Diary Of A First Year Kindergarten Teacher: First Entry

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This is a fiction story about an inner-city school teacher's experiences. As a former public school teacher, I feel it's important for people to know what teachers and students go through on a daily basis.

Here is my interpretation:

Monday, August 24

Dear Diary,

I am so excited to start teaching at my new school John Quincy Adams Elementary. I really feel like I'm really going to make a difference teaching students in an inner-city school. 

Adams Elementary school is a large brick building, surrounded by concrete on all sides, where a black-topped parking lot and litter strewn schoolyard reside. 

As I pulled into my parking spot early this morning, I noticed two rusty basketball hoops posted on either side of the schoolyard, but no playground equipment or grass for the students to use for recreation.

            
A handful of other early arrivals greeted me warmly when I climbed out of my car. 

After a round of introductions, we all started emptying our cars of bags and plastic totes filled with newly purchased school supplies, anxious to start decorating our classrooms.

            
Large metal cages, bolted directly into the brick wall, encased the windows that seemed to be made of thick frosted glass. 

I'm guessing that these windows were originally installed to eliminate unwanted distractions, but they block out the sunlight, giving the building a closed-in, institutional kind of feel. 

I know it sounds dreary but I will not be deterred by these bleak urban surroundings.   

            
After thirteen years of teaching Pre-K, I am eager to apply my knowledge and experience at the Kindergarten level. 

I feel that my prior experience will give me an edge to really help educate these children.

I know the academic and social levels my former students had achieved by June of last school year. 

It stands to reason that many of the incoming Kindergarteners will be at the same level; if they're not I will know right away and begin designing interventions curtailed to their individual needs.

            
I went into work today to get a jumpstart on my classroom.  

To my dismay, the room had been cannibalized by other staff members when the previous teacher retired. 

The nice, long green tables that furnished the room in June when I interviewed for the position are gone, as well as the large group rug.

They appear to be across the hall in my grade partner's classroom. These vibrant additions make her classroom look bright and inviting. 

My rug has been replaced with a similar carpet that is both stained and dingy.

The tables in my room are rickety trapezoid-half-tables that need to be duck-taped together at the legs, otherwise the children will be able to pull them apart. 

That would be most infortuitous during instruction.

I shampooed the rug twice and after dumping out two bucketfuls of tar. I have every intention of doing it a third time tomorrow.

I found an abundance of mouse droppings on all the shelves and in the corners of the room and closet. 

I had to get rid of most of the chart paper because mice had urinated on it or chewed through it to make nests.

There was so much trash in one of the closets I started to feel like I was raking a pile of leaves, the trash came up to my mid-calf.

The room is a complete disaster. Except for some lined paper, a jumble of leveled-readers and some teacher manuals there are absolutely no supplies. 

My grade partner said it's hard to get supplies from the office, apparently they have it under lock and key.

I put in a requisition but I'm not hopeful. I've been with the district long enough to know that if I don't get the stuff I need myself, I won't get it at all.

I've made a list of the things I'm going to need:

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masking tape

duct tape

packaging tape

tape

cubby labels

rug for the library

computers

listening center

binders:  roll

              lesson plans

              reading groups

pens

Sharpie markers

markers

pencils

colored pencils

chart paper

book baskets

baskets for supplies

filing folders (to make student journals)

stapler

staples

paper fluid corrector

play-doh

dry-erase markers

erasers

borders

bulletin board paper

construction paper

pillows/seats for the library

resource books for homework

clear sheet protectors (for reusable activities)

Please comment below on supplies you have bought for your classroom or child for school.

$chool $upplie$

Photo courtesy of: Gabor Adonyi; courtesy of: Pixabay

Every September, supply list in hand, wallets open, parents and their children flock to the stores to purchase the items required by the new teacher. This is an expensive time of year, the items on those supply lists add up.

I once overheard a child ask their parent, "Why does the teacher make us buy all of this stuff?" That's a very good question, and lucky for anyone asking the same thing, I have a very good answer.

While families are dolling out money on notebooks, paper towels and hand sanitizer, teachers are doing the same thing. As a former public school teacher, I can tell you with confidence that teachers are out there right now buying pencils, markers, crayons, construction paper, and whatever else is needed to ensure your child succeeds in their lessons.

This may come as a surprise to some, but not all public schools have the necessary supplies to make it through a successful school day. Tissues and toilet paper were a hot commodity at one school where I taught. I know it sounds absurd, but it is a sad truth.

My first year teaching Kindergarten, I was assigned to a classroom that furnished me with tables, chairs, lined paper, a disintegrating carpet, and leveled books for guided reading.

I had to buy everything else: scissors, markers, crayons, pencils, containers for storage, the list goes on and on. I spent over $1000.00 dollars that school year on basic supplies and other educational items I needed to properly instruct my students.

All in all, school supplies are costly for everyone involved and 'everyone' is the key word in this situation.

As parents and educators, we are all responsible for the education of our children; whether we like it or not, part of that education requires everyone chipping in for school supplies, toiletries, office supplies, snacks, field trips, fund raisers... Did I mention school supplies?