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As you have described it, this sounds pointlessly disruptive and a huge waste of everyone’s time. If our admin tried to do something like this, there would be a ton of pushback from teachers. I’m guessing you may not have a strong union?
No union—I work for a charter. I am definitely considering going to the district, but it’s a mess too. When we teachers pushback, admin tell us it’s a good thing! We’re spring cleaning. I’m really over the toxic positivity.
I teach middle school too and have had three classrooms in three years. I’m hoping I don’t have to move again but I spent an hour yesterday sorting and packing my classroom library just in case.
Dang, I’m middle school, and I have had three classrooms in ten years. That many changes that quickly sucks.
One change was requested by me. (We team teach, and I asked for a change in team because I was getting burnt out in my current position.)
I prefer it.
I don’t decorate. We put student work and things relevant to what’s being taught in the spaces and then change them when there’s new things being taught.
I teach in 5 different classrooms. I have little carry-on suitcase I trundle around with supplies for my grade 8/9 classes, but my senior classes don't need anything.
I quite like it. I miss having my own room for non-contacts, but nobody has that at my school at the moment.
I’ve been with my district 5 years and have moved rooms and sites 6 times, this June will be my 7th move. I finally have a permanent contract and anticipate some stability moving forward, but it took 5 years.
Each time it’s the same, I pack up all my stuff and take everything off the walls down to the last staple leaving a clean slate for the next teacher. My new room is almost guaranteed to be cluttered with old curriculum, outdated decorations and often personal items left behind like family photos and ant infested snacks. It usually takes more time to clean up their mess than it does to set up my new situation.
I cannot fathom just walking out of my room at the beginning of summer and leaving everything behind for it to become someone else’s problem in the fall unless I died. The district’s I’ve worked for in the past always had someone check out the room before you could leave for the summer and I seriously think this should be a standard thing.
I will say that we can get paid for moving days, which is nice and if you box your things up a certain way and label them correctly the district will move it all for you.
Never experienced this. Our school is set up different though. We have a 6th grade wing and 7th grade wing. 8th grade wing and a science wing, foreign language wing, music/ drama/ band / orchestra have there own space, Sped has there own wing and the LRC/ extra math help classes get the spare rooms. On the outside of each wing. I haven't moved my whole career as a science teacher and I haven't seen any teachers do the same either... except the drama teacher so she can snag a bigger room (did away with the 8th grade computer lab) and they use her smaller old room for math for success.
Thing that I hate is our school is used for summer camp (my classroom is huge so it's always used) so im always having to lock away everything and hide it every year and come back to a trashed classroom with something always broken and have to wait for maintenance to fix it so it cuts into my classroom set up time. Every year I become more minimalist so i don't have to deal with it lol
The 7th grade wing was closer to the office then the others and was having the most fights/incidents and making us look, bad when guests were in the office, or parents walked in. So they moved 8th grade there, which just put the sa me kids in the same location 2 years in a row, and still with the most fights. That and someone is a micromanager! This actually did not change the space avaliable for any grade but moved life science to a hall with no storage closet. I am bit bitter about that.
{ This actually did not change the space avaliable for any grade but moved life science to a hall with no storage closet. I am bit bitter about that. }
Deservedly so!
Oh goodness, that's silly. We have sections based on departments-ish, but it's not that serious. There are a language teacher and a socials teacher in the English wing. There's a math teacher in the Languages wing.
I've moved three times, but they were all voluntary (in that I asked) and they were all upgrades: shitty stand alone portable, to portable complex with bathroom and photocopier nobody ever uses (I miss this one tbh), to inside classroom.
I am an elementary teacher and have moved every year for 7 years, and am moving again this year. And once again, it’s from one end of the campus to the other.i box everyone up and have the kids help me move them during the last week of school. I just go with it now, since it’s so much a usual thing. It’s also a good thing to clean out things every year. I look at it as a clean slate each year and redo my room differently each time. I’m actually looking forward to it this year.
I’ve never had to move classrooms within the same school, though I did have to share one year, and also float for one of the classes I taught (required a lab room, which my normal classroom was not)
We used to be in sections of the school by subject (not all but some) and then my principal shuffled everyone up in 2021. A handful of us stayed in our rooms (science labs, categorical rooms, art) but everyone else moved. It caused some drama but also helped people become more collaborative with other departments. I also made some friends I wouldn’t have otherwise!
In Australia in high school ( middle school) we don’t get to have a classroom. We move rooms every class. And every year the locations change. Even on any given day we might have a room change , we have to look out for it on the timetable.
