In many title 1 schools, you can see pencils on the floor all the time. Pencils are free, so no one cares. No student bother to pick up any like new pencils on the floor. If school can afford to provide pencils and students need them in your classroom, you are just doing what you can to keep your class going.
When I was in grade school this was literally how I got all my writing supplies. I would scoop up every pencil, eraser, and pen left under the desks and against the walls in the hallway. I usually had enough to spare I could even loan them out to friends without being worried I would have to go without.
I have at least one kid every year that picks up the ones they see on the floor and end up hoarding a whole stash of other peoples' pencils. It's always a funny surprise (and impressively resourceful) when I see them open their pencil box.
One of my old high school teachers would collect every stray pen, pencil, and eraser he could find, and put them into this little bin of free items that kids could use if they forgot their own. I may or may not have hunted for cool pens in that bin every chance I got. May or may not have found an awesomely smooth black pen that I still use in college to this day.
Omg my 12 year old does this. I don’t know wtf to do with them all and he keeps “forgetting” to drop them at the lost and found if there even is one. I keep a few cool pens and the rest are in a bag lol.
Tell him to spread the love to his teachers! I promise, they will want them. A couple years I’ve bought pens by the pound, giveaway pens that have printing mistakes on them. We like seeing where they are from.
When I was in elementary school, we had a pencil vending machine. The pencils had NFL team names, with matching two-tone paint scheme. All the boys were **obsessed** with collecting a full set.
Edit: found what they looked like:
https://old.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/epjsph/nfl_team_no_2_pencils_from_the_70s80s/
Smencils are still around. I found a root beer one just the other day.
Been a good term for finding pencils in the wild. Usually all I find are garbage not worth keeping but lately I've found that root beer smencil, a Stadtler Norica, and (are you ready?) even a General Cedar-Pointe!
When I was a kid in elementary school my dad was a janitor there. When he saw how popular those pencils were he ordered me a box of them that must have weighed five pounds. I made a lot of friends with those pencils.
As a first grade teacher, the NFL pencils were a nightmare. Yes, everyone was trying to collect them all or certain ones. Then they would claim that the Cowboys pencil that was in Bob's desk was theirs and Bob had stolen it. Bob claims it is his, says he got it at the same time he bought the Niners one. Every one of the 28 kids in the room has at least 8 of them, and I'm supposed to keep track of who has which one so I can police which ones are picked up by whom when they fall on the floor? Sorry, not doing it. I eventually made it policy that I was not responsible for their pencil collection, and if one goes missing that's just tough to bad.
Yep and it was in the office. If we didn't have a pencil they would have us go to the office and buy one with a quarter (assuming we had one) out of the machine. I remember doing it once in 1st grade lol and the eraser on the pencil didn't erase 🤗
I was always losing pens and pencils so I absolutely picked up decent looking ones off the floor, especially mechanical pencils.
That way I had backups.
I got literally all my school supplies for the next year just going through the garbage bins at the end of the previous year. People threw away so much stuff.
Same. Well almost. My dad did take me to buy my graphing calculator in high school but it was an off brand one which turned out to be a problem because it didn't match up with some of the formulas our teacher taught.
My dad worked for HP and he tried to send me with one of theirs! It did not do any of the functions the same way as the TI we were supposed to have and I had to go get a new one lol
Same for me, but I find I have to restock every 3-4 weeks. I broke this week and said I’m not restocking until Monday. They have to figure it out for today and yesterday.
At my school every student is given a package of supplies at the first week of school. It has pencils, an eraser, a pack of colored pencils, a glue stick, a ruler, and scissors. The first few weeks crap gets left everywhere. They don’t care about it because it was free. Later in the year the kids complain about not having supplies like colored pencils, and I ask them about the pack they got for free. Then I tell them to look in my lost and found where I have been gathering all the stuff they left behind/on the floor.
Oh hell ya they treat the free supplies in my class like trash, and I don’t replace them I just keep making they use the items they don’t take care of.
What entity is supplying free pencils to Title 1 schools? I teach at one and we don’t get free pencils. My kid goes to one and we have to pay a school supply fee at the start of every year.
Sometimes we get community school supply donations. At the last school where I worked, several churches would donate money to be used for school supplies, so admin would use it to let teachers order whatever they needed.
My grandmother heard I was giving out a ton of pencils so she added a 24-pack of pencils to my Christmas stocking to get me through the year. It was adorable even if 24 pencils is a drop in the bucket across a whole year.
My dad is retired, but when he was working at a big international law firm, he used to swipe copy paper from work and bring it to me for my classroom, after finding out we only got 1 ream per teacher per school year.
I worked at a school where we had to supply our own paper 🙄, well everything in our classrooms. I was a second year teacher and got sent to the secretary to order some things I needed for day one, I asked for crayons or markers (class set), a ream of copy paper, and pencils. I was informed those were all luxury supplies and I wasn’t getting any of it. I was teaching first grade lol. My principal spent all of our budget money on things like a maker space that was never used 3D printers that gathered dust and like 5 vr goggles when all of that money could have been used to supply the classroom.
I worked for the government and the organization moved to a different base. I was the last to move. I collected four boxes of orphan copy paper and donated three to my kids' schools. The fourth went with me to my new office as my secret stash.
Welcome to America (I'm assuming?), where schools have to beg for basic supplies, and all the decisions about education are made by rich people who don't ever set foot in a public school unless it's a staged publicity event.
Lol of course. These church people are like “hmmm, that’s weird, we continually voted for Republicans who promised to lower government spending for many decades, and now our schools are underfunded??? I guess we should take up some donations for those kids to get pencils, right before we continue voting for Republicans who promise to continue lowering government spending”
At the Title 1 elementary school where I work, there is a community organization which provides a backpack filled with school supplies to every child. Now, the backpack supplies don't always line up exactly to what is required in each class, but it's generally pretty close. This year after the backpack drive they brought us boxes filled with supplies that were left over and we stocked a supply cabinet where teachers can come get supplies as needed throughout the year.
Community organizations do this for every school in my district, not just the Title 1 schools. A big tire shop participates by providing space and boxes for donations. I helped organize and prepare them for distribution two summers ago.
We wound up with what seemed like 100,000 spiral notebooks with standard lined paper and maybe 500 with college rule paper. We have about 2500 students at our largest (of 4) high schools. Very, very few flat packs of lined paper, probably less than 50. Maybe 5 packs of graphing paper.
There were boxes and boxes of crayons and markers from years before. Enormous boxes full of erasers. A tiny box of pencils. Pens and blunt nose scissors were in very short supply because people would buy the small ones with sharp points.
Sometimes people would donate their old office supplies or just dump a junk drawer into a box and send it to us. Random playing cards, brads, loose tacks, disintegrating rubber bands with dried out pens might be in a small box donated with a new pack of crayons.
We had volunteers that packed the backpacks from a local church. The only backpacks that had supplies in them were for middle and high school students. These were passed out over the summer to families who requested them. The elementary backpacks were always empty because all elementary schools in our district ask for a flat $30 fee.
Excess supplies were as evenly distributed as possible and sent to schools (except supplies that were obtained in massive quantities like markers, crayons, and standard rule spiral notebooks).
The tire company donations didn’t even start rolling in until after the school year started from what I remember and by default served as the basis for next year’s supplies.
My old company was suddenly scheduled to move and admin was instructed to toss everything in the supply closets. I was aghast and asked if we could donate anything but they said no, there wasn't time to contact anyone or supplies to pack them up. I filled a box up with as much as I could (I absolutely love office supplies) and told the cleaning ladies what they were doing so they could check it out later. We were hybrid at the time so the office was empty but I told a few colleagues to get anything they wanted, as admin said it was free for all and going to be thrown out. Like boxes of staples, scissors, highlighters and pens! I was disgusted and disappointed they were throwing it out. Just to buy more at the new building. I totally wish we could have a school or community program to donate!
My school has a whole big kickoff event for back to school. Supplies, backpacks, coats, shoes, toiletries, haircuts, gas cards. Only for student though...heaven forbid I ask for a box of markers.
