Picture your dream learning space. Really visualize the space. Take 30 seconds and let it sink into your memory bank.
I bet it’s not filled with clutter.
Nobody moves into a new school year and does cartwheels singing,
“Let’s pack this room with stuff so that I can’t find what I am looking for!”
As the year moves on and the craziness of education takes hold we place a stack of papers here, leave supplies on the shelf to put away another time, somewhere along the way, clutter and messes grow and morph into their own beings in our space. Clutter is like a virus that begins to spread to our closets, drawers, desks, and walls. It soon consumes us and becomes the norm.
The clutter just happens.
Today is a day of working to eliminate barriers to prevent this from happening.
Removing clutter makes room for a life focused on the things that matter most….. YOU and your STUDENTS!
It opens up physical space in our learning space which naturally opens up our mental space in our mind.
Teaching with a clutter free approach offers potential for more focus, more freedom, more time, more less stressful agendas, and more passion.
Removing the physical clutter allows us to establish a foundation to our learning space that makes new innovative changes possible.
Eliminating the clutter will encourage all of us to question our assumptions. It also invites thoughtful consideration of all aspects of our teaching.
Today we begin to scan and recycle all the project ideas, links, resources, etc. that we have accumulated. Don’t act like you don’t have a pile of papers like me in the video!
This can take time. I have found that carving out one hour to do this each morning works great. I have found that anything less I tend to keep and convince myself all ideas are good ideas. In an hour I slowly develop a mindset that helps me toss out ideas I know I will never use. It helps focus on the essential.
Good luck!
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