In my relentless effort to make my classroom as comfortable as possible, I decided a while back that I needed a couch.
I figured I’d either find something on Craigslist or take a spring-break road trip to Denver to pick up a small sofa at IKEA, but one of my seniors told me not to bother, as she had a futon cluttering up her room, and she’d be happy to donate it to the school for her classmates to use. She brought it to school this morning, just in time for the beginning of our unit on Macbeth, which kicked off with a viewing of the PBS version starring Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleetwood.
The arrival of the futon — which, with its angled arms, reminds me of nothing so much as a Joybird couch — coincided with my return from a weekend trip to Amarillo, where I bought ALL OF THE THINGS.
Well, not all of the things. But many of the things. A rolling cart from Michael’s that has umpteen little racks and shelves and cups and pegs hanging from it. A Keurig knockoff from Walmart. Several kinds of coffee, cocoa, and flavored creamers. Several dollar-store mugs for the aforementioned coffee. An assortment of prepackaged snacks for anyone who needs one. I’ll have more on some of that later (especially the cart, which might be the best classroom tool I’ve ever bought), but suffice it to say that the combination of snacks, coffee, and comfortable furniture made a hit.
It’s not absolutely necessary to have a couch, a coffeemaker, or a cart loaded with free snacks, of course, but it makes the kids feel loved, and I think that’s important.
Emily