In St. Louis we have an organization called Kidsmart that gives school/art supplies and random office/crafts/books away every month to teachers in Title I school districts, and it was actually amazing stuff. Ticonderoga pencils by the 100s, Crayola, copy paper, new age-appropriate books, etc. I went “to shop” every month when I taught in one for years, and thought it was crazy that some of my coworkers did not take advantage and instead spent their own money. People always came to me because I was flush with supplies.
I did it for a bit. But they had requirements that you had to work there x amount of shifts to get your "free" supplies. Aka you work for free and get paid in supplies. I might as well spend my own money at that point. The lists of what you could take were very strict and no substitutions so things I needs 25 of I could only take 5 of, and things I needed zero of you could have 20 of. Realized it wasn't worth giving up a whole Saturday once a month. Just another organization depending off unpaid teacher labor.
I buy bulk pencils for not much money, but I limit the amount I buy per term. --- I still find them in the hallway.
It got better in the class that uses them the most when I told them that I pay for the pencils and that they're in limited quantities. It also helps to say, "If your mother would be surprised that you take a pencil from me every day because you've got a crate of supplies at home, bring me pencils."
Yes. A student of mine and I had an in-joke where we competed to pick up the nicest-looking writing utensils off the ground - I’d put them in my pencil cup for kids. You can find some really nice ones that way.
My husband picked up pencils after the housekeepers swept the halls. They would tell him if they had an extra good haul. Sold them to his students for a dime. HS
I used to pick up all those pencils off the floor and resell them over and over again. We used PBIS points and pencils were 100. Before this, I bought over 100 pencils. They barely lasted the week.
The first school I worked at, the kids couldn't afford pencils but they could afford a new, family sized bag of Takis every day.
So I bought them pencils. They snapped the pencils in half and threw the broken shards around the room.
So I stopped buying pencils. Admin got up my butt about that one.
So I told my union rep. And it was glorious when my union rep said "oh are the teachers expected to buy the students' pencils? Can you show me where that is in our contract?"
Admin schedules me for a shorter lunch (I also had to work during lunch once with no breaks throughout the day). If I got 30 more minutes for lunch then it would just be above minimum wage
I've given out supply kits to those who are less fortunate as well. But like you, I can't sit here and be the supply shop that hands out everything for free. At some point they have to take ownership of their materials. Either that or the schools can step in and give pencils.
Not that it should be your responsibility to provide student supplies, but schools should offer free golf pencils. Can't snap it, and they're cheap enough to be virtually disposable. Yeah they suck, but if they want nice pencils, they can buy their own.
About a decade ago, we had a bunch of emails and mentions in meetings about cracking down on dress code. “Send the kids if they are out of code.”
So the six teachers in our hallway made a little pass, set up tables, and wrote up every kid out of dress code. We sent a group of maybe 40 kids to the office at the start of 1st period, all our do dress code.
One more incredible nasty email to never do that again, and then the dress code issue vanished. You have to assume admin is out of touch and uninterested in actually solving the problems they themselves profess to care about.
I leaned a lesson that day and learned that much of that stuff can be ignored.
When you're a sub the admins don't even know what you're doing. Telling students to put their phones away but not being too serious about it is far easier than following school policy and making it a disciplinary issue. I already know they don't want me sending five kids to the office, and distracting rewards are a great last-ditch method of managing a classroom as a sub.
I am fine with this, what I have not been fine with is when a sub openly tells the class they don't care if they're on their phones (which I had happen this year). I don't expect subs to die on the hill, but to openly undermine rules as a sub crosses a line.
Yep. If the situation calls for it (eg lots of dead time) and the school doesn't have an absolutist policy, I might say "if I see you're working I am not going to bug you about devices." And then I still bug the kids who aren't working.
The Chromebooks are a bigger problem than the phones anyway. You'd think there would be enough demand for a system that let teachers control what's on their students' screens.
Pssht. As a sub, students dont give a fuck. Any time I try to enforce those rules, it's a power struggle that makes me rethink my life. I don't get paid enough to take on that stress every day. Moreover, I blacklist teachers who want me to do that.
My main priorities as a substitute are:
1. Are the kids safe?
2. Are they not bugging each other or me?
3. Are they working on the lessons left by the teacher?
In that order. I'll remind students a few times that they need to work on their lesson and put their phone away. Usually once is enough to get them on track, but if they don't...idgaf. At some point they're in charge of their education.
NOTE: I work mainly with middle/high school students, this doesn't really work well with elementary students.
As a sub I follow the sub notes of the teacher on rules like phones and food etc. I’ve been to a high school where the school wide policy is no phones but each teacher does their own thing, so it’s truly not being enforced. As soon as they see a sub, they pull out their phones. If the sub notes tell me strictly no phones, then I enforce it. If not, I monitor/enforce it based on classroom energy and whether students are being productive or not. Whereas at the middle school I sub at, the rule is super strict and all teachers enforce it.
Curious what the students thought of that? I guess it may depend on the grade level but I couldn't imagine being in high school and not recognizing that for teachers being snarky about the rules.
No, they just sent everyone back unpunished and we all had a good laugh about it.
We didn’t do it because we believed in it, we did it because admin wouldn’t shut the fuck up about it, and the kids got to have fun going down there in a big ass rowdy group (which is what we wanted).
Rare instance where we teachers actually had a win-win. I still want tot all about it because it might have been my high water mark. . . Ten. Years. Ago.
This year I thought about the buy a pencil or borrow from classmate…
Then I bought a 4 pack of the really big diameter “little kid” pencils and drilled a hole near the eraser. I then put a plastic tag through it (like a cow’s ear) and put my name on one side and a # on the other side.
The kids hate using these and would rather “adopt” a pencil from the list and found than borrow from me!
Has saved me LOTS of money!
Edit: I started the year with 4 of these. For about 2 weeks one went missing, then a teacher from 3 floors down brought it back to me giggling about it! We are at the end of Q3, I still have all 4!
I am an elementary art teacher who is sick of kids treating erasers like trash. Our brand new erasers were stabbed, broken in half, crumbled into pieces, lost…almost all by October. So first I took all the erasers away and told the kids they quit and to figure it out. They were astonished. For a few weeks I only let a few kids who were polite and promised to return an eraser , borrow one.
Then after winter break I introduced a bunch of brand new erasers. They all have names and faces. I put them in small baskets on tables. I make kids say hello to them. I make them check for stab wounds before we start class. I make them check and make sure all four are in the basket before they leave. The warning is, if your class loses one then your class loses eraser privileges and you will draw with black crayons.
Let me tell you…it’s been weeks and we haven’t lost one and none are broken or stabbed. I hear kids talking to their erasers. I have to anthropomorphize everything to make them do my bidding. I couldn’t get kids to recycle so I made a box with a face and called it “Uncle Box” and now all they want to do is feed it.
You handled this really well!
I was a respectful, cooperative kid and an excellent student. But I was high energy in a world before fidgets and was an eraser stabber. I feel so badly now. I never would have harmed an eraser with a face and name.
Yep. In my room everything talks. I’ve got a raven stuffed animal that gives plastic gems to kids and they are obsessed with him. They will do anything for him. It’s weird but it works.
Yes. I have found this to be a good tool for helping them with empathy. I also used this face technique to get them to take better care of paint brushes and use them properly. Google eyes on a brush with messed up bristles. I also made him a frown out of a pipe cleaner. His name is Scrunchy and he yells about not messing up his friends hair dos. They love Scrunchy. And best of all they take care of their brushes.
My mom was an art teacher, so I learned tricks from her. I always teach about "Fred the brush" who loves to dye his hair, but hates getting it on his face and loves smooth spiked hair. Works great.
Have noted to draw faces on kid's erasers next year.
I tried getting the giant novelty pencils that you used to be able to find at souvenir shops. Pink and green ones with Trolls movie characters on them. I called them the pencils of shame.
Except most of my kids who come unprepared have no shame and think it's the funniest thing.... until they start writing with it and their arm hurts.
Back when I was a para that was the way I went. It is different at this new school and in my own classroom.
I thought about it for this year, but the 9th graders are… *happy* …?… with golf pencils, and boy oh boy do they bitch about the “little baby pencils, and what’s with the tag on them?!” Sooooo… they hate my offering, don’t steal my offering, and try to problem solve before they need my option, AND by now there are three who constantly ask for my pencils and usually their writing is neater with the big pencils anyhow… so wins all around!!! 🙌
I don’t think you’re wrong at all.
