Every year there are things in my classroom that I want to change. However, the stack of papers I still need to grade, the standardized testing that looms, the weekly lesson planning, the new SMART Board lessons I must create, and daily happenings in my classroom often take precedence over large-scale organizational measures.

For that reason, I think of each new school year as a blank slate. No matter how many years I teach, I set a personal goal each school year to become more organized and to make my classroom design most supportive of my teaching and beneficial to student learning.

When executing large-scale home renovations, many families actually move out of their homes while the work is being done. Since my students "move out" during the summer, it is really the only time when I can clean out, clean up, and fix up the room.