The High Cost of Teaching

Erin just posted an ingenious post about the high cost of being a teacher. She makes a lot of really good points that I won't make again so if you haven't clicked over there to read it - DO IT!

I have the opportunity to compare LMK's school budget with my own needs. Frankly, the only thing LMK has purchased for his classroom is a specific kind of dry erase markers. He writes A LOT and the generic type provided by the school run out too quickly for him. Everything else he can saunter over to the administrative offices and they'll give him what he needs. Paper clips, staples, file folders, etc. Me, I have to buy those things with my "allotment". As a first year teacher, I lucked out this year and got a total of $400 to spend. I needed every penny with the stuff I had to buy. (I am expected to furnish/purchase my own post-its, paper clips, staples, chalk, dry erase markers, folders, erasers, staplers, etc.)

LMK also has a fabric covered bulletin board which I insisted he needed and I put up. I love it. I will be adding fabric backgrounds in my room as time and money allow. He'd be happy with a basic paper covered board if I didn't horn my way in and try to make him look good. Otherwise, his room is pretty basic. He's not interested in a lot of posters on the wall (though I've been trying to convince him these are important, he's just not into it) and the main theme in his room is soccer. Shocker. I tried to convince him he needed matching curtains, but the lip sneer and the disdainful "No, thanks honey." told me how he really felt. Heh. Boys.

Now, my room is much better. If I must say so myself (and I must).

My purchases include:

• Fabric for curtains - $50
• Curtain rods (which are actually shower curtain rods) - $40
• Fabric covers for bookshelves and file cabinet - $30
• Border - $15
• Student mailboxes - $40 (on sale, I heart T.arget)
• Misc. Organizational Items (stacking drawers, baskets, etc.) - $45
• School supplies (pencils, folders, crayons, markers, etc.) - $20
  
• 30 white boards - $15
• Microwave - $5
• Trip to the teacher store for misc. teacher stuff - $50

Having a classroom that you love and is colorful, uncluttered, and beautiful - PRICELESS.

Now, just don't tell LMK that is still a list of stuff that I "need".

As Erin says, if you know a teacher, buy him or her a set of markers. They can use them and they'll be grateful!

Stick a Fork in Me

I'm done at school! At least until we get back from West Virginia. I've done just about everything I can do without LMK's help and some key purchases.

I still have one bulletin board left to do, but I can't do it until they install my new whiteboard and re-glue the cork board. It is going to be my classroom jobs board. Right now, I have no idea what to do for that board. I have a Helping Hands board that is really cute or a notebook paper/thumbtack idea, but I'd like to do something different. Any suggestions?

My favorite bulletin board is my lunch count board. MY 4th grade teacher had this board. Each day, the kids come in and pick their lunch decision. I can tell at a glance who is absent and who is buying hot lunch, cold lunch, salad, etc.

Everything is pushed to the left side of the board so that the kids won't have to climb all over the computer to get to their name. I'm concerned it's going to be a bit tall for 4th graders so I might pick up my grandfather's old step stool when we're in Ohio. That should give the kids enough of a boost to reach the highest crayon. I tried to put the less popular lunch options at the top, too.


I also put up a bulletin board my mom did several years ago. It's called a pocket dictionary. I used library card pockets with the letters of the alphabet on them. This way, when kids need to know how to spell a word, they can bring me the Ss card or the Ff card and we can add it to the card for the next person who needs to know how to spell that word.

Since I didn't get to order some small pocket dictionaries for each student, I figured this would work instead. I didn't laminate the library book pockets so I hope they will hold up throughout the year. If not, I'll know to laminate them for next time!

Updated to add: I forgot to mention my current favorite thing about teaching. Blah, blah, blah impacting young lives. But honestly, I can order these and horde them all for me. Mmmmm, THESE are what being a teacher is all about. I got the big box with the "new" scents. Some are ok, some are NOT. Give me purple, red, blue, dark green, and brown any day. The new light blue and light green smell yummy, though. (Click on the picture to make them larger. You know so you can read all the scents.)

Square One

This morning, my classroom looked like this:



By this afternoon it looked like this:


Why? The Assistant Principal came to tell me that they're ordering me a 12 ft. whiteboard. Woohoo! That means that painted chalkboard is finally going to be functional! I've got a room to rearrange and bulletin boards to change! I also got enough chairs for my desks, a new computer table, a new desk chair, and a new bookshelf. Squeeeeee!

As the principal told me, it pays to be around in the summer. We think of you when you're here.

Crap...I just ordered a bunch of chalk, too.

My new favorite poster

My new favorite poster
Originally uploaded by h0kieerin.

I've just had the best idea.

I'm still going to do the "Me in a Bag" activity, but in my bag is going to be a dvd - All About Mrs.

Opinions?

Bygones, my butt.

So...I was all prepared to let go of whatever angst I was harboring regarding my classroom after that last post. As Pigs says, bygones.

However, today, as I was trying to organize my desks and failing miserably, I remembered that her desks fit in the room easily. What am I doing wrong? I have 30 desks and they're just not fitting. What the hell?

So I come home and check the pictures I took when it was her room. They're different desks!

She took the "nice" desks to her new room and gave me all the ones that are missing screws and are insanely high for 4th graders! Did I mention I have 30 desks and 18 chairs!?

Oooooo, NOW I'm pissed.

I don't think there is much I can do but try to find a way to get rid of some of the desks. I have 6 more desks than she had, where on earth do I put them!? I figure based on the numbers I've been told, if I have 25 desks, I'll be more than safe.

Advice?

Here's what I think

When I walked into my room filled with the former teacher's stuff, I almost had a panic attack. Everything was nicely organized but there was just so much stuff! There was no where to even put something down without losing it. Clutter and disorder make me anxious. I know you'd never guess that from the state of my house most of the time, but it's true. I left the room completely overwhelmed.

I checked in at school one day when she had come to move stuff. The principal suggested I go up and talk to her, so I did. Yeah. I don't think moving was her idea. Long story short, I didn't get a very friendly vibe from her, so I vacated post haste. I waited until she was done and then went back to see the room.

Everything was gone. Part of me was annoyed that she'd taken everything. However, like Carrie said, she probably bought a lot of it herself. I can understand. Heck, I would be doing the same thing.

That being said, taking the chalkboard erasers seems a little petty to me. The stuff she did leave in the room isn't all that helpful. The textbooks are in a pile on the counter. Not in nice, neat piles - just tossed on the counter. Along with the teaching manuals and whatever manipulatives come with the set. The computers are tossed on a card with cords strewn all over - no idea what cord goes to what computer or where they go. Figuring that out ought to be fun.

The one thing that makes me smile is thinking of the room that this teacher moved to. It's half the size of mine. Her new room is packed to the gills with stuff and she hasn't even gotten desks for the kids in there. Karma is a boomerang.

However, I have quite a bit of stuff myself. Not only do I have the things I've collected over the years while I was wishing for my own room, I've got stuff from teacher's I've worked with, and anything I wanted from my mom's room when she retired. Stuff, I got!

I just didn't know I should have gotten her erasers!

Silly me.

More pictures on Flickr.

Would you?

On a scale of 1-10, (1 being "Whatever" and 10 being "I want to jab an ice pick in someone's eye I'm so pissed") how annoyed would you be if the teacher whose room you were moving into looked like this:

Considering said teacher waited 3 weeks to come clean it out when she was moving and then took everything.

Seriously. She even took the chalkboard erasers!

My opinion to follow.