Importance of Classroom Resources
Kristi Johnson Smith who works in new teacher support and is a LEARN Fellow, shares her experiences with what happens when there is a lack of organization in the school system. She explains that while she was fortunate enough to have her own classroom, this was not the case for every member of staff since the school building was simply too small enough. Thus some of her teaching colleagues had to move rooms every period, transporting their materials with carts and others – at different schools – had to make the best of rented trailers when additional students enrolled.
Thus staff at these schools could not even think about entertaining the possibility of giving each kid their own computer and computer table. This really is quite unfortunate given the fact that this is the way the world is heading – into digital mode. But the reality is, if kids are in schools like the one at which Smith taught at, they would be seen as lucky to have a regular classroom, let alone a computer.
Clearly in areas such as these, there needs to be many more resources than what currently exist. With a lack in resources, the classroom can also become chaotic and disorganized – certainly not the correct environment whereby students can thrive.
Nonetheless, there are things that can actually be done, that do not need to cost so much money. For example, Smith explains that she put up pictures, moved desks, added plans and organized the board space. She then created student folders, a filing system for her materials and even hung a “welcome” sign on the door.
Of course money helps. But as this teacher discovered, without it, a lot can still be done.