Now that I've been teaching in my new room for a few days I've started noticing things, some good and some bad.

When all of the doors and windows are shut we get a wind tunnel effect from the hallways and there's a fairly loud hum in the room. Even the a/c and fans are not loud enough to drown out the hum. The engineers are working on it.

The technology in the building is really impressive. The internet is fast and available everywhere and I can use my computer wirelessly to show any video or website on my really big white board. The sound quality of the ceiling speakers is good so I can start my day with music blaring in my classroom. (Note: After my accident listening to music was painful with my concussion. I'm all over that now - yeah!)

There was concern that we would lose some of the friendly feel of the smaller building when we moved into this huge one, but I think it's even better. I see a lot more of my colleagues now than I did before and the students are congregating in lots of really nice ways - homework tables in the media center, social time on the big ugly stairs overlooking what will be the new soccer fields. It's seems like there's a lot of good community space, which is important.

We've lost control of our own classroom's a/c unit. We used to have individual units in our rooms but now it's centralized so we can either choose to have the a/c on or off but it's always set to 25 degrees (77 degrees F). Trust me, that's not cool enough.

The fourth floor of the middle and high school wing includes a rooftop garden with a garden lined staircase. It's one of my favorite spaces at the school.