teach1st
08-14-2005, 06:36 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/13/AR2005081301237.html
If six years in the classroom have taught Samantha Smith anything, it is how to be frugal.
Take the "homework log" that she created for her seventh-grade students at Hardy Middle School in Northwest Washington. It is little more than a few plastic dividers and some loose-leaf paper clipped inside a three-ring binder salvaged from the Environmental Protection Agency by a sympathetic parent. The word "pathology" is still visible on the side.
"I keep everything," she said.
It is a habit born of necessity. When she began teaching, Smith said, she spent several hundred dollars at the beginning of each school year on supplies. Other teachers reported spending more than $1,000. From $2.09 for a spiral-bound notebook to $500 for a high-tech Jeopardy! game, teachers dig deep into their own pockets for props that might entice children to learn and basics that some of their students might not be able to afford.
"Teachers who spend the money, who really care enough about their classrooms to spend the money, are going to be more successful because they have more tools to use and resources to pull from," said Amy Mason, who teaches second grade at Running Brook Elementary School in Columbia.
According to a study by the National School Supply and Equipment Association last year, teachers nationwide spent an average of $458 of their own money on school supplies, said Adrienne Watts, vice president of marketing for the trade group. Local educational supply stores said August through early September is their busiest time. Jeff Faw, president of Learning How, said he doubles staffing at the company's seven locations for the back-to-school rush.
Read more (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/13/AR2005081301237.html)
If six years in the classroom have taught Samantha Smith anything, it is how to be frugal.
Take the "homework log" that she created for her seventh-grade students at Hardy Middle School in Northwest Washington. It is little more than a few plastic dividers and some loose-leaf paper clipped inside a three-ring binder salvaged from the Environmental Protection Agency by a sympathetic parent. The word "pathology" is still visible on the side.
"I keep everything," she said.
It is a habit born of necessity. When she began teaching, Smith said, she spent several hundred dollars at the beginning of each school year on supplies. Other teachers reported spending more than $1,000. From $2.09 for a spiral-bound notebook to $500 for a high-tech Jeopardy! game, teachers dig deep into their own pockets for props that might entice children to learn and basics that some of their students might not be able to afford.
"Teachers who spend the money, who really care enough about their classrooms to spend the money, are going to be more successful because they have more tools to use and resources to pull from," said Amy Mason, who teaches second grade at Running Brook Elementary School in Columbia.
According to a study by the National School Supply and Equipment Association last year, teachers nationwide spent an average of $458 of their own money on school supplies, said Adrienne Watts, vice president of marketing for the trade group. Local educational supply stores said August through early September is their busiest time. Jeff Faw, president of Learning How, said he doubles staffing at the company's seven locations for the back-to-school rush.
Read more (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/13/AR2005081301237.html)