Worth Every Penny But Be Wise

Recently, I purchased supplies for the upcoming school year for my children and myself. It amazes me each year how much we as a household spend before clothes, shoes, and school fees. This year, I was reminded that I spend much more on my classroom and the students that I teach each year than I do on my own children.

After thinking about how much I spend outside of my household on students who may not otherwise  be able to get supplies, I realized just how much of my household budget I use to ensure that all of my "children" are well supplied. I feel that it is a necessity for the learning process. You cannot make a cake without all of the right ingredients and you cannot not teach effectively when students are distracted by what they do not have.

Thinking on this took me back to a conference I attended earlier this summer where two speakers shared, that much to their  husbands disapproval, they purchased gift cards for students to culminate a project. Many teachers share this practice especially if you work in a school where parents struggle to put food on their tables, food is the priority over supplies.

Typically I have three big spending seasons: the fall at the start of school, right before winter break, and at the end of the school year. I spend several hundred dollars (in the past thousands) every year on supplies, teaching tools, subscriptions, books, gifts, incentives, paying for fields trips, and other things for students within my school environment.

I literally have a small store in my attic space. My husband thinks I am crazy and cannot understand why I need so much. Over the years, my spending has decreased because some things are reusable and I have learned to make other things instead of buying them.

I have found that teachers need to communicate because we are great resources for one another.  Someone may have figured out how to create a useful teaching tool instead of buying it. We do not need to reinvent the wheel especially if you are a teacher that feels that you are not creative, it is nice to be able to tap into the ideas of teachers that are.

One such resource is Pinterest. It is free and it allows you to post your ideas as well as useful websites to your "board" and see other post on teacher's boards of their favorite websites and ideas for a variety of topics in addition to education.

If there is an item that interest you on Pinterest you can share that item by repinning it to your board and/or select that you like the item. Personally, I have found many ideas that led me to create my own posters, notebooks, and bulletin boards. I also take pleasure in being able to help teachers by presenting something they may not have thought of or presenting an idea that I was exposed to at a professional development.

Our students are worth every penny that we spend but lets be smart about what is available to us. Use your resources, some of the best ideas may come from a social/professional sharing site like Pinterest.

ShowMe App Review

ShowMe is an online learning community that offers it users an opportunity to collaborate and learn from one another using a mixture of podcasting and a whiteboard application. In fact I planned to write this blog on Sketchcasting, but as  I was going through some of my apps on my iPad and opened up the ShowMe application.

The ShowMe application has everything you need to create a Sketchcast in one place. With a Sketchcast you would need a microphone, screencaster (program to record what is on your screen), drawing program, and a place to upload your video. The ShowMe app includes all of those things and you are only required to select "Create New ShowMe."

This application is great for parents who help with homework and do not know how to convey a topic or is looking for a strategy to help their child learn a certain topic. It is great for teachers who are looking for new ways to teach a certain topic to meet the needs of their diverse learners, teachers who want to reinforce what has already been taught or teachers who want to share with other educators what has worked for their students.

In addition, it is great for peer tutoring. First and foremost, it utilizes technology which our students love. They are able to create "Show Mes" and use them to explain different concepts in their own words with pictures that have meaning to them.

This app helps with the different learning styles as well. This application allows the students to hear (auditory) , and see (visual) what you are trying to convey. Furthermore, if you assign a topic that you want your students to convey it gives those tactile/kinetic learners hands on experience.

This is a great application for classroom activities as well as homework refreshers or assignments. I have included a link to a short ShowMe video that I put together to demonstrate its usefulness.
ShowME Video