My perfectionist-self must go. The battle of the boards.

Yeah yeah, I'm a perfectionist. It's the perfect answer to the question "what is your biggest weakness?" But that is exactly what it is, a weakness.

I got to my classroom at about noon today and expected to be there for a few hours, until maybe three. The thing is, when I start working on my room I lose track of time. This is partially due to the fact that there is no clock in my room. Time stands still. Well, at least until I look at my phone and realize that I have been working on ONE bulletin board for 5 hours. I was actually asked to leave my school today- by the janitor because he wanted to lock up. My perfectionist-self has taken over this week. This room is what I am going to be looking at day in and day out for 9 months. It has to be pretty, it has to be colorful, and chances are, I'm going to be sick of it in a few weeks.

Hopefully I will not get sick of this bulletin board... (I also need a saying of some sort to put above it. Something along the lines of Collegiate and race or College Bound. I'm really struggling with that so any help with ideas would be much appreciated!)

The 5 hour bulletin board we shall call it. This bulletin board features 6 of my favorite conference's 10, er... 11 teams. I am aware that these colleges will be pretty much completely unknown, and perhaps irrelevant to my students. They know U T, A&M, U of H, Rice etc. But I grew up with the Big Ten, and I want them to get a glimpse into my life, so I will steer clear of the colleges they know and have them branch out, while I cling on to the Big Ten.

I have 6 classes. The folders I got are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, so, naturally, I needed colleges that went with those colors. I picked Wisconsin over Ohio State for the red school because, well, OSU tended to beat U of I a lot (minus our rose bowl year!), and Iowa over Michigan for the yellow college, That choice was easy, because Michigan's color is not yellow, it's maize (we call it corn). There was no gold, crimson, or maroon, so Purdue, Indiana, and Minnesota were left out. So, my classes are going to by 1st period: Wisconsin, 2nd: Illinois, 3rd: Iowa, 4th: MSU, 5th: Penn St, and 6th: Northwestern. They will all be competing against each other every week based on behavior and assessment scores in order to win a "friday prize." I am very pleased with the outcome of this board, but I will be the first to admit that it took me WAY too long. (If for any reason anyone needs the big ten logos drawn, I better be the first one you call.)

I had endless amounts of fun drawing the logos, and making the pendants. Not to mention the laminating. The little things in life that bring joy-the laminating machine is pretty high up on that list. Right after chocolate, and right before cotton candy. But I look at this board, and I see something that I am very proud of, and something the kids will probably care less about. Let me tell you, that is a royal bummer. It is my goal to get them excited about college though, so maybe, in turn, I will get them excited about the 5 hour board.

Tomorrow I'm taking a shot at the bulletin board in the back of the room that is twice as big. I'm seriously praying that it doesn't take me 10 hours.


Forever yours,

ms. s