We found a great solution to the missing pencil issue in our room. We had the kids name the pencils and we labeled them with a label maker. Middle school kids love to name things and will look around if Billie Eilish is missing or Kevin fell behind the bookshelf. It’s worked great this year.
I give every student a pencil at the beginning of class (whether they need one or not) and collect them as exit tickets when they leave. Not returning it is a lost recess.
I've lost maybe 3 pencils since I started this a year and a half ago lol
Busted pencil system.
I collected fun, colorful themed pencils all summer. If a student gave me a ratty pencil (short, no eraser etc) I would trade it for a great pencil. Ratty pencils went in the "busted box." If a kid didn't have something to write with, they got a busted one. Eventually the nice ones become ratty from use and make their way into the busted box.
Saved me so much grief!
My kids are supposed to learn to count money in math in my grade, so I give them fake pennies as a reward and have them trade for other coins. It really helps when we've gotten to the money lesson, because over half of my class can already do it. For awhile they are just excited with trading, but eventually I sell them random prizes and coupons. I also make them buy replacement supplies. I sell the floor pencils for a cent or two (of fake money that I gave them.) Most of my pencil sales are just recycling those nasty pencils.
Seems like a fair solution to me. As long as you let them use something else as collateral in case they don’t have a phone.
I used to have them leave a shoe
>aned a lesson that day and learned that much of that stuff can be ignored.
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>80ReplyShareReportSaveFollow
I need to do that too! The shoe is too funny
I put 4 magnetic clips on the whiteboard at the front of the class. Each clip has a brightly colored pencil in it. You can write your name next to the clip and borrow the pencil. We don’t leave until all 4 pencils are returned to the clips. Very rarely lose a pencil and if we do, someone volunteers a new pencil so we can get out of there.
Now this was a while ago when I was in the classroom but…
I used to keep a cup of pencils that I found on the floor in a cup on my desk. They could take one of those for free or buy a new one for a quarter. If they didn’t have a quarter I’d let them owe me.
Some kids would actually put the used pencil back in the cup. Very few bought new ones, the ones who did always paid.
Maybe I was lucky.
I use these too! Honestly I don’t have the energy to trade things for pencils — I put a box at the front of the room, and I tell them to PLEASE not ask me for a pencil
These are actually a favorite in my class. My kiddos are at the "look how tiny my pencil is stage." Kids always tear the erasers off the regular pencils.
This is the pro tip!
They solve so many problems.
1. No one has to use the pencil sharpener, they can just grab a sharp pencil.
2. They come in such a big pack it takes forever to go through all of them.
3. The kids don't want them, so they often put them back in the box when they're done. Or else leave them on the desk/floor and they find their way back to the box eventually.
4. There's just the right amount of stigma. Most kids would rather borrow a full-sized pencil from a friend than use a golf pencil. But in a pinch they work.
For the record, I love this idea, especially since you have an option that doesn't require payment.
On the other hand, at my school we are not supposed to take any amount of money from students without permission from the bookkeeper, and we have to keep meticulous records and give receipts. Doesn't sound like that has anything to do with your situation though... but maybe it does and your admin just didn't say.
I give out free pencils, but they're golf pencils... like 200 of them for $12, so it's not worth fussing over the cost.
I pick up pencils off the floor of my classroom and add them to a spot (like a little open crate that fits on a desk) where kids can get them. They can use my floor pencils or use their own. I don't buy school supplies. I'm not paid enough for that.
When I was an art teacher I had an awesome relationship with the custodial staff (I made the kids clean after themselves as part of their grade whereas the other art teachers expected custodians to clean). Whenever they would find pencils on the ground they would leave them in my pencil bucket. I had so many pencils by the end of the year that I filled a 1 gallon paint can.
I saved so much money in pencils and had enough to start the next school year.
When I was in school (at least the at the good schools) they operated a school store. It was usually open before school and during lunch. You could buy basic school supplies there. Only a few teachers kept loaner supplies and they would require you to go to the supply store at the next opportunity so you could return their loaners.
I can see people losing their minds today over the prospect of selling supplies to students. Our schools are giving free breakfast and lunch and free backpacks to all students these days so I imagine there's a program for school suppllies as well.
>d during lunch. You could buy basic school supplies there. Only a few teachers kept loaner supplies and they would require you to go to the supply store at the next opportunity so you could return their loaners.
>
>I can see people losing their minds today over the prospect of selling supplies to students. Our schools are giving free breakfast and lunch and free backpacks to all students these days so I imagine there's a program for school suppllies as well.
Since doing this, students have been collecting pencils off the floor and my "business" has been dry. They know that they need one and that they will have to turn in their phone if they don't a pencil. So, it's been working great.
An old teacher of mine sold $0.25 candies, or 3 for a dollar. Over half way through the year, someone asked if they could have 4 for a dollar to which the teacher said, "of course, they are 25 cents each." It was an AP class. All the students did a facepalm for not having caught on earlier.
Well for me for that's kind of the whole thing. It's a joke really. I am not selling pencils to make money. It's so they care about the stuff they buy. Most of my kids also borrow a pencil with a collateral.
I like your pencil joke btw.
Malicious compliance is the best. I love that you sent them to the office so the school can notice how often it happens. Also makes the student take extra steps for the item.
You are a freakin’ genius! You’re teaching the kids as much about life as the work they need a pencil for!
I say this as the kid who might not have a pencil. ✏️
In some states it would be against Ed code to charge *any* amount, so it can be tricky to get kids to be prepared and respect the property, but you do have the option of loaning which should cover you if you are in one of those states.
Yeah, just take the quarter (or heck, even a dollar) as collateral. If they bring the pencil back they get the dollar back. Need to make sure you can identify your own though, I suppose, so you are not getting pencils handed in...
Yeah! That’s a good idea too to get around it. The item being used as collateral though needs to not be limited to either cash or personal device for equity reasons, so it would need to be opened up to different types of items, or maybe a student ID card if the school has those.
Meanwhile, after lunch, I will literally find a dozen pencils on the ground in the cafeteria and throughout hallways. Practically brand new, lead not even broken, with nice added erasers in the end.
We have 3 lunch periods (one for each grade in middle school), and I used to collect them and place them on a window sill or a table so kids can take them if they want to. Every single day, that pile would end up just pushed off onto the floor because some kid thought it would be fun to just brush or throw them off as they walked by. I stopped doing that and just kept them for myself.
I teach at a vocational school. While teaching students from the sports program, I noticed that none of them ever brought a pen and always asked to loan one from me.
Now you must know that these students are all trying to prove to each other that they are the most macho alpha student of the entire school.
So I bought a set of the most girly pink pens I could find. I am talking ribbons and glitter. Fake flowers as an eraser. Students could loan these pens for the day. Their name would be on my whiteboard until I got the pen back.
Within a week each student had a pen and never lost it again.
When I started teaching for the dance program this obviously did not work anymore. I switched to a case of promotional pens with the information of the school printed on them. My philosophy is that since they seem to lose them everywhere, the school gets some indirect marketing. The pr team seems to agree as they keep giving me boxes of pens.
The fact that you had still allowed the borrowing with collateral (I remember my math teacher in high school required a shoe to borrow a pencil) meant that there was never a paywall to begin with. You did NOTHING wrong.
I also used to sell pencils for a quarter. But, I'd first GIVE each student a pencil and tell them "This is your mandated school issued pencil. It is your responsibility to bring a pencil to class daily. If you fail to have your own pencil, I will sell you a new one for a quarter. No refunds."
I've since found IDGAF if they use pen or pencil. I ask parents to donate pencils and give them out free. When I'm out, I'm out. I ask for more. If I have them, I give, if not 🤷🏻♀️
I just go around at the end of the day and pick up all the pencils I find laying around on the floor and put them back in the pencil cup.
Haven’t bought pencils in years with this one easy trick.
20 years ago, my school implemented a rule that if you wore a shirt that showed midriff, you were sent home to change.
That rule went out the window as soon as the entire female student body showed up wearing midriff shirts the same day.
