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The Struggles of Teachers

Lack of Resources Meets Overwhelming Support

By Amanda MandatoPublished 6 years ago 5 min read
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Leaving school at 4:00 pm on a Friday before Hurricane Irma.

I've officially been a teacher for two years and four months, and I have loved all 851 days of it (particularly the days in June, July, and August, but pay that no mind). I am in constant search of what I can do better for my students, be that material, environment, or content presented to them. Let me tell you, there is no shortage of ways to improve as a teacher, and no shortage of county officials telling you how to better do your job. It takes dedicated hours (no, I'm not finished at 2:30, and I do more work in June, July, and August than should be acceptable on vacation). I am constantly planning and re-working lessons, and looking for engaging and rigorous content to ensure each day is a successful for students.

I recently moved to North Carolina to be closer to my army boyfriend, who subsequently left for Afghanistan, but that's neither here nor there. I left a district which provided curriculum and workbooks for our lessons in math, reading, and science. It left little room for creativity, but ample time to plan, assess, and remediate with my students at their level. I've come to a district which has given me nothing but the Common Core State Standards, and an intervention system to be used on a website with the computers I have access to two times a week. Needless to say, it has been quite the adjustment.

I have been up to my eyebrows in stress since before school even started, attempting to plan and be successful for my students. This started with setting up a classroom environment that would allow my kids to feel safe and comfortable; a place where they would be free to move and be ten years old. If you've been following any educational blogs or websites for the past few years, you've heard a bit about flexible seating. Flexible seating is a range of different seating options for students to choose from throughout the day. Seating choices can be anything from wobble cushions at a standard desk, to yoga balls, a futon, floor pillows, stools, and many other choices. There is so much research behind the benefits to flexible seating, and yet, so many walls put up from county officials and administration.

"Where will they take their tests?" I was asked. That was their concern.

Despite the benefits the research has shown, there would be no funding from the county.

My students who are very excited about their Scholastic News, which came complete with Geography Spin and Science Spin.

I was inspired. I was achieving for my students, and they were achieving in the classroom. They're happy learners who love school and have a natural curiosity. I wanted my students to dream big, and therefore I had to also. I had been reading more and more about allowing students to choose what they wanted to learn in the classroom, and how that fosters a love of learning, and continued curiosity.

What kept popping up over and over was something called Genius Hour, which seemed the most feasible and very exciting. It's one hour a week in which each student gets to research a topic of their choosing to become an expert on. A full hour away from my testable subjects? Okay, I'm in. My kids started their project using the computers that were in my room twice a week. This started well, until the minutes of time my students were working on the remediation website began to dwindle. Yes, this is important for a few reasons.

  1. This is a very expensive program which my school pays for.
  2. It's a good program, which remediates to a level that I could not. It meets each student at their individual level for both reading and math. It was important that they had ample time for that practice.

So, what was I to do? I only had the time I had, and the materials I had. I didn't know what to do to continue the projects at a rate that made sense. My students needed more consistent access to computers and internet in order to conduct effective research, and I knew I couldn't give that to them. I knew, however, there were people who could.

I went back to Donor's Choose, and because I am insane, I requested ten Chromebooks. My mom had suggested I ask for two... another teacher in my school had requested three from Donor's Choose and was still waiting for her project to be funded. But if this was going to make sense for 29 students, I would need a much larger number of computers.

Guess what?

It took less than three weeks and my project was fully funded. My students would now have ten computers in the classroom at all times! It was amazing to watch people rally around this project. It started with a $10 donation from a high school friend back home, to a large donation (almost $450) from Macy's. Every time we got a new donation, I would tell the kids, and they would absolutely lose their minds with excitement. To be honest, so would I.

It's November and I have changed so much as a teacher. I've adapted to my new county; my students use privacy folders when testing in their flexible seating, and I've begun to create pretty fun (well, I think so, check with my kids), lessons. That being said, my school administration has been wonderful about trying to get us new and better resources. We now have a math workbook for all of our students, that aligns with our remediation program, as well as an amazing resource for access to hundred of books online.

I look forward to continuing to make waves in this school, county, and state; and I plan to teach my students to do the same.

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