably ask me for next week. Sometimes I just look at it and weep tears of joy. I also have a teaching podium / center in the opposite back corner where my document camera goes and where I will do demonstration from; the hookup to my projector is on that side, and I like the idea of having my main view coming from the back of the room.

My fantastic FIL made me this podium, complete with chalkboard painted sides with an updated Quote of the Week. And my unofficially official hashtag!

     No HP room is complete without a House Cup in my humble opinion. So I devised a system in which my students can earn points for the entire house by not having tardies, making B or higher on an assessment, asking good questions, etc. They can also lose points based on the number of missed homeworks within their house for the week, having a certain number of tardies, discipline infractions, etc. On day 1, students will be sorted (via M&M's in a brown bag), and they will stay in that house throughout the year. They will compete across all 6 of my classes for a to-be-determined prize. I found some superhero masks at the teacher supply store that I will put below each house on the wall and write the students' names on so that they know who they are competing with and against.

House Cup & points system.

Characteristics of each house & crest.

Another view. There is a dry-erase board with each house for tallying points. The masks will be below each house description.

I found the house descriptions here, and I am obsessed with the bold, easy graphic quality of them. For the crests, I just google searched and found a set that I liked. Cutting them twice (yay lamination!) was more fun than a root canal.

     I recently discovered the fun and joy of QR codes in my classroom, and I can't believe it's taken me this long to start using them. Anyone with a QR reader app on a smartphone can save my contact information, sign up for Remind text alerts, or join my Schoology group. I added the codes for these directly in my syllabus that will go home to students & parents in addition to making posters with them to hang in my classroom. I love that I could create a contact card with one and students can send the remind text with another. These are also life-changing.

Each QR code is of course color coded, and the Schoology is a different font than the Remind.

     My beloved is also a teacher, and we love having summers together. I am fortunate enough that she helps me set up my classroom each year. She brings the creativity that I sometimes lack and is my sounding board for "Is this bulletin board too much?" We were able to get my entire classroom set up and organized today, and I know she is happy to finally have her sewing room back now that my school goods are out of there! I pretty much have to run copies, hang the curtains that we washed tonight, and get my rosters together and I am ready to go. 

My closet (complete with a filing cabinet that I'm hoping someone will claim so it can be taken from my inventory & clear up more closet space). 

House Rules bulletin board with the calendar posted. 

I always post a tutoring schedule for the week so I don't have to answer the question "Are you having tutoring this afternoon?" The contact info QR code is below it. Both of these are right inside the classroom.

Themed paper heading posted above my board so I don't have to answer "What do you want our heading to look like?" 8 zillion times.

I used some Target Dollar Spot washi-esque tape to divide each subject area into its area on the board. The topper has the subject (with glasses & lightning bolt logo), and each area has the Learning Targets (deathly hallows), Bell Ringer (lightning), & Homework (sorting hat).

Golden snitch assessment markers to add to the calendar. I used mahvalous tape so I could easily move them. The stuff lives up to its name.

I'm going to use this cool mirror as a dry erase area in some way. I printed a Mirror of Erised quote to hang on it & will put it on an easel once I get it from my MIL; apparently the life-span on an easel is 7 years. RIP Easel.

Student supply area with red pens (Ron), Expo marker (Hermione), & Expo board (Harry) labels. I found an illustration of the characters that I really liked and did a screen grab of the individual characters to make the labels. Ron got the red pens because ginger!

Math posters on the back wall because apparently I'm supposed to teach something beyond witchcraft.

     If I didn't post a link to something that you see and want a copy of my MS Word file that you can edit (you'll need to have one of the fonts I mentioned earlier), just shoot me an email and I'll be happy to pass that along. I pray that each of you has a fantastic school year! I'm ready for the GREATEST school year yet. It's a great day to be a Warrior! 

     P.S. I couldn't add captions to the next photo set...maybe blogger was getting tired of me? I've included some of the signs that I posted, my student tutoring / supply area, my favorite "Our house elves are on strike. You will have to clean up your own mess until further notice." sign, a Platform 9 3/4 label above my room number, and some wide shots of the classroom (sneaked one of my hottie helper!).