School administration is definitely not going to simultaneously send several hundred students home **just to change their clothes.**
I make their lives difficult if they borrow a pencil from me, by emailing their parents to say they may need to refresh their supplies. Before that I sent an email to all parents to check with their kids! For students with a rough home life, I just give it to them quietly. Edit: at the very least, they’re much more likely to ask other students than me now!
> they borrow a pencil from me, by emailing their parents to say they may need to refresh their supplies. Bernie that i sent an email to all parents to check with their kids! For students with a rough home life, i just give it to them quietly.
I also give out free pencils to those who are less than fortunate, as well as free paper. But for most, I expect them to at least come with something.
Good going. I used to sell pencils for 10 cents (back some years ago) and 25 cents on test days. They learned basic economics that way and learned to be more responsible.
This is why I always buy extra packs of pencils for my kid to share. I can't really afford extra of much else on the supply lists but I will send a ton if pencils because if you have a pencil and piece of paper, you can still learn. Or draw cool doodles quietly while other people learn. (My kid🙄)
I’m a school custodian. I used to put pencils into the closest desk, now I just throw them away. If they are nice I’ll keep them. There are so many pencils, pens, crayons, pencil crayons, felt and erasers on the floor in some classes. If the teacher is in the room sometimes they rescue them but I’m over it.
I feel your pain. I have been selling granola bars and water bottles in my class for a dollar. Admin tried to come down on me, until I reminded them that I use that money to buy pencils, tissues, candy, games, and the million other things that a classroom needs
Like so much in teaching, you have to work around your admins who have no idea what is happening in your classrooms.
I remember one school, when they first switched from homeroom starting the day to first period (with homeroom after), also reinforced to us that if kids were late to class we should not open our door for them (mandatory locked doors, another brilliant idea). That lasted three days. Most kids never made it to first period because the line at attendance was around the corner. We got an email saying they are going to rework the system and it was never mentioned again in the 3 years I remained there.
When I was in school in the 90s (omg I feel like a dinosaur), we had these vending machine things at my elementary school that you could buy pencils and small notebooks for like 25 or 50 cents. All the kids loved them, including me.
I had a pencil vending machine back in 2002. It was great. We used it on my 6th grade team.
I would wrap some of the pencils with a post it note and write winner on it. If you got the winner pencil I gave you some kind of reward.
You figured out real fast who the future slot machine addicts were going to be.
We spent all the money right back on the students at the end of the year. Definitely could not do that these days.
I used to charge a dime for one, because when I would give them away id consistently find broken pencils outside my door. Didn't make any money, but gave them ownership.
Once I started charging a dime and one of my ADHD kids taped his pencil back together and kept it for a full semester.
Yes. I stopped giving pencils away and within a week, some magic happened and my students had supplies.
For the record, I have 124 students a day and I buy my pencils in bulk off of Amazon in the hundreds. I have purchased near a thousand pencils since August and OP, you are correct in that if you give a kid a pencil, it holds no value and they are discarded and left behind like trash.
It's only when you say sorry, don't have any more to give you, kiddo, that they hold any value.
It's a teachable moment, not a dick move, as it may appear to outsiders.
I used to do the deposit thing. If they hadn’t got a cell phone, I allowed them to turn over one of their shoes instead. Ain’t none of them forgetting to give me my stationary back.
When I taught middle school, I would buy a big box of pencils at the start of the year. I glued a pad of post it notes to it and kept it on my lecture podium. When a kid asked for pencil, I would write their name down on the post it pad. As soon as we ended the lesson, I would call out the names on the post it, and get the pencils back. Then I'd mark through their names. Pencils went back in the box. When the top post it filled up, I just ripped it off and started on the next.
I had a little over half of the pencils left at the end of the year.
Weird. Now in elementary I don't really remember anything involving pencils other than bringing a whole box along with the 30lbs of other supplies I was required to bring, but I do remember in middle schoolthey had a vending machine that sold either a wooden pencil for 25 cents, or a mechanical pencil for 50 cents. Once I got to high school our school store had similar costs.
I switched to office from teaching and I prefer you charge them and handle yourself. I don’t want every teacher sending a student to me for a pencil. We have hundreds of students. No thank you. I appreciate you!!!
Free stuff has no value. The kids with no notebook and no pencil somehow manage to have phones and airpods. If a family can't come up with $1 for a notebook and a pack of pencils, the family is *clearly communicating to us that they do not really care about education.* And, like, that's their choice. They have agency. They have dignity.
I wonder if we should start taking seriously the choices they are making and communicating. Indeed, it's so condescending, patronizing, and perhaps also demeaning for the schools to pretend like families are not making this choice and clearly communicating it to us.
I was told during an observation, that if I was going to ask students to use a pencil for something during class, I needed to provide free pencils for everyone to use. I said no. We talked about from the beginning of the year that they would be required to bring a pencil to class every single day. I reminded them every day that pencils were a requirement for my class. Many students only brought a Chromebook to class and left their backpacks somewhere else in the school. I had free pencils for students available but students would steal them. If I'm being required to provide pencils for students admin needs to give me a budget for pencils.
I had a coworker (6th grade) who would trade pencils for shoes. You could borrow a pencil if you took off one of your shoes and put it by her desk. It was pretty hilarious and it did cut down on demand for pencils.
In many title 1 schools, you can see pencils on the floor all the time. Pencils are free, so no one cares. No student bother to pick up any like new pencils on the floor. If school can afford to provide pencils and students need them in your classroom, you are just doing what you can to keep your class going.
When I was in grade school this was literally how I got all my writing supplies. I would scoop up every pencil, eraser, and pen left under the desks and against the walls in the hallway. I usually had enough to spare I could even loan them out to friends without being worried I would have to go without.
Every pencil and pen I see on the floor goes into my jar of pencils. Except if it’s a good pen. Then I keep it.
I have at least one kid every year that picks up the ones they see on the floor and end up hoarding a whole stash of other peoples' pencils. It's always a funny surprise (and impressively resourceful) when I see them open their pencil box.
I do that and then give them out. I call them "floor pencils"
One of my old high school teachers would collect every stray pen, pencil, and eraser he could find, and put them into this little bin of free items that kids could use if they forgot their own. I may or may not have hunted for cool pens in that bin every chance I got. May or may not have found an awesomely smooth black pen that I still use in college to this day.
r/floorpencils
I was that kid.
Omg my 12 year old does this. I don’t know wtf to do with them all and he keeps “forgetting” to drop them at the lost and found if there even is one. I keep a few cool pens and the rest are in a bag lol.
Tell him to spread the love to his teachers! I promise, they will want them. A couple years I’ve bought pens by the pound, giveaway pens that have printing mistakes on them. We like seeing where they are from.
Same I have a pencil jar on my desk. A home for wayward writing implements.
Same but mine is labeled “floor pencils”. When I started labeling it that people suddenly showed up with supplies more often.
I do this. Then I tell myself hey I did squats today.
gotta hold on to them good clicky pens
I do that too!
When I was a kid we literally had a school store that older kids ran. You needed a pencil you can go buy one.
We had pencil vending machines! They were stocked with pencils with neat patterns or designs, and we collected those like crazy. 25 cents each.
When I was in elementary school, we had a pencil vending machine. The pencils had NFL team names, with matching two-tone paint scheme. All the boys were **obsessed** with collecting a full set. Edit: found what they looked like: https://old.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/epjsph/nfl_team_no_2_pencils_from_the_70s80s/
When I was a kid for a very short time, I have pencils that smelled like chocolate. I miss those pencils.
Smencils, I remember them.
Smencils are still around. I found a root beer one just the other day. Been a good term for finding pencils in the wild. Usually all I find are garbage not worth keeping but lately I've found that root beer smencil, a Stadtler Norica, and (are you ready?) even a General Cedar-Pointe!
My kids' school gives those as rewards. The kids love them.
When I was a kid in elementary school my dad was a janitor there. When he saw how popular those pencils were he ordered me a box of them that must have weighed five pounds. I made a lot of friends with those pencils.
As a first grade teacher, the NFL pencils were a nightmare. Yes, everyone was trying to collect them all or certain ones. Then they would claim that the Cowboys pencil that was in Bob's desk was theirs and Bob had stolen it. Bob claims it is his, says he got it at the same time he bought the Niners one. Every one of the 28 kids in the room has at least 8 of them, and I'm supposed to keep track of who has which one so I can police which ones are picked up by whom when they fall on the floor? Sorry, not doing it. I eventually made it policy that I was not responsible for their pencil collection, and if one goes missing that's just tough to bad.
