tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734884211497773577.post6190502406520309047..comments2024-03-22T09:27:35.860-07:00Comments on Bed buffaloes in your tax code: What a country that could manage without tax withholding would be likeMary O'Keeffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14662977706706048151noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734884211497773577.post-74267101930651938372009-08-16T14:16:32.269-07:002009-08-16T14:16:32.269-07:00Hi, MOK, It's your teacher friend!
It's t...Hi, MOK, It's your teacher friend! <br />It's true, I've managed to collect many of the items (especially from generous friends who are willing to share!). And it's also true that some of the items come from me opening up my own purse. I'm trying hard NOT to do that this year. However, many of the items at the auction come from my own creativity. Mostly, what these students want/need is time and attention. We always have a mystery bag in the auction and it's usually the hottest item (the students just can't stand NOT knowing what is in that bag!). I generally put "lunch with the teacher" in the bag. The student who wins gets to invite a friend and have lunch in the classroom with me. And they bring their lunch from the cafeteria. Sometimes I'll bring in cupcakes or apples for dessert. That's it. Simple. But very effective.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734884211497773577.post-1342125034105468072009-08-14T21:06:14.720-07:002009-08-14T21:06:14.720-07:00That's an important point. I've volunteer...That's an important point. I've volunteered in both inner city and suburban schools, and I know that teachers in the inner city schools really have to struggle, and often pay out of their own pockets, to provide their students with items that suburban schools routinely expect parents to provide.<br /><br />My friend describes some of the details of her efforts to procure items for her classroom auctions here:<br /><br />http://myhaironfire.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/the-librarian/Mary O'Keeffehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14662977706706048151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734884211497773577.post-47248177765868928092009-08-14T06:54:36.107-07:002009-08-14T06:54:36.107-07:00Minor quibble: "items the teacher has managed...Minor quibble: "items the teacher has managed to collect"<br /><br />In the interests of accuracy, in my experience teachers who use an auction method "manage to collect" most of the items through opening up their own purse to pay for the auction items or by spending a large portion of their own personal free time begging for help.<br /><br />This doesn't mean the auctions don't work (most of the time). But it does mean the teacher has to be willing to make the sacrifice of several hundreds of dollars out of their own household's budget in order to benefit their students.<br /><br />And this on top of the several hundreds of dollars (and several hundreds of hours) out of the teacher's own household's budget which already is required in order for her workplace to become a nurturing environment for the students and/or to allow the classroom to function smoothly enough to keep from her from pulling her hair out. <br /><br />Where did you think the money for pencils, paper, and other supplies, which the students' irresponsible parents refuse to purchase, comes from? Or folders and bins to organize the kid's work? Or Kleenex? Or party supplies, food for school events? Or the posters of mutiplication tables and other such motivational/educational items come from?<br /><br />The school system's budget? Pardon me while I snicker derisively.<br /><br />From the abusive, dope-smoking parents of many of those students? Adults, who often as not, don't make sure their kids have something to eat at home every day?<br /><br />From the gangs' elementary school affiliates? Because if you think gangs don't exist and recruit in elementary schools, you're out of touch.<br /><br />No, the financial burden is on the teacher.<br /><br />And while I'm ranting, I'd also like to point out that "inner-city schools where 85% of the children come from families with incomes qualifying for free lunch" not only exist in blue states where the NEA has a stranglehold on the educational system.<br /><br />Those schools, and the teachers in them, also exist in right-to-work states where starting teacher pay and pay for highly experienced teachers can easily be only half of what it would be in a hardcore union state. <br /><br />Kleenex and school supplies aren't priced according to teacher salaries....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com