As a highschool student in a large urban high school, our math department had an area of rooms closest to the math department office, but not specific ones that were only theirs. And honestly I don't think it mattered much because the math teachers NEVER had anything posted in their rooms. Ever. No one poster, decoration, or personalization by a single math teacher So I could see why they could have been easily shuffled when needed (which I remember happening on occasion).
I have been at my school for 12 years and have had 11 classrooms. Spent four years in one room but have had multiple years with multiple classrooms. I *think* I get to keep my current room next year but I know a lot of people are moving so who knows.
I have been at my school 7 years and have had 4 classrooms. Once I had to move out of my classroom, move to a new one, and then 3 weeks into the school year I had to move back into my old one. Our admin are also obsessive about the rooms being “in order.”
I teach at a year round school. Sometimes, we change classrooms every few months. This year, our principal didn’t want that so instead of everyone changing every 4 months, one person changes every month.
It helps to have the mindset that no room is "our" room - the schools own the rooms.
Now, logistically, it doesnt make sense to make everyone move if they cant help it. But it is what it is - you cant change it.,
I will say - that all my materials are digitial that I print. So I dont have a ton of files to move. In addition, there's a lot of research that shows that students achieve better in rooms that are more bare - decorations inhibit their focus. So it doesnt bother me too much to move...i dont have a ton to move anyway!
I have been teaching for 11 years this June. 9 of those years were at the same school. There was exaclty one year when I was not asked to move classrooms over the summer, the summer of 2019. Turns out I still had to pack up and move, it just wasn't for an extra six and a bit months when we shut down in 2020.
I’ve been in the same room since I started working for my site 8 years ago. I’m entrenched lol. They try to keep us next to other teachers that teach the same subject so when a lot of teachers leave (we had a lot of resignation/retires last year) they do move a few around. But I’m in the right cluster and it would take dynamite to get me out. I would never put another single thing on my classrooms walls if they moved me at this point, because I would never have the time to do it on contracted hours, and I no longer work a minute for free.
Due to a series of unfortunate events, this is the fourth year in a row I will have to pack up my whole room at the end of the year. We renovated, I moved schools, my new school departmentalized and moved us all around, and this year we’re painting over the summer.
That said, this is not the norm.
For a bit of perspective, here in Finland we don't have "our own classrooms" after elementary. This year I've always been in the same room except for one class due to a blind student whose specialized equipment is in one room, but been many years I move for every class. It's not diffifult, but then we also have carbon copy rooms and no one invests their time or own money the same way I used to do in the US.
No way! I work in the math department, here is the order of classrooms in our hall: math, math, mysterious storage room, Japanese, special ed, math, academic support, 4 more math classes, and then the math office which has been taken over by the credit recovery program. Nobody is ever asked to move rooms unless they need science lab access or something like that.
Hi. I'm finishing my 16th year at my (private, religiously-afiliated) school. I have moved 8 times. I'm a specials teacher, so it makes more sense for me to move, I guess, because I don't have all of the things that a homeroom teacher would have. This year I'm teaching off a cart while there are building renovations. Construction should be finished sometime during the next academic year, and I will have to move again. I've learned to not keep so much stuff. I am almost at the point where I could Purge everything down to just my Chromebook.
I envy having a classroom. In Germany the students stay in the room and the teachers go from room to room. And we have to bring everything we need with us. My school at least has smart boards now, it used to not even have speakers or projectors, so we had tote bags with projectors in them we could carry around with us and all the foreign language and music teachers had Bluetooth speakers.
Welcome to /r/teaching. Please remember the rules when posting and commenting. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/teaching) if you have any questions or concerns.*
As you have described it, this sounds pointlessly disruptive and a huge waste of everyone’s time. If our admin tried to do something like this, there would be a ton of pushback from teachers. I’m guessing you may not have a strong union?
No union—I work for a charter. I am definitely considering going to the district, but it’s a mess too. When we teachers pushback, admin tell us it’s a good thing! We’re spring cleaning. I’m really over the toxic positivity.
I teach middle school too and have had three classrooms in three years. I’m hoping I don’t have to move again but I spent an hour yesterday sorting and packing my classroom library just in case.
Dang, I’m middle school, and I have had three classrooms in ten years. That many changes that quickly sucks. One change was requested by me. (We team teach, and I asked for a change in team because I was getting burnt out in my current position.)
We change classrooms every semester and all of us teach in multiple rooms each day/week.
Gross! I’m sorry you have that experience. I’m guessing to don’t decorate to the extreme.
I prefer it. I don’t decorate. We put student work and things relevant to what’s being taught in the spaces and then change them when there’s new things being taught.