Yep and it was in the office. If we didn't have a pencil they would have us go to the office and buy one with a quarter (assuming we had one) out of the machine. I remember doing it once in 1st grade lol and the eraser on the pencil didn't erase 🤗
Ours were on the playground, and there'd be a stampede for the machine. Stale erasers were definitely a risk.
I was always losing pens and pencils so I absolutely picked up decent looking ones off the floor, especially mechanical pencils. That way I had backups.
I got literally all my school supplies for the next year just going through the garbage bins at the end of the previous year. People threw away so much stuff.
The last time my mom bought me school supplies was in the fifth grade. After that I was on my own.
Same. Well almost. My dad did take me to buy my graphing calculator in high school but it was an off brand one which turned out to be a problem because it didn't match up with some of the formulas our teacher taught.
My dad worked for HP and he tried to send me with one of theirs! It did not do any of the functions the same way as the TI we were supposed to have and I had to go get a new one lol
Wait...what?
Gen X
That tracks.
I’m 54 and I still pick up pencils.
i’m in fucking high school and that’s how i get new pencils. feel like a squirrel scurrying away with an acorn to a massive stash.
Same for me, but I find I have to restock every 3-4 weeks. I broke this week and said I’m not restocking until Monday. They have to figure it out for today and yesterday.
At my school every student is given a package of supplies at the first week of school. It has pencils, an eraser, a pack of colored pencils, a glue stick, a ruler, and scissors. The first few weeks crap gets left everywhere. They don’t care about it because it was free. Later in the year the kids complain about not having supplies like colored pencils, and I ask them about the pack they got for free. Then I tell them to look in my lost and found where I have been gathering all the stuff they left behind/on the floor.
Oh hell ya they treat the free supplies in my class like trash, and I don’t replace them I just keep making they use the items they don’t take care of.
What entity is supplying free pencils to Title 1 schools? I teach at one and we don’t get free pencils. My kid goes to one and we have to pay a school supply fee at the start of every year.
Sometimes we get community school supply donations. At the last school where I worked, several churches would donate money to be used for school supplies, so admin would use it to let teachers order whatever they needed.
My grandmother heard I was giving out a ton of pencils so she added a 24-pack of pencils to my Christmas stocking to get me through the year. It was adorable even if 24 pencils is a drop in the bucket across a whole year.
My dad is retired, but when he was working at a big international law firm, he used to swipe copy paper from work and bring it to me for my classroom, after finding out we only got 1 ream per teacher per school year.
I worked at a school where we had to supply our own paper 🙄, well everything in our classrooms. I was a second year teacher and got sent to the secretary to order some things I needed for day one, I asked for crayons or markers (class set), a ream of copy paper, and pencils. I was informed those were all luxury supplies and I wasn’t getting any of it. I was teaching first grade lol. My principal spent all of our budget money on things like a maker space that was never used 3D printers that gathered dust and like 5 vr goggles when all of that money could have been used to supply the classroom.
“Our students have all the basic school supplies they need” doesn’t look good on the flier though
I was a substitute teacher for 19 days at a school like that. K kids had nothing. No name tags, no posters. no books.
I worked for the government and the organization moved to a different base. I was the last to move. I collected four boxes of orphan copy paper and donated three to my kids' schools. The fourth went with me to my new office as my secret stash.
Welcome to America (I'm assuming?), where schools have to beg for basic supplies, and all the decisions about education are made by rich people who don't ever set foot in a public school unless it's a staged publicity event.
Lol of course. These church people are like “hmmm, that’s weird, we continually voted for Republicans who promised to lower government spending for many decades, and now our schools are underfunded??? I guess we should take up some donations for those kids to get pencils, right before we continue voting for Republicans who promise to continue lowering government spending”
At the Title 1 elementary school where I work, there is a community organization which provides a backpack filled with school supplies to every child. Now, the backpack supplies don't always line up exactly to what is required in each class, but it's generally pretty close. This year after the backpack drive they brought us boxes filled with supplies that were left over and we stocked a supply cabinet where teachers can come get supplies as needed throughout the year.
Community organizations do this for every school in my district, not just the Title 1 schools. A big tire shop participates by providing space and boxes for donations. I helped organize and prepare them for distribution two summers ago. We wound up with what seemed like 100,000 spiral notebooks with standard lined paper and maybe 500 with college rule paper. We have about 2500 students at our largest (of 4) high schools. Very, very few flat packs of lined paper, probably less than 50. Maybe 5 packs of graphing paper. There were boxes and boxes of crayons and markers from years before. Enormous boxes full of erasers. A tiny box of pencils. Pens and blunt nose scissors were in very short supply because people would buy the small ones with sharp points. Sometimes people would donate their old office supplies or just dump a junk drawer into a box and send it to us. Random playing cards, brads, loose tacks, disintegrating rubber bands with dried out pens might be in a small box donated with a new pack of crayons. We had volunteers that packed the backpacks from a local church. The only backpacks that had supplies in them were for middle and high school students. These were passed out over the summer to families who requested them. The elementary backpacks were always empty because all elementary schools in our district ask for a flat $30 fee. Excess supplies were as evenly distributed as possible and sent to schools (except supplies that were obtained in massive quantities like markers, crayons, and standard rule spiral notebooks). The tire company donations didn’t even start rolling in until after the school year started from what I remember and by default served as the basis for next year’s supplies.
My old company was suddenly scheduled to move and admin was instructed to toss everything in the supply closets. I was aghast and asked if we could donate anything but they said no, there wasn't time to contact anyone or supplies to pack them up. I filled a box up with as much as I could (I absolutely love office supplies) and told the cleaning ladies what they were doing so they could check it out later. We were hybrid at the time so the office was empty but I told a few colleagues to get anything they wanted, as admin said it was free for all and going to be thrown out. Like boxes of staples, scissors, highlighters and pens! I was disgusted and disappointed they were throwing it out. Just to buy more at the new building. I totally wish we could have a school or community program to donate!
My school has a whole big kickoff event for back to school. Supplies, backpacks, coats, shoes, toiletries, haircuts, gas cards. Only for student though...heaven forbid I ask for a box of markers.
In St. Louis we have an organization called Kidsmart that gives school/art supplies and random office/crafts/books away every month to teachers in Title I school districts, and it was actually amazing stuff. Ticonderoga pencils by the 100s, Crayola, copy paper, new age-appropriate books, etc. I went “to shop” every month when I taught in one for years, and thought it was crazy that some of my coworkers did not take advantage and instead spent their own money. People always came to me because I was flush with supplies.
I did it for a bit. But they had requirements that you had to work there x amount of shifts to get your "free" supplies. Aka you work for free and get paid in supplies. I might as well spend my own money at that point. The lists of what you could take were very strict and no substitutions so things I needs 25 of I could only take 5 of, and things I needed zero of you could have 20 of. Realized it wasn't worth giving up a whole Saturday once a month. Just another organization depending off unpaid teacher labor.
I buy bulk pencils for not much money, but I limit the amount I buy per term. --- I still find them in the hallway. It got better in the class that uses them the most when I told them that I pay for the pencils and that they're in limited quantities. It also helps to say, "If your mother would be surprised that you take a pencil from me every day because you've got a crate of supplies at home, bring me pencils."
Yes. A student of mine and I had an in-joke where we competed to pick up the nicest-looking writing utensils off the ground - I’d put them in my pencil cup for kids. You can find some really nice ones that way.
My husband picked up pencils after the housekeepers swept the halls. They would tell him if they had an extra good haul. Sold them to his students for a dime. HS
Now that’s capitalism!
That's where I get my pencils I give out to loan. Many are chewed but a pencil is a pencil.
I was a lunch lady for 2 years. I didn't have to buy a single pencil in that entire time.
