Since our students no longer get things like workbooks, I spend my money on ink, paper, markers, crayons, tape, glue, construction paper, pens and pencils. I am expected to be an effective teacher, according to the Advance [Teacher Evaluation and Development] system and the Danielson rubric, but I am not given some of the most basic things that I need in order to deliver an effective lesson. If I don’t have markers and transparencies for the factor game, or paper to print the tables on from CMP3 bits and pieces, I look like an ineffective teacher.

It’s not fair to the teachers being held accountable for a print-rich classroom environment full of learning centers of wonderment and discovery and activities for differentiation, but given no money, supplies or resources. And it’s not fair to our students who deserve and need access to a beautiful print-rich classroom filled with wonderment, discovery learning centers and opportunities to learn independently. Who wins here?

Asiya Joseph, Research and Service HS, Brooklyn
(via Facebook)