As everyone knows, I'm a great supporter of Donor's Choose especially for teachers who are personal friends. I loved being a teacher on many levels, but one area of frustration was the unwillingness of the State of Texas to provide the necessary funds for supplies to be able to teach the most effectively. For the first ten years of my teaching career, I was handed a grocery bag with a box of chalk, a box of Bic ballpoint pens, a 2"x 3" box of paperclips and a felt eraser. It was so paltry, it was insulting. I was extremely fortunate because my principal actually bought enough xerox paper to last the year. I knew many teachers in other schools who had to buy their own paper.
Texas isn't the only state that expects teachers to buy supplies. One of my young friends from Utah started teaching last year, and she's one we really, really, really want to keep in the public school system - she teaches developmentally delayed pre-schoolers. (Boy, talk about a nightmare job, but these kiddos are her calling.) Anyway, as a graduation gift, I sent her $300 of supplies to open up her classroom. I'm talking stuff you office folks just completely take for granted - like a stapler!
One of the ways I solved my supply problems was to involve my great Methodist Church (St. Paul's in Hurst), and they poured supplies, magazines and anything else I needed into my classroom - including PEOPLE who volunteered and spent time at the school. Supply problems are annoying, but, hey you can teach without a hole punch.
What you can't teach without are learning tools. That's when state legislators need to be hung up by their thumbs for not appropriating funds. We are not talking teacher's salaries here; we are talking books. Yes, books. My friend, Shannon, teaches in a district in central Texas. She's a children's librarian for two elementary schools. The area is rural. That means the normal outlets where poor children have book access is very limited - like limited to SCHOOL. They don't go to the public library because either there isn't one, or it's too far away. Do I need to remind anyone of the price of gasoline? Rural children from poor families don't have the financial resources to hit Barnes and Noble or shop on-line for books because of money. In many rural homes, there may be cable or dish TV, but the budget doesn't include internet. And in some of these student's families, books are of no importance because their parents never developed the habit of reading.
Yes, reading is a habit that's formed in childhood - like brushing your teeth, playing video games, watching TV, or developing any other hobby or use of time. Lifelong habits start in childhood. Reading is certainly one which is a predictor of being a successful, productive member of society. Ironically, the onset of the Electronic Age has actually upped the value of reading. It's a predictor of how well you do in school, how much higher education you pursue, how good of a job you land, and whether or not you wind up in prison.
If I haven't convinced you at this point to click on the link below, then your heart is stone and your citizenship quotient is zero. Shannon needs SPORTS BOOKS. She's doing her job, the most important part of her job - and that's to hook kids on reading. It's a no-brainer: After the 3rd grade, reading is all about perfecting the skill. Kids are stubborn and short sighted - you have to give them books they want or they just won't read. Donate ANY AMOUNT - yes, I'm talking as little as $5. You may still be able to put in the code word INSPIRE and get your donation matched. We have a lot of money to raise for this one. 42 books cost more than you think. Books for kids need to be library quality which are different than flimsy paperbacks - those last about one semester in the hands of fourth graders. Shannon always includes the prices she must pay for the books. Donor's Choose vets each project. There's no money going anywhere except for the books. Click. Donate. Please.
http://www.donorschoose.org/project/touchdown-we-want-sports-books/1253431/?rf=page-siteshare-2014-07-project-teacher_1520846