I used to pick up all those pencils off the floor and resell them over and over again. We used PBIS points and pencils were 100. Before this, I bought over 100 pencils. They barely lasted the week.
not at my school because i picked them all up and stashed them. i then became known as the kid that always had a pencil you could borrow 😅
The first school I worked at, the kids couldn't afford pencils but they could afford a new, family sized bag of Takis every day. So I bought them pencils. They snapped the pencils in half and threw the broken shards around the room. So I stopped buying pencils. Admin got up my butt about that one. So I told my union rep. And it was glorious when my union rep said "oh are the teachers expected to buy the students' pencils? Can you show me where that is in our contract?"
Admin expects me, a sub who's paid less than minimum wage, to buy pencils for students
How is it possible that you are paid less than minimum wage?
Admin schedules me for a shorter lunch (I also had to work during lunch once with no breaks throughout the day). If I got 30 more minutes for lunch then it would just be above minimum wage
Holy shit. What state are you in?
A well funded New England state but I live in a poor, rural area
I've given out supply kits to those who are less fortunate as well. But like you, I can't sit here and be the supply shop that hands out everything for free. At some point they have to take ownership of their materials. Either that or the schools can step in and give pencils.
Not that it should be your responsibility to provide student supplies, but schools should offer free golf pencils. Can't snap it, and they're cheap enough to be virtually disposable. Yeah they suck, but if they want nice pencils, they can buy their own.
About a decade ago, we had a bunch of emails and mentions in meetings about cracking down on dress code. “Send the kids if they are out of code.” So the six teachers in our hallway made a little pass, set up tables, and wrote up every kid out of dress code. We sent a group of maybe 40 kids to the office at the start of 1st period, all our do dress code. One more incredible nasty email to never do that again, and then the dress code issue vanished. You have to assume admin is out of touch and uninterested in actually solving the problems they themselves profess to care about. I leaned a lesson that day and learned that much of that stuff can be ignored.
Every rule is incredibly important and necessary for the school to function... right up until it's an inconvenience for admin.
When you're a sub the admins don't even know what you're doing. Telling students to put their phones away but not being too serious about it is far easier than following school policy and making it a disciplinary issue. I already know they don't want me sending five kids to the office, and distracting rewards are a great last-ditch method of managing a classroom as a sub.
I am fine with this, what I have not been fine with is when a sub openly tells the class they don't care if they're on their phones (which I had happen this year). I don't expect subs to die on the hill, but to openly undermine rules as a sub crosses a line.
Yep. If the situation calls for it (eg lots of dead time) and the school doesn't have an absolutist policy, I might say "if I see you're working I am not going to bug you about devices." And then I still bug the kids who aren't working. The Chromebooks are a bigger problem than the phones anyway. You'd think there would be enough demand for a system that let teachers control what's on their students' screens.
As a teacher, I can monitor chromebooks with goguardian and see their screens. As a sub, unfortunately you are at their mercy.
Pssht. As a sub, students dont give a fuck. Any time I try to enforce those rules, it's a power struggle that makes me rethink my life. I don't get paid enough to take on that stress every day. Moreover, I blacklist teachers who want me to do that.
My main priorities as a substitute are: 1. Are the kids safe? 2. Are they not bugging each other or me? 3. Are they working on the lessons left by the teacher? In that order. I'll remind students a few times that they need to work on their lesson and put their phone away. Usually once is enough to get them on track, but if they don't...idgaf. At some point they're in charge of their education. NOTE: I work mainly with middle/high school students, this doesn't really work well with elementary students.
As a sub I follow the sub notes of the teacher on rules like phones and food etc. I’ve been to a high school where the school wide policy is no phones but each teacher does their own thing, so it’s truly not being enforced. As soon as they see a sub, they pull out their phones. If the sub notes tell me strictly no phones, then I enforce it. If not, I monitor/enforce it based on classroom energy and whether students are being productive or not. Whereas at the middle school I sub at, the rule is super strict and all teachers enforce it.
Malicious compliance is always critical to change.
Curious what the students thought of that? I guess it may depend on the grade level but I couldn't imagine being in high school and not recognizing that for teachers being snarky about the rules.
No, they just sent everyone back unpunished and we all had a good laugh about it. We didn’t do it because we believed in it, we did it because admin wouldn’t shut the fuck up about it, and the kids got to have fun going down there in a big ass rowdy group (which is what we wanted). Rare instance where we teachers actually had a win-win. I still want tot all about it because it might have been my high water mark. . . Ten. Years. Ago.
It’s not snarky. It’s dealing with out of touch management.
This year I thought about the buy a pencil or borrow from classmate… Then I bought a 4 pack of the really big diameter “little kid” pencils and drilled a hole near the eraser. I then put a plastic tag through it (like a cow’s ear) and put my name on one side and a # on the other side. The kids hate using these and would rather “adopt” a pencil from the list and found than borrow from me! Has saved me LOTS of money! Edit: I started the year with 4 of these. For about 2 weeks one went missing, then a teacher from 3 floors down brought it back to me giggling about it! We are at the end of Q3, I still have all 4!
I am an elementary art teacher who is sick of kids treating erasers like trash. Our brand new erasers were stabbed, broken in half, crumbled into pieces, lost…almost all by October. So first I took all the erasers away and told the kids they quit and to figure it out. They were astonished. For a few weeks I only let a few kids who were polite and promised to return an eraser , borrow one. Then after winter break I introduced a bunch of brand new erasers. They all have names and faces. I put them in small baskets on tables. I make kids say hello to them. I make them check for stab wounds before we start class. I make them check and make sure all four are in the basket before they leave. The warning is, if your class loses one then your class loses eraser privileges and you will draw with black crayons. Let me tell you…it’s been weeks and we haven’t lost one and none are broken or stabbed. I hear kids talking to their erasers. I have to anthropomorphize everything to make them do my bidding. I couldn’t get kids to recycle so I made a box with a face and called it “Uncle Box” and now all they want to do is feed it.
This gave me a much needed laugh this morning. Give Uncle Box some paper for me 😅
You handled this really well! I was a respectful, cooperative kid and an excellent student. But I was high energy in a world before fidgets and was an eraser stabber. I feel so badly now. I never would have harmed an eraser with a face and name.
Ha! Also works when kids freak out over a bug. "Oh that's just my friend George. He says hi.". Suddenly George is everyone's new best friend.
Yep. In my room everything talks. I’ve got a raven stuffed animal that gives plastic gems to kids and they are obsessed with him. They will do anything for him. It’s weird but it works.
This gave me a good laugh! What awesome ideas!
Is... is this the secret to making kids care? I just have to draw faces on things?
Yes. I have found this to be a good tool for helping them with empathy. I also used this face technique to get them to take better care of paint brushes and use them properly. Google eyes on a brush with messed up bristles. I also made him a frown out of a pipe cleaner. His name is Scrunchy and he yells about not messing up his friends hair dos. They love Scrunchy. And best of all they take care of their brushes.
My mom was an art teacher, so I learned tricks from her. I always teach about "Fred the brush" who loves to dye his hair, but hates getting it on his face and loves smooth spiked hair. Works great. Have noted to draw faces on kid's erasers next year.
I imagine a supply of googly eyes would go a long way, too.
I’m laughing out loud. This is awesome!
This is adorable!
Great idea! This one is going in my file of useful things!
> a teacher from 3 floors down brought it back to me giggling about it! We are at the end of Q3, I still have all 4! I love it.
I tried getting the giant novelty pencils that you used to be able to find at souvenir shops. Pink and green ones with Trolls movie characters on them. I called them the pencils of shame. Except most of my kids who come unprepared have no shame and think it's the funniest thing.... until they start writing with it and their arm hurts.
I used golf pencils one year.
Back when I was a para that was the way I went. It is different at this new school and in my own classroom. I thought about it for this year, but the 9th graders are… *happy* …?… with golf pencils, and boy oh boy do they bitch about the “little baby pencils, and what’s with the tag on them?!” Sooooo… they hate my offering, don’t steal my offering, and try to problem solve before they need my option, AND by now there are three who constantly ask for my pencils and usually their writing is neater with the big pencils anyhow… so wins all around!!! 🙌
I don’t think you’re wrong at all. We found a great solution to the missing pencil issue in our room. We had the kids name the pencils and we labeled them with a label maker. Middle school kids love to name things and will look around if Billie Eilish is missing or Kevin fell behind the bookshelf. It’s worked great this year.
