It occurred to me that you get one of two stereotypical spaces to call your "new" classroom...neither of which are ideal.
1. Looted and Pillaged
Oh yeah, you know the room. The former teacher told everyone in the department to come take what they want before they retire and have a farewell chat OR it's the space that fell serious victim to the beg, borrow, and steal mantra of teachers. Probably more the "steal" part of the mantra. On the up side, there's a blank slate for the new teacher. There's not much to weed through to determine what level of usefulness there is in a careers worth of materials and resources. The drawback is that as a new teacher, anything and everything can be helpful. Very, very, very helpful.
2. Oh, you're the new teacher in that room.
Oh yeah, you know this room even better. The pack rat. The frugal conservationist. Or most likely...it was the hoarder teacher who felt like there was a potential purpose for anything and everything. It was the teacher who had a unique "organization" system, to which only they held the secret decoder ring (and the answer was most certainly not Ovaltine). Probably not much useful here for a new teacher who's been schooled in new methods, strategies, and technologies to say the least. Also, probably too scary for coworkers and custodial staff to attempt to sort through. There are certainly resources of value in this space, but the sheer volume simply makes the "gold dig," out of the question.
The circus of introductions, building tour, and heaping helpings of first day advice is overwhelming enough, but then you usually end up in one of these two spaces.
Pick your poison.
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