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When supplies such as paper, pencils, glue sticks, and even light bulbs for the classroom projector run out, teachers often need to dig into their own pockets. They spend an average of $1,000 of their own money just to make sure their classroom is stocked and students have the resources needed for learning.
According to Diane Pawar, PhD, veteran teacher and educational consultant, “Teachers face challenges such as insufficient classroom supplies, outdated resources, rundown facilities, and antiquated technology.”
When teachers aren’t given the tools they need in the classroom, learning suffers. We recently reached out to our readers and asked them to identify some problem areas. Here are some of their responses:
- Paper to make copies – Schools don’t like to spend money on paper. They’ll use online systems where parents have to print out homework. This is more cost effective for school districts but more costly for parents. And the students’ grades suffer if they run out of ink or have trouble getting on the internet from home.
- Supplies for kids who can’t afford them – Some schools will say they provide extra supplies, but the teacher is usually given just one extra box which is not realistic.
- The “Suggested” supply list – Some schools send out a list of expected supplies for each student to bring. These are supplies for the entire class such as boxes of tissues, markers, and erasers. They say it is “not required” but parents feel the pressure and bring all of it. It usually ends up being about $100.
And a wishlist from your children’s teachers? Here are a few of their wants and needs:
- more parental participation
- parents pay for supplies
- classrooms in better condition
- more monetary donations
- better behavior of kids / less disciplinary issues
- more teacher collaboration and teamwork
We may not be able to fix all of the problems, but a little effort can make a difference. Great Clips is the world’s largest salon brand with over 3,300 locations in US and Canada. Their corporate office and salon owners focus on philanthropic and volunteer activities to give back to their salons’ communities.
Great Clips has teamed up with AdoptAClassroom to support teachers and students. This organization helps deserving teachers while giving families a place to address their back to school needs. For each download of their Online Check-In app from now until September 5th, Great Clips will contribute up to $20,000 in donations (US and Canada only).
Visit the Great Clips #GREATLIST page to watch the full video of the classroom makeover and see how Great Clips has already fulfilled two teachers’ school supply wish lists.
Via the #GREATLIST page, you can:
- download the Online Check-In App
- upload your school supply shopping list for a chance to win
- grab a $2 Great Clips coupon (after contest entry)
Each day of the contest, Great Clips will shop and ship the entire shopping list for one lucky winner!
Thank you to Great Clips for sponsoring today’s discussion and inspiring our readers to support teachers!
If you’re a teacher or parent, we’d love to learn more about the monetary limitations you face in the comments section below.