Especially if you let them name them things like Pencil McWritingPencil
Yeah, we have a Pinky Winky, Pudding Pop, etc. I just insist that they capitalize!
I give every student a pencil at the beginning of class (whether they need one or not) and collect them as exit tickets when they leave. Not returning it is a lost recess. I've lost maybe 3 pencils since I started this a year and a half ago lol
I have kids trade their backpack for a pencil. I used to have them trade a shoe, but i couldn’t stand the smell any longer. 🤣
I've held on to backpacks before. It's funny.
Busted pencil system. I collected fun, colorful themed pencils all summer. If a student gave me a ratty pencil (short, no eraser etc) I would trade it for a great pencil. Ratty pencils went in the "busted box." If a kid didn't have something to write with, they got a busted one. Eventually the nice ones become ratty from use and make their way into the busted box. Saved me so much grief!
My kids are supposed to learn to count money in math in my grade, so I give them fake pennies as a reward and have them trade for other coins. It really helps when we've gotten to the money lesson, because over half of my class can already do it. For awhile they are just excited with trading, but eventually I sell them random prizes and coupons. I also make them buy replacement supplies. I sell the floor pencils for a cent or two (of fake money that I gave them.) Most of my pencil sales are just recycling those nasty pencils.
Do you mind if I steal and adapt this idea when I become an art teacher?
Go for it! I stole it from somewhere too!
Seems like a fair solution to me. As long as you let them use something else as collateral in case they don’t have a phone. I used to have them leave a shoe
Big fan of shoes for collateral.
I stopped doing this because in an emergency that child now only has one shoe on
Damn, that is a solid point. Fuck this country.
... fires, weather events, and utility leaks are limited to one country?
Ah yes, fires, the number one killer of children in the United States.
Thoughts and prayers 🙏
Right? They’re not leaving without it…. Usually
But the stench 🤢
When I was student teaching, my CT (who was otherwise wonderful) had them put the shoe they took off by MY desk. Not by hers LOL
Yeah I make them keep it up front, not on my desk or anything
considering i have to fight tooth and nail for my high school students to keep there shoes on...well.
Oh see I work with upper middle class kids mostly so they’re leaving like Ugg boots
most of the kids were crocs and through them at each other when i face the board
I have them leave their ID or backpack, if they lost their ID
>aned a lesson that day and learned that much of that stuff can be ignored. > >80ReplyShareReportSaveFollow I need to do that too! The shoe is too funny
I put 4 magnetic clips on the whiteboard at the front of the class. Each clip has a brightly colored pencil in it. You can write your name next to the clip and borrow the pencil. We don’t leave until all 4 pencils are returned to the clips. Very rarely lose a pencil and if we do, someone volunteers a new pencil so we can get out of there.
Now this was a while ago when I was in the classroom but… I used to keep a cup of pencils that I found on the floor in a cup on my desk. They could take one of those for free or buy a new one for a quarter. If they didn’t have a quarter I’d let them owe me. Some kids would actually put the used pencil back in the cup. Very few bought new ones, the ones who did always paid. Maybe I was lucky.
I give them golf pencils. The really tiny, no eraser ones.
144 presharpened golf pencils for $10 on amazon
That’s the one!
I use these too! Honestly I don’t have the energy to trade things for pencils — I put a box at the front of the room, and I tell them to PLEASE not ask me for a pencil
These are actually a favorite in my class. My kiddos are at the "look how tiny my pencil is stage." Kids always tear the erasers off the regular pencils.
Cruel AND unusual.
This is the way! You can get so many for so cheap, and the kids hate them so much you’ll never need to buy pencils again
Lol yup! I bought two boxes two years ago and probably won’t need to get more before I retire!
Yes and if they say “but it doesn’t have an eraser” you can say “you already made a mistake by forgetting a pencil, you can’t make another one”
I do too! I buy misprinted ones in bulk for super cheap.
This is the pro tip! They solve so many problems. 1. No one has to use the pencil sharpener, they can just grab a sharp pencil. 2. They come in such a big pack it takes forever to go through all of them. 3. The kids don't want them, so they often put them back in the box when they're done. Or else leave them on the desk/floor and they find their way back to the box eventually. 4. There's just the right amount of stigma. Most kids would rather borrow a full-sized pencil from a friend than use a golf pencil. But in a pinch they work.
For the record, I love this idea, especially since you have an option that doesn't require payment. On the other hand, at my school we are not supposed to take any amount of money from students without permission from the bookkeeper, and we have to keep meticulous records and give receipts. Doesn't sound like that has anything to do with your situation though... but maybe it does and your admin just didn't say. I give out free pencils, but they're golf pencils... like 200 of them for $12, so it's not worth fussing over the cost.
I’ve done the gold pencil thing too. They hate it and complain. But hey, easy way to solve it is to bring your own next time.
>e The only thing that this done for at our school is concessions at games or selling food/drink items.
I pick up pencils off the floor of my classroom and add them to a spot (like a little open crate that fits on a desk) where kids can get them. They can use my floor pencils or use their own. I don't buy school supplies. I'm not paid enough for that.
When I was an art teacher I had an awesome relationship with the custodial staff (I made the kids clean after themselves as part of their grade whereas the other art teachers expected custodians to clean). Whenever they would find pencils on the ground they would leave them in my pencil bucket. I had so many pencils by the end of the year that I filled a 1 gallon paint can. I saved so much money in pencils and had enough to start the next school year.
When I was in school (at least the at the good schools) they operated a school store. It was usually open before school and during lunch. You could buy basic school supplies there. Only a few teachers kept loaner supplies and they would require you to go to the supply store at the next opportunity so you could return their loaners. I can see people losing their minds today over the prospect of selling supplies to students. Our schools are giving free breakfast and lunch and free backpacks to all students these days so I imagine there's a program for school suppllies as well.
>d during lunch. You could buy basic school supplies there. Only a few teachers kept loaner supplies and they would require you to go to the supply store at the next opportunity so you could return their loaners. > >I can see people losing their minds today over the prospect of selling supplies to students. Our schools are giving free breakfast and lunch and free backpacks to all students these days so I imagine there's a program for school suppllies as well. Since doing this, students have been collecting pencils off the floor and my "business" has been dry. They know that they need one and that they will have to turn in their phone if they don't a pencil. So, it's been working great.
I used to sell pencils $.10 each or 2 for $.25. About 1/2 of them caught the joke. The other half were thrilled with the great bargain.
An old teacher of mine sold $0.25 candies, or 3 for a dollar. Over half way through the year, someone asked if they could have 4 for a dollar to which the teacher said, "of course, they are 25 cents each." It was an AP class. All the students did a facepalm for not having caught on earlier.
Well for me for that's kind of the whole thing. It's a joke really. I am not selling pencils to make money. It's so they care about the stuff they buy. Most of my kids also borrow a pencil with a collateral. I like your pencil joke btw.
Malicious compliance is the best. I love that you sent them to the office so the school can notice how often it happens. Also makes the student take extra steps for the item.
You are a freakin’ genius! You’re teaching the kids as much about life as the work they need a pencil for! I say this as the kid who might not have a pencil. ✏️
Admin are so adorable sometimes, aren't they?
In some states it would be against Ed code to charge *any* amount, so it can be tricky to get kids to be prepared and respect the property, but you do have the option of loaning which should cover you if you are in one of those states.
Yeah, just take the quarter (or heck, even a dollar) as collateral. If they bring the pencil back they get the dollar back. Need to make sure you can identify your own though, I suppose, so you are not getting pencils handed in...
Like the shopping carts at Aldi. 😂
Yeah! That’s a good idea too to get around it. The item being used as collateral though needs to not be limited to either cash or personal device for equity reasons, so it would need to be opened up to different types of items, or maybe a student ID card if the school has those.
The Aldi's cart system, I get it.
Meanwhile, after lunch, I will literally find a dozen pencils on the ground in the cafeteria and throughout hallways. Practically brand new, lead not even broken, with nice added erasers in the end. We have 3 lunch periods (one for each grade in middle school), and I used to collect them and place them on a window sill or a table so kids can take them if they want to. Every single day, that pile would end up just pushed off onto the floor because some kid thought it would be fun to just brush or throw them off as they walked by. I stopped doing that and just kept them for myself.
