For the first four years of his teaching career, Matko Sabic was known as a ‘traveling teacher.’ Moving between rooms five times a day, Sabic struggled to make any classroom feel like his own at West High. “It was hard doing assignments that needed materials because I would need to ask the other teachers for permission. Not like that’s such a big task, but it feels better to know that I can just do whatever I want without worrying about getting in another teacher’s way,” Sabic says.
Sabic began teaching English at West High during the 2019-20 school year, teaching classes such as English 10 and Children’s Literature. During this time, Sabic was also a teacher at East High School, widening his length of travel. “Traveling between schools was interesting, and I don’t mean that in a bad way,” Sabic says. He shares that the time he spent traveling between schools gave him time to destress. However, he shares that there was a downside to this, “If there was one thing that was a bit difficult it was developing relationships with East High students. I was only there for 2 periods, so trying to interact with the students always felt like I was on a tightrope.”
During the 2022-23 school year, Sabic was finally at West High full time, teaching eight class periods within five different classrooms. It was during this time that his students began to wish he had his own classroom. For junior Karma Goodson, this issue could not go unseen. “Something about that did not sit right with me,” Goodson shares, “Such an influential figure to me and so many other students deserved a space to be able to sit down in and call his own.” As this issue put a burden on her, Goodson investigated the criteria for teachers getting their own room and wrote her article, Traveling Teachers, Traveling Criteria.
Over the course of his four years at West High, Sabic had no place to call a home, and no room of his own. “The main difference is the feeling of it being ‘mine’,” Sabic says. That was, until this year. Walking into the 2023-24 school year, there was one thing for certain, Sabic would have a place to call his own. “I was ecstatic and incredibly thankful that I was able to report on an issue and it was heard,” Goodson says. Although she was an online student at the time, she was overjoyed at the news that Sabic had been given a room of his own.
“Having my own classroom initially was rather stressful. It was something that I wanted for the longest time, but now that it was actually mine there was this stress that began to creep up on me,” Sabic shares. He adds that it was hard for him to “see the big picture” of what his room would look like, “Standing in the middle of an empty classroom was both relieving and made me want to crumple.”
Within his new classroom, Sabic has been able to turn room 307 into a home. Bit by bit, he has added photos and personal items to make the room feel like his own, “I’ve tried to make it my room by making it as messy with knick-knacks and paintings as possible.”
Goodson adds that Sabic having his own room makes him easier to find. “You are able to pop in and check in with him throughout the day, not having to chase him around the building is great for students but I can only imagine how the English department feels as well,” she says.
Having his own room has not only changed the feeling of having his own space, but has impacted his teaching as well. With cabinets and shelves he can fill with his own things, Sabic has been able to expand his assignments and class periods each day. “Instead of Google Classrooms and lectures, I’m able to try and do assignments that might require materials or things stored,” he says.
