Decorating a room - possibly ‘window-dressing’ - is nice, but it is not essential. I write this from the benefit of hindsight, being 17 years down the track from a beginner teacher, with most of my time spent in junior classrooms.
NZ public schools seem to be run on a ‘shoestring budget’ and a roll growth position seems to exemplify the worst-case scenario - empty rooms or a room with all the unwanted or tatty furniture and a lack of manipulatives or play equipment.
Lessons learned the hard - expensive - way
With my first classroom, and to a degree each subsequent one afterwards, I ‘spent up large’ on setting up my room.
I cleaned every reachable surface and even washed and repaired the curtains! I bought a slim couch and floor cushions for the reading corner, a sheepskin rug for my teacher’s chair, and a lockable filing cabinet for my own camera and stereo (being extra cautious after having some of my possessions stolen during my final practicum!)
Yes, I supplied my own electronic resources, apart from a laptop. Yes, the couch was not essential, but the colourful covering and matching cushions said to my Y5/6 class “I care about you and want this space to be comfortable for you as well as for me.”
When I switched to new entrants, my wishlist and expenses grew: wooden blocks, puzzles, Duplo, stencils, stamps, bug catchers, magnifying glasses, boxed games, puppets, alphabet friezes, crayon pots, storage baskets and shelves etc, etc, etc…….
Occasionally, the junior team redistributed their ‘spare’ resources and sometimes I got to buy new boxed games paid for by the school. But overall, if I hadn’t paid for some of these things, the students would have missed out.
So I drew a line at making my classroom ‘extra pretty’ or themed. Luckily, this was before the Pinterest era and I didn’t suffer from room envy. I never bought a roll of wall decals but I did buy a pot plant, and only one of them, not a ‘2022 collection’.
So, you get a bit of an idea about my values - if it was usable by the students or me, and supplemented my lessons, I did it; if it was just to look nice, I tried to avoid it. Nevertheless, I spent LOTS of my own money.
Low-cost tips for new teachers setting up new rooms
Now to the present, with hindsight, what do I recommend to new teachers:
Double-check your school budget for allowances for furniture e.g. correct height desks, office chair (in working order!), filing cabinet and a storage cupboard or shelf. You shouldn’t have to pay for these yourself, as I did. Also, these are an extra burden if you have to move schools, as you are likely to be doubly burdened with only a ‘fixed term contract’.
Double-check your allowance for art supplies and teacher’s consumables (pens, sticky notes, staples, clips, tape, velcro, and magnetic tape etc)
Ask your school if they have a team ‘Twinkl’ account, or similar. These can be shared by a group of teachers and saves on having a personal account.
Go environmentally-friendly by reducing new plastic purchases and make your tabletop pencil pots from tin cans (get your students to help decorate them) or reuse ice cream containers and the like. Storage boxes can also be made from recycled cardboard boxes, especially heavy-duty fruit boxes or wine boxes. Readymade cardboard magazine boxes are planet-friendly options, too.
Reduce laminating by investing in reusable heavy-duty, see-through plastic L pockets, for tucking in different worksheets for students to write over with whiteboard pens. These also wipe clean more easily than most whiteboards.
(If you dislike whiteboard pens, investigate chinograph or potter’s pencils.)
Rather than laminating all your kids’ name cards, word cards, or labels for wall displays, visit your local commercial printers and ask for any cardstock offcuts. They will often give these away for free.
Reflective teaching trumps ‘niceties’: Invest in teaching knowledge and practice
After doing the basic organising and tidying in your room, I highly recommend you invest your time and your money in upskilling yourself in how to teach reading and writing because, unless you have been fortunate to go to a Science of Reading aligned undergraduate university, it is likely you have lots of questions you need answering about:
“How the heck do I actually teach kids to read and write?”
Fortunately, there is a warm and welcoming worldwide community of teachers who are helping other teachers to plug this knowledge gap, about what we think we know and what we need to know.