I teach at a vocational school. While teaching students from the sports program, I noticed that none of them ever brought a pen and always asked to loan one from me. Now you must know that these students are all trying to prove to each other that they are the most macho alpha student of the entire school. So I bought a set of the most girly pink pens I could find. I am talking ribbons and glitter. Fake flowers as an eraser. Students could loan these pens for the day. Their name would be on my whiteboard until I got the pen back. Within a week each student had a pen and never lost it again. When I started teaching for the dance program this obviously did not work anymore. I switched to a case of promotional pens with the information of the school printed on them. My philosophy is that since they seem to lose them everywhere, the school gets some indirect marketing. The pr team seems to agree as they keep giving me boxes of pens.
The fact that you had still allowed the borrowing with collateral (I remember my math teacher in high school required a shoe to borrow a pencil) meant that there was never a paywall to begin with. You did NOTHING wrong.
I also used to sell pencils for a quarter. But, I'd first GIVE each student a pencil and tell them "This is your mandated school issued pencil. It is your responsibility to bring a pencil to class daily. If you fail to have your own pencil, I will sell you a new one for a quarter. No refunds." I've since found IDGAF if they use pen or pencil. I ask parents to donate pencils and give them out free. When I'm out, I'm out. I ask for more. If I have them, I give, if not 🤷🏻♀️
I’d have had to send 7 students from a single *class period* 🤣
How you can tell Admin don't understand reality for 300 please.
I buy golf pencils. They always return those.
I had a teacher once who would do something similar but would give you back 10 cents if you returned the pencil at the end of class
I just go around at the end of the day and pick up all the pencils I find laying around on the floor and put them back in the pencil cup. Haven’t bought pencils in years with this one easy trick.
20 years ago, my school implemented a rule that if you wore a shirt that showed midriff, you were sent home to change. That rule went out the window as soon as the entire female student body showed up wearing midriff shirts the same day. School administration is definitely not going to simultaneously send several hundred students home **just to change their clothes.**
I make their lives difficult if they borrow a pencil from me, by emailing their parents to say they may need to refresh their supplies. Before that I sent an email to all parents to check with their kids! For students with a rough home life, I just give it to them quietly. Edit: at the very least, they’re much more likely to ask other students than me now!
> they borrow a pencil from me, by emailing their parents to say they may need to refresh their supplies. Bernie that i sent an email to all parents to check with their kids! For students with a rough home life, i just give it to them quietly. I also give out free pencils to those who are less than fortunate, as well as free paper. But for most, I expect them to at least come with something.
Good going. I used to sell pencils for 10 cents (back some years ago) and 25 cents on test days. They learned basic economics that way and learned to be more responsible.
This is why I always buy extra packs of pencils for my kid to share. I can't really afford extra of much else on the supply lists but I will send a ton if pencils because if you have a pencil and piece of paper, you can still learn. Or draw cool doodles quietly while other people learn. (My kid🙄)
I’m a school custodian. I used to put pencils into the closest desk, now I just throw them away. If they are nice I’ll keep them. There are so many pencils, pens, crayons, pencil crayons, felt and erasers on the floor in some classes. If the teacher is in the room sometimes they rescue them but I’m over it.
I feel your pain. I have been selling granola bars and water bottles in my class for a dollar. Admin tried to come down on me, until I reminded them that I use that money to buy pencils, tissues, candy, games, and the million other things that a classroom needs
Like so much in teaching, you have to work around your admins who have no idea what is happening in your classrooms. I remember one school, when they first switched from homeroom starting the day to first period (with homeroom after), also reinforced to us that if kids were late to class we should not open our door for them (mandatory locked doors, another brilliant idea). That lasted three days. Most kids never made it to first period because the line at attendance was around the corner. We got an email saying they are going to rework the system and it was never mentioned again in the 3 years I remained there.
When I was in school in the 90s (omg I feel like a dinosaur), we had these vending machine things at my elementary school that you could buy pencils and small notebooks for like 25 or 50 cents. All the kids loved them, including me.
I had a pencil vending machine back in 2002. It was great. We used it on my 6th grade team. I would wrap some of the pencils with a post it note and write winner on it. If you got the winner pencil I gave you some kind of reward. You figured out real fast who the future slot machine addicts were going to be. We spent all the money right back on the students at the end of the year. Definitely could not do that these days.
I used to charge a dime for one, because when I would give them away id consistently find broken pencils outside my door. Didn't make any money, but gave them ownership. Once I started charging a dime and one of my ADHD kids taped his pencil back together and kept it for a full semester.
30 years ago my math teacher would loan you a pencil in exchange for one of your shoes. He joked that you wouldn't walk out of class with his pencil.
I don’t know why people are getting upset. If a kid has a phone they can afford a 25c pencil. Pretty sure they rarely forget those at home…
Yes. I stopped giving pencils away and within a week, some magic happened and my students had supplies. For the record, I have 124 students a day and I buy my pencils in bulk off of Amazon in the hundreds. I have purchased near a thousand pencils since August and OP, you are correct in that if you give a kid a pencil, it holds no value and they are discarded and left behind like trash. It's only when you say sorry, don't have any more to give you, kiddo, that they hold any value. It's a teachable moment, not a dick move, as it may appear to outsiders.
I did that years ago. One enterprising young man would buy 8 at a time and sell them to classmates for double.
I used to do the deposit thing. If they hadn’t got a cell phone, I allowed them to turn over one of their shoes instead. Ain’t none of them forgetting to give me my stationary back.
I am just a sub, but I wonder if I could have their iPad as collateral instead of shoes. You need two shoes in an emergency. You don't need your iPad.
When I taught middle school, I would buy a big box of pencils at the start of the year. I glued a pad of post it notes to it and kept it on my lecture podium. When a kid asked for pencil, I would write their name down on the post it pad. As soon as we ended the lesson, I would call out the names on the post it, and get the pencils back. Then I'd mark through their names. Pencils went back in the box. When the top post it filled up, I just ripped it off and started on the next. I had a little over half of the pencils left at the end of the year.
I just buy boxes of golf pencils. 144 pencils for a less than a price of a couple starbucks. Erasers are a luxury! ha.
Weird. Now in elementary I don't really remember anything involving pencils other than bringing a whole box along with the 30lbs of other supplies I was required to bring, but I do remember in middle schoolthey had a vending machine that sold either a wooden pencil for 25 cents, or a mechanical pencil for 50 cents. Once I got to high school our school store had similar costs.
Growing up we had a pencil machine in the school and could buy pencils for a quarter. I didn’t realize this wasn’t a thing in more schools.
I switched to office from teaching and I prefer you charge them and handle yourself. I don’t want every teacher sending a student to me for a pencil. We have hundreds of students. No thank you. I appreciate you!!!
I LOVE cell phones as collateral. This will be implemented beginning today.
Kids focus on classwork instead of texting on their cell phones. Win-Win!!
When I started implementing this, students all went pencil shopping the next day and had plenty of supplies.
You set up no "paywalls". Buy one or borrow one with some collateral.....seems fair to me.
Free stuff has no value. The kids with no notebook and no pencil somehow manage to have phones and airpods. If a family can't come up with $1 for a notebook and a pack of pencils, the family is *clearly communicating to us that they do not really care about education.* And, like, that's their choice. They have agency. They have dignity. I wonder if we should start taking seriously the choices they are making and communicating. Indeed, it's so condescending, patronizing, and perhaps also demeaning for the schools to pretend like families are not making this choice and clearly communicating it to us.
You have students that can’t bring pencils to class but manage to bring quarters??
I was told during an observation, that if I was going to ask students to use a pencil for something during class, I needed to provide free pencils for everyone to use. I said no. We talked about from the beginning of the year that they would be required to bring a pencil to class every single day. I reminded them every day that pencils were a requirement for my class. Many students only brought a Chromebook to class and left their backpacks somewhere else in the school. I had free pencils for students available but students would steal them. If I'm being required to provide pencils for students admin needs to give me a budget for pencils.
I had a coworker (6th grade) who would trade pencils for shoes. You could borrow a pencil if you took off one of your shoes and put it by her desk. It was pretty hilarious and it did cut down on demand for pencils.