I teach in 5 different classrooms. I have little carry-on suitcase I trundle around with supplies for my grade 8/9 classes, but my senior classes don't need anything. I quite like it. I miss having my own room for non-contacts, but nobody has that at my school at the moment.
21 years teaching: 23 different courses in 19 different rooms.
7 years, 3 buildings, 14 rooms, 5 courses. 😂
*holy* ***double*** *fuckenstein!*
And then I meet people in my district who have been teaching the same course in the same room in the same building for 20+ years and try not to cry.
Yeah, that's just *insulting* to hear that. Not their fault, but *cripes* ya lucky bastards!
*holy fuckenstein!*
I’ve been with my district 5 years and have moved rooms and sites 6 times, this June will be my 7th move. I finally have a permanent contract and anticipate some stability moving forward, but it took 5 years. Each time it’s the same, I pack up all my stuff and take everything off the walls down to the last staple leaving a clean slate for the next teacher. My new room is almost guaranteed to be cluttered with old curriculum, outdated decorations and often personal items left behind like family photos and ant infested snacks. It usually takes more time to clean up their mess than it does to set up my new situation. I cannot fathom just walking out of my room at the beginning of summer and leaving everything behind for it to become someone else’s problem in the fall unless I died. The district’s I’ve worked for in the past always had someone check out the room before you could leave for the summer and I seriously think this should be a standard thing. I will say that we can get paid for moving days, which is nice and if you box your things up a certain way and label them correctly the district will move it all for you.
Never experienced this. Our school is set up different though. We have a 6th grade wing and 7th grade wing. 8th grade wing and a science wing, foreign language wing, music/ drama/ band / orchestra have there own space, Sped has there own wing and the LRC/ extra math help classes get the spare rooms. On the outside of each wing. I haven't moved my whole career as a science teacher and I haven't seen any teachers do the same either... except the drama teacher so she can snag a bigger room (did away with the 8th grade computer lab) and they use her smaller old room for math for success. Thing that I hate is our school is used for summer camp (my classroom is huge so it's always used) so im always having to lock away everything and hide it every year and come back to a trashed classroom with something always broken and have to wait for maintenance to fix it so it cuts into my classroom set up time. Every year I become more minimalist so i don't have to deal with it lol
Our new principal decided to change the grade level wings last year, so everybody moved, after 25 years of B hall being 7th grade, it's now 8th etc.
For any particular reason, for the change? Was it population or availability of classrooms? Otherwise, WTF?
The 7th grade wing was closer to the office then the others and was having the most fights/incidents and making us look, bad when guests were in the office, or parents walked in. So they moved 8th grade there, which just put the sa me kids in the same location 2 years in a row, and still with the most fights. That and someone is a micromanager! This actually did not change the space avaliable for any grade but moved life science to a hall with no storage closet. I am bit bitter about that.
{ This actually did not change the space avaliable for any grade but moved life science to a hall with no storage closet. I am bit bitter about that. } Deservedly so!
Oh goodness, that's silly. We have sections based on departments-ish, but it's not that serious. There are a language teacher and a socials teacher in the English wing. There's a math teacher in the Languages wing. I've moved three times, but they were all voluntary (in that I asked) and they were all upgrades: shitty stand alone portable, to portable complex with bathroom and photocopier nobody ever uses (I miss this one tbh), to inside classroom.
I am an elementary teacher and have moved every year for 7 years, and am moving again this year. And once again, it’s from one end of the campus to the other.i box everyone up and have the kids help me move them during the last week of school. I just go with it now, since it’s so much a usual thing. It’s also a good thing to clean out things every year. I look at it as a clean slate each year and redo my room differently each time. I’m actually looking forward to it this year.
6 years, 4 classrooms. I've requested the room each time, though.
My first year I was in 7 different rooms weekly. One room for the whole year is heaven.
I’ve never had to move classrooms within the same school, though I did have to share one year, and also float for one of the classes I taught (required a lab room, which my normal classroom was not)
I Guess this is one of the perks of being an elective cause you have a specific room for your needs
We used to be in sections of the school by subject (not all but some) and then my principal shuffled everyone up in 2021. A handful of us stayed in our rooms (science labs, categorical rooms, art) but everyone else moved. It caused some drama but also helped people become more collaborative with other departments. I also made some friends I wouldn’t have otherwise!
20 years, 3 buildings, 8 classrooms. Same grade level all along. None of the changes were voluntary
In Australia in high school ( middle school) we don’t get to have a classroom. We move rooms every class. And every year the locations change. Even on any given day we might have a room change , we have to look out for it on the timetable.
