By Samantha Posa

Granada Hills Charter (GHC) is a school that is always looking toward the future, whether that is adding new technology, creating new programs, or offering new courses. However, adding new programs and new courses can be a challenge without being able to increase the physical campus, especially through adding new classrooms.

Despite these new additions, the GHC campus has remained largely the same, and the amount of classrooms is not enough to match the number of teachers now at the school. The influx of teachers and courses has required teachers to share classrooms and even move each period without a permanent classroom. When teachers must teach in the rooms of other teachers during that respective teacher’s conference period, these are called traveling teachers. 

Constantly moving classrooms comes with many emotions, and can lead some to feel displaced. Simple things like seating charts can require a challenging adjustment when teaching in a different room each period. Instead of utilizing one seating chart, they need to carry multiple as many classrooms are set up differently. Someone’s first-period classroom might have desks grouped in fours, while their second-period is laid out in rows. 

Additionally, when sharing another teacher’s space, there is an issue of storage for the traveling teacher. Many traveling teachers have to carry their supplies with them from class to class. This is especially challenging for days when students are using supplies like markers or colored pencils. 

“I sometimes feel like an imposition on the teachers whose classrooms I am using,” Psychology and Economics teacher Dana Branch said. 

With no permanent classroom, traveling teachers also don’t get the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in their space. Traveling teachers do not get to put up posters and photos that make their space feel like their own. This is also a challenge for their students who might have more difficulty getting to know their teachers’ personalities.

Despite the challenges, traveling teachers are quick to adapt.

With classwork becoming increasingly more digital, traveling teachers further that transition with their assigned work. Moving from classroom to classroom can be challenging having to carry a load of paperwork and projects. So, rather than assigning physical work, many traveling teachers opt for a primarily online approach to assignments.

“From the start, I assigned mostly digital work,” World History teacher Hannah Exler said. “I knew that it would be difficult having to move around to three different classrooms and carry a lot of papers.” 

For departments that have traveling teachers, classroom arrangements are often decided by the staff themselves. Although first-year teachers are exempt from traveling, anyone after that is eligible. Teachers can volunteer to travel for the year before the decision is made by the administration. 

Even if a teacher is selected to travel, their traveling period only lasts one year, before another teacher from the same department is required to offer up their classroom and move around the next school year, regardless of seniority. This ensures that all educators can have their share of their own classroom experience. 

Despite the many challenges, the things traveling teachers experience day to day can help shape their year of teaching and help them improve. Transferring rooms introduce up to six different teaching environments each day, which can help avoid possible fatigue that comes with teaching the same lesson in one classroom all day. Additionally, specifically curating assignments can also assist in shaping a teacher’s organizational and planning skills, which always proves beneficial.

“Traveling has forced me to be a lot more organized,” Branch said. “It has definitely helped in that way.” 

Although traveling teachers show resilience and adaptability, it is important for students to remember that their teachers are navigating these changes too. The effort to provide high-quality education, despite not having a permanent classroom, shows the dedication and commitment of GHC teachers.