The Return of the Nerdy Teacher

It's that time of year again. The sun is shining, the buses are running, the children are grumbling. Yep, school is back in session. Now, some things have changed--the students, a few teachers and staff members. And some things have not changed. Like my classroom.

If you haven't been a long follower of my blog (or if you're not a follower at all and just dropped in for a casual look-see), then you probably haven't seen my epic post from last August about my awesome classroom theme. If you wish for some context, click here and you will be caught up (and fully aware of how incredibly amazing my classroom was and still is). If you don't want any context, that's okay. All you really need to know is that I'm a nerd, and my classroom is equally nerdy. I have a hobbit hole on my door, an outline of the Fellowship on my reading board, and leaves of Lorien as nameplates.

I've kept some things the same, but I've added a lot of fun, new nerdy things to my decor. For example:

 A poster from The Desolation of Smaug to add to my poster from An Unexpected Journey.

 The White Tree of Gondor to help students find their desks with their numbers (rather than name-tags).

 The One Ring with Elvish script on our drawers...

 and without scrip for our hooks.

 Then add a mini-Thorin and Legolas to keep me company during long grading sessions.

And a Gandalf's staff pen for grading. Whenever I grade a test with this, I can't help thinking, You shall not pass!

I've added some other nerdy items, too, like my paper-mache Sorting Hat.

And my Star Wars pencil box and post-it notes.

And you can't forget the Man of Steel (right next to even minier Thorin and teeny-tiny Bilbo), who also makes an appearance on my Super cool bus cards. 

Now, some of you may ask what the point is of all this. I mean, most fourth graders haven't seen Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, they have never seen any of the Superman movies, and only some of them have read Harry Potter. Don't you think they won't get anything out of it?

Well, I disagree. Our district theme is this year is "Making your Mark," and we are supposed to find a way to make our mark on our students. If the kiddos who come into my room learn only one thing (which hopefully, they learn more than one thing), I want them to learn to embrace who they are. I don't want them to ever feel like they have to hide the things they enjoy. So what that I'm a twenty-something who still likes to watch Disney movies? So what that in middle school, I read more Star Wars than Gossip Girl? So what that I'm more than slightly obsessed with Tolkien? Those are the things that make me who I am. I want each and every kid to feel free to express themselves in whatever (healthy) way they can. Maybe I'm dreaming of a perfect world, where kids won't get made fun of for being themselves...where they won't see being called a "nerd" or a "geek" as being a bad thing. If the only place that perfect world exists is classroom 207 at Iroquois West Upper Elementary, then so be it. 

But they will all feel that safe in my room. 

That's how I'm making my mark on the future. How are you making yours?

Stay gold!