Here’s some friendly signposts to help you on your teaching journey, as picked by me, Miss Anon :)
Science of Reading resources (a.k.a Structured Literacy)
Highly recommended VERY SHORT video:
**UFLI: ‘What is the Science of Reading?’** This brief video provides an overview of the science of reading and the different bodies of research that contribute to it. About 6m long
Best easy-to-read Australasian-based summary:
Learning with Mr Lee, summarised for ease of reading for busy teachers by an Australian classroom teacher and school leader. https://www.learnwithlee.net/what-does-the-science-of-reading-actually-look-like-in-the-classroom/
Best video series for new entrant teachers:
Nat’s Foundation Year 2022 (by Natalie Campbell of Mossman Park Primary in Perth; Nat is a leading SoR facilitator in Australia and one of the admins of the Reading Science in Schools facebook page.) Very inspirational!
Here is a link to her ‘unlisted’ Youtube vlog: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBO8wRQx3gSZ1kyaqcbwY9H5G4gFjKztu
Favourite teaching resource sites, many FREE:
Spelfabet, especially Alison Clarke’s FREE stuff and advice, AND low-cost embedded mnemonic alphabet
Sound Foundations for Literacy by Emma Nahna (NZ speech sounds video, sound wall, mouth cards, free PA assessment sheets)
Tiny Steps Make Big Strides, by Clare Wood, (an associate of Natalie Campbell), fun and practical early literacy resources, some free, some paid:
The Literacy Nest - by Emily Gibbons (Orton-Gillingham aligned blog and resources, some free)
The Measured Mom by Anna Geiger (Orton-Gillingham aligned blog and resources, some free)
University of Florida Literacy Institute, a.k.a UFLI, including digital blending boards for use on classroom TVs or for online teaching.
Florida Centre for Reading Research, a.k.a FCRR, including printable games for rotations
https://fcrr.org/student-center-activities/teacher-resource-guide
Reading Rockets, a long-established not-for-profit site packed with up-to-date information on teaching literacy:
Letters and Sounds resources - a SSP/Systematic Synthetic Phonics approach https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20110814193035/http://nsonline.org.uk/search/primary/results/nav:46003 Free teaching manual.
https://letters-and-sounds.com/ Free resources
Twinkl - Letters and Sounds resources via a subscription https://www.twinkl.co.nz/resources/literacy/literacy-phonics/letters-and-sounds
Local community learning groups a.k.a help groups!
Have a question, just ask and it will be answered!
NZ Teachers - Structured Literacy and Using Decodable Texts
**Highly recommended - has a large Google drive of shared resources**
Structured Literacy - Auckland
Dyslexia NZ Evidence Based (deb) Support Group (facebook)
or www.deb.co.nz This was launched in early 2022 and is packed with helpful resources for parents and teachers.
**Highly recommended - has a large website of shared resources **
Structured Literacy and The Science of Writing
https://www.facebook.com/groups/structuredliteracyandscienceofwriting
Top Australian sites/Australasian membership base:
Reading Science in Schools
**Highly recommended - has a large Google drive of shared resources **
On the Science of Reading Bus (Jocelyn Seamer Education)
Other NZ specific sites:
Inclusive education guides - Ministry of Education endorsed practices - aka The Dyslexia Kete -
Education Hub and Massey University’s: ‘Practice: Early Literacy in the classroom’, includes videos, just released in late May 2022.
More collated lists:
25+ Science of Reading Resources: Lots of further links, not all checked out though, but from a highly reputable cognitive scientist.
https://www.lynnekenney.com/post/25-science-of-reading-resources
Highly recommended videos:
**UFLI: ‘What is the Science of Reading?’ ** (As mentioned above.) This brief video provides an overview of the science of reading and the different bodies of research that contribute to it. About 6m long
**Cortex in the Classroom: Advancing the Science of Reading in the Early Years - By Carolyn Strom ** This Amplify webinar explains the Science of Reading brain science in a very easy-to-understand way. Highly recommended, one to save for future reference and for sharing with others. About 1 hour long.
Leap into Literacy, lockdown literacy learning tips for families (and teachers) posted by Ideal/Learning Matters consultants in 2021:
Structured Literacy advocacy, working for systemic change in NZ classrooms:
Lifting Literacy Aotearoa
Includes case studies from schools that have made the switch to SL.
…………………….
Hope you find this helpful or, at least some of it, a tiny step on your journey to becoming a more evidence-based, reflective teacher. :)
Welcome to the profession!
Nga Mihi,
Miss Anon
