Room crunch causes teachers to travel between rooms, sometime even outside their department
Due to new growth in staff and students, many teachers are having to leave their old rooms and move around during the day.
Senior Luna teaching his Spanish class in a basement art classroom.
September 26, 2018
As BSM’s community grows with a huge freshmen class and new teachers in many departments, teachers are leaving their traditional teaching rooms and moving around continuously throughout the day.
Spanish teacher Mr. Eric Luna Martin now teaches his three Spanish I classes in an art room located in the basement. “It was essential to have all the Spanish I classes in the same room. So that’s why I’m teaching in room 17, only for Spanish I. Spanish V, I teach in room 15 [and] in 147. Level V is a high level, so it’s not like we need a lot of charts or posters or influence,” Luna Martin said.
Luna Martin’s complaints about room 17 are minimal, but the minor inconveniences still sometimes impact his class during the day. “What I find inconvenient are the columns. I think that this classroom is small. My biggest class is 25 [students]; sometimes I feel like we need more space to move around,” Luna Martin said.
Luna Martin is not the only world language teacher who has moved to a different classroom. New Chinese teacher Ms. Jiawei Shen and French teacher Ms. Amy Jo Hyde share a room in the basement of the North Building for some of their classes. “This is not a new room for me… We have a space issue at BSM, so [a lot of] the world language department travels. I have three of my classes [in room 212] and two of my classes in 136 for junior high,” Hyde said.
The downsides to room 212 are trivial: electrical plugs not always working and the chance of humidity on hot days. “We have windows that open… I would say the internet actually has been really good down here so far. Since I’ve been here the room has improved: new carpet, mounted projector, new tables, new chairs. I would say kids get a little lost their first couple of times coming here, but then they find it. We have our own bathrooms here in the North Building. The smaller tables give us more room,” Hyde said.
Other teachers in a variety of departments are packing up their carts and traveling each period. Social studies teacher, Ms. Cherie Vroman moves between three different classrooms: 118, 119, and 145, with her desk located in room 119. “There’s all sorts of ramifications… Every time you get into a new classroom it’s different… You don’t get to control how the room is setup,” Vroman said.
The relationship with students definitely is impacted when teachers have to move around and aren’t where the students may expect them to be. “One of the things I really dislike is it’s hard to speak with a student after class. I often can’t do that because I have to get to my next class. Or if I do, I have to keep it short… The newer students, younger students, I tell them on the first day: ‘If you need me after school, I’m not going to be in this room. Come find me in room 119.’ Students have seven classes. They hear it, but they aren’t going to remember that often. It’s not unusual with my freshmen or sophomores students to say, ‘I tried to find you, you weren’t here.’ I was here, but they didn’t remember to come [to room 119],” Vroman said.
With these changes, teachers are making adjustments to fix the problems a new classroom brings. Luna Martin looks toward this year with optimism, despite his initial feelings. “I was a bit worried… but I’m sharing the room with Mr. Zimny, and we figured it out in 30 minutes. For Spanish I, I make the kids move a lot. At the beginning I was worried, but now I think we can survive here, and we can do really well,” Luna Martin said.
