186 | Getting Ready for a (Classroom) Move - HD 1080p
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[00:00:00] Bryson Tarbet: Whether you're retiring, finding a new district, or getting a new classroom, packing up your classroom can be a lot. Today we're gonna be talking about how we can make it a little bit simpler so you can enjoy whatever time left you have in that space. You are listening to that music podcast with Bryson Tart, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind that music teacher in the elementary music summit.
[00:00:25] Bryson Tarbet: Each week, Bryson and his guests will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher and how music can truly be transformative in the lives of the students you serve. Show notes and resources mentioned in this episode. Can be [email protected].
[00:00:48] Bryson Tarbet: Hello and welcome back to that music podcast. Today we're gonna be talking about some tips and tricks to keep the chaos to a minimum, at least when we are packing up a classroom. So maybe you're [00:01:00] moving classrooms, maybe you're going to a new school, a new district, maybe you're leaving, teaching, retiring, whatever.
[00:01:05] Bryson Tarbet: The, the answer is you are, you know, regardless of of what categories you fall into, you're gonna have to figure out where your stuff goes and what's your stuff, what's your school stuff, and all the fun stuff in between. So let's go ahead and dive right in. The first tip I have for you is actually one that even if you're not leaving teaching or have any intention of leaving your classroom or whatever.
[00:01:27] Bryson Tarbet: Start doing this now, which is whenever you bring anything into your classroom that you bought with your own personal money, make sure it has your name on it. On the other side of that, whenever anything new is added to your classroom, that your district or your school is paid for. Label it that way as well.
[00:01:43] Bryson Tarbet: Um, so I had like a roll of stickers, like little labels essentially that had my elementary school's name on it and my middle school's name on it. And wherever it, you know, if, if the the district paid for anything, I would put that sticker on it. Um, because I wanted to make it abundantly clear of. What was my property and what was my school's property?[00:02:00]
[00:02:00] Bryson Tarbet: So that's the first thing to do, is figure out what is your property and what is your school's property? And also, obviously, depending on why you're moving, you will need to be more aware of this or not. If you are, for instance, if you're, they're tearing down your old school and you're just moving everything over to the new school, this really isn't gonna matter, right?
[00:02:16] Bryson Tarbet: You, everything's, everything's going anyway, right? Um, so this isn't necessarily where you need to sort that. Um, but if you're leaving, going to a new district or you're retiring or anything like that, you're gonna need to be aware of. Of what is your property and what is your dis district's property or what you're gonna leave behind.
[00:02:30] Bryson Tarbet: Now, if you have the opportunity to take some time and process all of this, um, this is gonna be really helpful. But I know sometimes there's different ways where, you know, you, you just got a new job, you didn't know you were gonna have to do it, and you have like a week to move everything. Uh, but if for whatever reason, you know, at the end of the new, the school year, you're gonna have a new building, uh, you know, they're tearing down the old one or you're retiring, um, that's where you go at kinda as you go through the year.
[00:02:53] Bryson Tarbet: Get rid of, give away, donate whatever things that you are not, do not see yourself kind of wanting to keep with [00:03:00] you. Um, so kind of re give them, rehome them, right? Um, now obviously that isn't gonna work for most of us. That's not gonna be how most of us are moving in classrooms or the reasoning behind it.
[00:03:09] Bryson Tarbet: Um, but if you're in that situation, that could make it a little bit easier in yourself. So let's say for the vast majority of us, we have a very short window of I'm leaving and I need to get my stuff out, right? So once you've identified what is yours and what is not yours, um, then we need to start packing up the things that are yours.
[00:03:29] Bryson Tarbet: Now, I highly encourage you keep the system that I'm going to follow, you know, kind of go through today, but the answer really is whatever system works for you, especially if, if you're someone that. That moves like homes often or has that a lot. Um, you probably have a system that you've kind of enjoyed or one, maybe not enjoy is the wrong word, but one that you've kind of made your own that works.
[00:03:49] Bryson Tarbet: What I would recommend is that you use what you already have to your benefit, which is likely, you know, where most. Things in your classroom belong. So for instance, if I was going into my [00:04:00] classroom and I know that I wanted to get, um, a specific puppet or manipulative or book, there is a space in my classroom where those things lived and that is what I recommend.
