The Mom's Corner...

The MOST Important School Supply

I love school supplies. I mean, I really love school supplies. I love markers, pencils, tape, folders, dividers, crayons (Oh, there is nothing like new crayons), index cards, sticky notes, binders, colored paper (Oh, I especially like colored paper), Sharpies, calendars, spirals glue, highlighters, scissors…I love it all!

I have always loved school supplies. In fact, school supplies are the one thing that that drove me to make truly bad decisions as a child. It is true! I would have never dreamt of stealing anything, hoarding anything, or hiding anything from my parents; however, when it came to school supplies, I am guilty of all three! And, I will be honest, while I have learned to restrain myself around school supplies these days, I will admit that they present a true area of weakness.
You might think I am slightly crazy (and I am), but I know there are many of there out there like myself who have the same sort of sick fascination with school supplies. Yes, I have seen you in the stores trying to get to the school supplies before me!

For so long school supplies were – to me – a symbol and foundation for all that can be learned. I related the opening of a box of school supplies to opening a door to innovation. With those tools (school supplies), I believed my own self was the only limit to the creativity that could be expressed, and there was nothing that excited me more than being engaged in thought and producing a product with pride.

Somebody told me the other day that I probably decided to go into teaching because of my love/obsession for school supplies. While I would deny that wholeheartedly if you asked me in person, I will admit as I write that there could be more than an ounce of truth to this statement.
Thus, it would not surprise you that I also once believed to be a good educator that I had to have oodles of school supplies. I remember going out my first year as a teacher and spending hundreds of dollars of my own money to be sure that I had the materials I thought I needed to adequately teach the students in my class. The materials that had been provided were not sufficient, in my opinion, for the anticipated quality, thinking, level of learning, and product I wanted to have in my classroom, and I was convinced that if I had the right school supplies I would inevitably achieve that level of greatness I so desired of myself as a teacher and of my students as learners. More simply stated, I believed the more I filled their desk, the more of their mind I was filling as well.

And, the same was true when I became a mother and sent my children to their first days of school! I eagerly filled their backpacks with the supplies I had bought with joy, and dreamed of the great things their minds would soak up because of them.

Yet, what I failed to realize was that it was not the supplies with which I was filling their backpacks that supported their learning, spurred their thinking, and provided an avenue for creativity, it was the love with which I packed them that did these things…and more.
I have also come a long way as an educator. I have been known to still purchase massive amounts of markers and scissors for my classroom, but I know that it is not the color of the paper on which I print the assignment or the sticker I place on their paper that builds a relationship, makes learning meaningful, or encourages originality. Rather, it is the heart with which I do these things that will ultimately enhance the classroom environment and promote the authentic learning I seek as a teacher.

You see, no matter how many colored pencils or folders I purchase, the involvement, time, dedication, support, encouragement, passion, and heart I give my students and children is ultimately what will make the difference in their learning.

My husband recalls a story of his childhood schooling where his mother helped him glue pictures, tables and headings to a project: “I think that project is why I love the smell of glue,” he says. (I know, he is weird like me!) “But, it is not the glue that has stuck with me for so long, “ he goes on, “it is my mom’s help and support.”

I know you are going to be shocked, but I did not buy the obscene amount of school supplies this year. I resisted the urge! I fought the temptation! There have been no $.10 spirals and only minimal amounts of $.25 crayons…I still love them, and I still have a strangely weird obsession for them; however, as we started school this year I made that bigger investment that will assuredly inspire my students and children to greatness…I gave them more of me…and that is the greatest thing I could do!