A Teacher Supplies the Answer to the School Supplies Question

Flickr photo: Rebeca Falcó

Paula Lee Bright left a thoughtful and thought-filled comment in response to my school supplies meltdown yesterday. I'm sharing Paula's response here to give readers an idea of how the right (or wrong) supplies impact teaching and learning time.

Paula is a reading teacher who tutors online, and her chatty response (I formatted in red) will give you an idea of her teaching style. 

Flickr photo: Johan AP

"Picture 36 3-topic notebooks (if he's in grade school) Picture 150 if he's in junior high or high school! Picture the teacher wanting to respond to the kids' journals, but not their reading logs, social studies notes, or a variety of other types of writing teachers use. (Writing is BIG in evaluations and testing these days, as it should be!)

"Picture the teacher needing to take them home, because there isn't nearly enough time to work on them at school. Picture her carrying them! Picture several trips to the car. Picture your child at home with social studies homework, but the journals were turned in that day at school, in the 3-topic notebook. Oops! ;D

"I hope that gives you an idea! How well I understand your dislike for it, but sometimes teachers have their own reasons for certain supplies. If a child's notebook doesn't "fit" the work, it's more work for ole teach. Same with lots of other supplies. If the art project uses crayons but your child has markers, it causes eruptions in the classroom from the kids who don't have markers. Or vice versa! Kids love to grouch about what they don't have. Kind of like grownups, right? ;)

"Why take the time? Too much learning time wasted. I know it sounds like tiny things, but when you multiply it with all the other kids in the equation—the details matter."

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