[00:04:09] Bryson Tarbet: You do basically a one-to-one transfer as you are packing. So I got. A bunch of these big rubber tubs, or I guess plastic, like rubber made tubs, um, that were really big. They had lids. They all matched, they could all easily stack when they were empty. Um, and those are what I use as my main packing foundation, I guess.
[00:04:29] Bryson Tarbet: So what did I do? I literally labeled them as if I was going to be looking for them later on in the fu like in my classroom. So if I knew that my fir, my one cabinet was all full of manipulatives and things like that. My, my box literally just says manipulatives because I know that that would be where I would look for those, that that stuff, and that made it really easy because I just bring the box over to that cabinet and start putting things from that cabinet into a.
[00:04:56] Bryson Tarbet: That new box. Now this works even better for, you know, [00:05:00] there was a, a table or I guess a counter underneath my windows in my classroom and that's where I kept a lot of, of a large assortment of different things. You know, some of them were manipulative, some of them were song, um, lyric cards and things like that.
[00:05:12] Bryson Tarbet: So I literally labeled one of my boxes under the window because I know that in my brain I have a higher likelihood of remembering that, oh, those used to be under my window than, alright, where did I end up putting this, this time around? So I put it in that box so that I could find it a little bit easier.
[00:05:28] Bryson Tarbet: Speaking of boxes, um, make sure you're labeling them l large in ways that are easy to read and easy to see from a distance. So really big letters, you know, under the window or manipulatives or picture books or whatever in there so that you can kind of do an at a glance as you are. Are packing also little pro tip.
[00:05:51] Bryson Tarbet: Use it on the same side of the box. So always have it on the big side of the box, but also like the side, um, so like two different sides in a 90 degree angle. So that depending on which [00:06:00] side of the box you're on, you're able to see it. And if you're moving in a place where these are basically gonna go right back into school, um, especially if you're staying within the same district, um, just put your name on it, you know, target music room, or you know, if you're, if you're going from one room to another and you already know what that room is, you know, target.
[00:06:17] Bryson Tarbet: Two room two 13 or whatever. Um, so kinda label that on that. So everything gets. Delivered, or even if you're the one doing delivery ends up where it belongs. Um, you can do this like writing directly on the box. You can have it printed on a piece of paper, whatever. Um, but my, I encourage you to make it so that you can visually see it, um, very easily.
[00:06:36] Bryson Tarbet: So once I have all these things in the boxes, again, I have them box based on where they would be in my classroom. Um. I just started making a pile, right? Taking these boxes. What I like about them is that they stacked really neat neatly, um, and I was able to bring those into, kind of start building them into a corner of my classroom while I emptied out everything else.
[00:06:55] Bryson Tarbet: Now, here is the part that can get a little tricky. Um, and I say [00:07:00] this looking around, noticing that I have an entire classroom of stuff just hanging out in my basement with me right now. Um, which is try to have a plan of where this stuff is going to go. I am about seven months out as to time of recording this from when I moved outta my classroom and I have still not figured out what I'm trying to do to organize all the stuff that was in my classroom that's now in my home.
[00:07:22] Bryson Tarbet: Um, if you're going into, you know, from one classroom to the next, that could be easier because you're bringing it right? You know, you're not even bringing it home. But there's a high likelihood that you're gonna be bringing it home at least for a little bit before you move into another space. Uh, so just be aware of that.
[00:07:35] Bryson Tarbet: Be aware that it's gonna be a lot of stuff and you're, it's probably gonna make it a little harder for you to find anything. So if there's anything that you think you'll need before you move into your new space, make sure you put those in very specific areas or label them accordingly so that you can find them.
[00:07:49] Bryson Tarbet: Now, other than the logistics of just like packing stuff up. Let's talk a little bit about communicating with your outgoing school and then potentially an inbound school. So first of all, you wanna make sure that [00:08:00] you're following all the rules, right? If you have to be out by a certain day and have your your keys turned in, you need to make sure that you are so, work with your administration.
[00:08:08] Bryson Tarbet: Say, Hey, like. When do I need to turn in my keys? Uh, when do I have to be out? You know, how's that going? You know, how's that gonna work? Uh, and if you're going into a new school, double check and be like, Hey, are they waxing the floors? Like, when do you think I'll be able, you know, when am I getting able to get my key, um, when am I gonna be able to move in?