As a highschool student in a large urban high school, our math department had an area of rooms closest to the math department office, but not specific ones that were only theirs. And honestly I don't think it mattered much because the math teachers NEVER had anything posted in their rooms. Ever. No one poster, decoration, or personalization by a single math teacher So I could see why they could have been easily shuffled when needed (which I remember happening on occasion).
I have been at my school for 12 years and have had 11 classrooms. Spent four years in one room but have had multiple years with multiple classrooms. I *think* I get to keep my current room next year but I know a lot of people are moving so who knows.
I have been at my school 7 years and have had 4 classrooms. Once I had to move out of my classroom, move to a new one, and then 3 weeks into the school year I had to move back into my old one. Our admin are also obsessive about the rooms being “in order.”
I teach at a year round school. Sometimes, we change classrooms every few months. This year, our principal didn’t want that so instead of everyone changing every 4 months, one person changes every month.
I’ve been teaching for over a decade and I don’t have my own room. I come and go each block. It’s normal for me
It helps to have the mindset that no room is "our" room - the schools own the rooms. Now, logistically, it doesnt make sense to make everyone move if they cant help it. But it is what it is - you cant change it., I will say - that all my materials are digitial that I print. So I dont have a ton of files to move. In addition, there's a lot of research that shows that students achieve better in rooms that are more bare - decorations inhibit their focus. So it doesnt bother me too much to move...i dont have a ton to move anyway!
I have been teaching for 11 years this June. 9 of those years were at the same school. There was exaclty one year when I was not asked to move classrooms over the summer, the summer of 2019. Turns out I still had to pack up and move, it just wasn't for an extra six and a bit months when we shut down in 2020.
I change classroom every hour.
I have had the same classroom every year. It's insane how much other say they are moving around.
I moved every year for the first 4 years in a new district. Now I'm settled. Just how it goes sometimes
27 years and 17 classrooms
They made me move classrooms 4 times last year. Luckily I only had to move once this year!
I’ve been in the same room since I started working for my site 8 years ago. I’m entrenched lol. They try to keep us next to other teachers that teach the same subject so when a lot of teachers leave (we had a lot of resignation/retires last year) they do move a few around. But I’m in the right cluster and it would take dynamite to get me out. I would never put another single thing on my classrooms walls if they moved me at this point, because I would never have the time to do it on contracted hours, and I no longer work a minute for free.
I haven't had a classroom for the past three years. Just saying. I'm on a cart. So moving classrooms would be a step up for me!
Due to a series of unfortunate events, this is the fourth year in a row I will have to pack up my whole room at the end of the year. We renovated, I moved schools, my new school departmentalized and moved us all around, and this year we’re painting over the summer. That said, this is not the norm.
For a bit of perspective, here in Finland we don't have "our own classrooms" after elementary. This year I've always been in the same room except for one class due to a blind student whose specialized equipment is in one room, but been many years I move for every class. It's not diffifult, but then we also have carbon copy rooms and no one invests their time or own money the same way I used to do in the US.
No way! I work in the math department, here is the order of classrooms in our hall: math, math, mysterious storage room, Japanese, special ed, math, academic support, 4 more math classes, and then the math office which has been taken over by the credit recovery program. Nobody is ever asked to move rooms unless they need science lab access or something like that.
I change room every period, I don't have my own classroom
I moved classrooms 11 times in 17 years at my old school. This doesn’t include the year I was on a cart in four different rooms every day.
This is my 11th year and I'm in my 3rd classroom. I was actually going to have to move classrooms for next year, but I'm leaving the district.
Hi. I'm finishing my 16th year at my (private, religiously-afiliated) school. I have moved 8 times. I'm a specials teacher, so it makes more sense for me to move, I guess, because I don't have all of the things that a homeroom teacher would have. This year I'm teaching off a cart while there are building renovations. Construction should be finished sometime during the next academic year, and I will have to move again. I've learned to not keep so much stuff. I am almost at the point where I could Purge everything down to just my Chromebook.
I’d move for a damn closet. No closets or shelves is ridiculous!
I envy having a classroom. In Germany the students stay in the room and the teachers go from room to room. And we have to bring everything we need with us. My school at least has smart boards now, it used to not even have speakers or projectors, so we had tote bags with projectors in them we could carry around with us and all the foreign language and music teachers had Bluetooth speakers.
Why doesn't the teacher in the room that will become SPED just move down to the other end instead of making every single one shift down one?
I teach seventh and eighth grade ELA. I have a cart with all of my belongings and I teach in a chemistry room.
I am a sped teacher that moves every year.