Introduction

I’m Lauren and I have been a special education teacher for 18 years. I teach students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in a self-contained program at a large suburban public high school. I’m excited to show off my classroom!

 

Classroom Tour

Our classrooms were totally remodeled a few years ago, so I took the opportunity to get rid of a lot of old stuff and really think about how I wanted my room to be set up. I was able to request some specific items from the regular furniture that every classroom gets, like this mixture of desks and tables with whiteboard tops. My students who need more space to spread out or who need an adult to sit next to them sit at the tables. I got the drawers under the desks from my Amazon wish list. They stick on and make a great place to stash supplies, like the dry-erase markers that we use all the time to write on the desks. Instead of asking parents individually for school supplies at the beginning of the year, I share a wish list and include things like these drawers and other items for the classroom.

I need to keep my room open because I have a student who uses a power wheelchair. In the future, I’d like to try breaking it up into smaller spaces or areas for different activities. Since it is so wide open, I think it’s important to keep it visually calming. I just got these light covers on Amazon, and I am obsessed with them! I don’t mind spending a bit of my own money to make my classroom look nice, since I am there about as often as I’m at my own house. 

I always find things for free or cheap though. I love thrift stores and Facebook sale groups. Sellers have given me things for free when I mention that it is for my special education classroom, like these gently used saucer chairs. I also bring things in from home when I redecorate, like this rag rug, salt lamp, pink plastic drawers, and macrame wall hanging. Most of the toys and games on the shelf are things that my own kids have grown out of or that I picked up very inexpensively at yard sales and secondhand shops. 

These two big metal cabinets were provided by the school, and they have our work bins inside. There’s space for 18 bins that I fill with different tasks that the students can do relatively independently. This little corner also has our classroom library, some plants to care for, my personal collection of Mold-A-Ramas from our field trips to Chicagoland museums, and the disability pride flag. We are reading Rolling Warrior right now and learning all about disability advocacy. One of the tricky things about this room is that there are two doors. It’s nice sometimes, but most of the time I block the door with this handy rolling whiteboard. Finally, this picture shows the window cling film that I put on the bottom of all of the windows. I’m on the first floor and my windows look out to where the buses pull up at the end of the day. The window film obstructs the distraction of the buses and makes a nice rainbow effect on the walls and floor when the sun shines through!

I made some photo collages of former students to hang by my desk, including a frame full of photos of a student who passed away a few years ago. My desk does not always look this neat, but I try to keep my stuff tucked away in drawers and bins. The sunlight was from the clearance section at Hobby Lobby and is surprisingly bright! 

 My one bulletin board has our vocabulary for math and reading – I alternate between Unique Learning System and Readtopia units – and the weekly News 2 You articles. My students like to take turns changing the color of the LED strip lights around the edges of the bulletin board. I have small binder clips push-pinned to the board. I hang papers up with the binder clips. I think it looks neater, and this way I am not removing and putting back in push pins over and over.

I love these little three-tier rolling carts. I’ve collected them over the years from a few different places. I use one for reading supplies, one for math supplies, and one for writing supplies. I don’t have enough tables to have a dedicated teacher table or to have stations, so when it is time for small groups I just gather the kids that I need to work with and roll the cart to wherever we want to sit and work.

Here is our kitchenette. We have a microwave, air fryer/toaster oven, coffee maker, and a few other small appliances in the cabinets. There’s a stove/oven and laundry in one of the other classrooms when we need them. I asked for this round table and got these stools from the dollar store to make a little eating area. Some of my students and paraprofessionals have lunch here, and we also use this area for socializing and taking breaks. We take community outings to the grocery store to buy healthy snacks and have “snack time” each afternoon. Above the fridge are some old projects from an adapted art class that I co-teach.

Thanks for letting me show off my room! I get a lot of compliments on it and people tell me that they like the “vibe”. This job can be very stressful, so it feels good to have a calm, organized, pleasant space.