[00:08:23] Bryson Tarbet: Um, because every district, every school is different. Um, and sometimes even if for whatever reason, like, you know, you're not allowed to move into your classroom until this date, if you're a new teacher and you talk to your admin and be like, Hey, any chance we could get in here a little earlier just to like drop stuff off?
[00:08:35] Bryson Tarbet: At least. Um, you might be able to get a little bit of flexibility in that way. Here comes the fun part, which is when you have a new classroom, you have a new space, and there will be times where you are going to kind of throw away your old organizational system out. But I think it's also good for us to keep within what we already know, at least until we get, get started.
[00:08:56] Bryson Tarbet: Um, for instance, you know, in my classroom, like I said, I had all of those things that were [00:09:00] underneath my window. Um. If I don't have a window in a new classroom, obviously I'm not gonna put them under a window, but I'm, I, I wanna keep them. All those things, they, those things close to each other so that at least if I'm like, oh, hey, I think I have this in my old classroom, it would've been here.
[00:09:15] Bryson Tarbet: At least you have an idea of where to look. Well, in this classroom, hey, I moved 'em over into this cabinet, right? So we're at least we're able to start kind of. Give yourself a map that you can follow to find these things so that you're not having to reinvent the wheel or accidentally buy things you already have or just can't find anything that you know you have and you're like, did I lose it in the move?
[00:09:32] Bryson Tarbet: Where is it? Um, so just kind of make that you're a little bit simpler on yourself. This last part, honestly, like I'm, I'm kind of struggling recording a little bit, um, which is prepare yourself emotionally to leave that room, whether or not it was your perfect job or you enjoyed every moment of it. That was where you, that was your space for a long time.
[00:09:53] Bryson Tarbet: You know, even if it was just a year, like that's, that's a long time. You know, when I left my classroom, I, um, [00:10:00] I don't know, there's a lot of memories in there. You know, the deer jumping through the window and jumping out another window. Um, I can't even make it up. Rural school problems. Right. You know, teaching during COVID, you know, when the air condition went out, we're all high and, you know, are, we know it just.
[00:10:15] Bryson Tarbet: Think about those times, take a moment and kind of process that, because I think it's important for us to, even if we're leaving on not so great terms, um, which is not my case, just to be clear. Um, but even if we're, we're leaving on, on terms that aren't necessarily our decision or our what we would've, what we would've done if we were in charge, I, I think that it's important for us to kind of.
[00:10:39] Bryson Tarbet: Just be aware that this is an emotionally charged thing. Moving, moving sucks. And even, even if you're just moving down the, the hallway, right? Like that, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a stressful process and especially if you're leaving that school or you know, leaving or retiring or something, that there's gonna be a lot of emotions that are, that are charged [00:11:00] in this whole experience of moving out.
[00:11:02] Bryson Tarbet: And I think it's important for us to give ourselves some time to be aware of that. You know, I, I, I, I, I, we, I'll be honest, like I said, I've been out of the classroom for about seven months to the point where I'm recording this and I'm, it's been a great experience and I, I don't regret it in the slightest, but just thinking about that room and the emotions that were going through my mind when I, when I lock the door for the last time, um, they're still a little heavy because I.
[00:11:30] Bryson Tarbet: I loved what I got to do and I loved the, the space that I got to do it in and with the kids that I got to do it with. And I think that's something that, give yourself a moment, process that, um, and be thankful for it. So whether you're moving this year or you're just listening, just in case, I hope that you have gained some insight to help you make this a little bit more of a, a process that doesn't have to be as chaotic as possible.
[00:11:54] Bryson Tarbet: Like, I know it's gonna be chaos, but like, see if we can make it a little bit more organized. Um, I hope that we've been able to get some tips to make [00:12:00] it a little bit easier, at least. Um. So if you haven't left us a review on iTunes or YouTube or Spotify or wherever you're joining us from, um, it would mean the world to us.
[00:12:08] Bryson Tarbet: If you were to leave us a five star review, um, let us know what types of episodes you're looking for. What types of topics do you want us to revisit, because now we have, you know, hundreds of episodes in the archive that we're, we can go back and kind of touch on again. Um. But it also helps us get in front of new teachers just like you, um, when we leave a review.
[00:12:24] Bryson Tarbet: So we really appreciate that. With that being said, thank you so much for joining us for this week's episode of That Music podcast, and in case nobody has told you lately, thank you so much for making a difference in the lives of the students that you teach.
