Supplies

I am trying hard not to focus on the fact that this was supposed to be March Break. I really needed the rest, but the week of recuperation has been postponed to April 12-16, 2021.  I crafted my long range plans so that new units would begin after this week, so that I would have time to plan them more efficiently, but that idea has flown out the window.

Planning involves more than just deciding the topic for your lesson. I have to consider my approach, design my assessments / assignments, and collect my materials that the students will need to help them understand the concepts.

 We are lucky that in my school, we have a central supply room. It is well-stocked with different colours of construction paper, student notebooks, masking tape, glue, staples, markers, sticky notes and other items you might find in a stationery store. No one on staff hoards, we take what we need, and a committee usually keeps the room tidy and tracks when supplies get low. This is quite a blessing, because in other schools, individual teachers are responsible for ordering their supplies of pencils and erasers and it's just too bad if they forgot to request an item or obtain enough. 

Having said this, sometimes  I need rather unusual supplies that aren't typically ordered for school consumption. This is where my colleagues and friends have saved my bacon multiple times. (This also shows that teachers collect really odd things, "just in case".)

Thank you Ms. Wadia - during the six weeks of online learning in January - February 2021, you loaned my students whiteboards so they could do their work without wasting paper. You also lent me fraction manipulatives, spinners, and other math tools to help me teach while I was at home.

Thank you Mr. Tong - you provided me with enough balloons for my students to conduct their static electricity experiments.

Thank you Ms. Hong - you lent me your own personal stash of LED lights, copper tape, alligator clips, wires, and round cell batteries so these same students could build paper circuits.

Thank you Ms. Wilson - you aren't even a teacher at my school, and you've allowed me to rent 18 batons so that my students can have a unique physical education experience that still respects physical distancing and the restrictions around sharing equipment. You've saved me hundreds of dollars with this arrangement.

Thank you Ms. Yogalingam - (our class' student-teacher) you brought in your potato clock (bought with your own money) so that the students could get the same thrill of seeing vegetables produce electricity.

Thank you Ms. Teotico - (not a teacher, but a parent) you helped our school obtain toothbrushes and we had enough to use for our teeth as well as for art class!

I have my own share of unusual items that I needed as supplies to use for teaching. I brought in a dozen can-can skirts, for example.

Is there a correlation between a tendency to hoard and involvement in the teaching profession? You never know when you'll need something as supplies!