Resource Room Reorganization (Or, How I Got My Evaluator to Use an Emoticon in an Email to Me)

There are three special education/resource teachers at my high school. Our offices are attached to the Resource Room, and we take turns teaching a section of a study skills/study hall type class. We also co-teach a couple classes each.

The Resource Room doesn't have a ton of resources--no pens or pencils, a couple random copies of textbooks, 8 sloooooooow computers (for 25 students), no printer, no binder paper, etc.  The teachers at this school don't maintain websites, and though the Educational Assistants push-in to gen ed classes, there's no way to share information and homework assignments.

Even though there are a lot of things we don't have, we do have a very collaborative little group. One guy requested a big whiteboard for our room--done. We're now putting assignments on it (when we find out about them).

We also designated a drawer for each section of study hall. When teachers drop off tests or assignments, we have a place to organize them now. Also, students have their own study hall folders with graphic organizers, rubrics, and other things we thought they might find useful. It's helped establish a routine. They're responding to the structure, even though they still groan about mini lessons.

Lastly, we added some milk crates to the back of the room with sections for each academic teacher. When Educational Assistants take notes or get copies of assignments, they can drop them here. It's a work in progress, but it's better than nothing!

I sent out an all staff email with these pictures, and the response has been very positive. We already have more teachers sharing materials and Educational Assistants copying their notes. Best part was, my evaluator replied to my email with a "great job" and a smiley face... this from a very articulate, serious man. Woo hoo!

What kinds of things changes have you put in your resource/ special education classroom? How do you keep all the curriculum organized?

Ms. B.