I've been avoiding the inevitable. 

I spent all summer ignoring it completely. 

It's here. 

Tonight marks the official end of my summer. 

I vowed not to go into school to work on my classroom until I officially went back to school.  Then, I had an appointment cancelled this afternoon, opening up a two hour block in my day.  Eh, I might as well get a head start so that I don't get overwhelmed tomorrow. 

I entered my classroom at 2pm, and it looked like this: 

and worst of all, my desk: 

Truthfully, I could have sat atop one of the student desks and stared at the room for two hours, too overwhelmed to do anything.  Thankfully, la beast walked in and got right to work.  "Where do you want the students to pick up papers when they walk in the room?  Let's put a table there."  "Where should they turn stuff in?  Let's put a shelf there?"  "How should their desks face so that they can see both the whiteboard and the projector screen?  Okay let's do that."  Within an hour, she had transformed my room into this: 

Okay, I still need to jazz it up big time, but everything is in place, and everything is in place for a purpose.  In organizing my room, she also helped me (okay created on her own, off the top of her creative and idea-filled mind) with classroom procedures, a classroom management plan, and a discipline system.  Oh, and all of this was done in 75 minutes.  Hence, la beast.  

More to come as I decorate, but for now... so long, sweet summer.