Really?

I have been banned from making any more copies. At work. As a teacher.

Let me give you a little bit of context:

At the beginning of last year, they installed a Promethean Board in my classroom. This is really cool except that it covers the majority of the blackboard in the front of my room. It didn't pose much of a problem until about a month ago, when the multi-hundred-dollar bulb in the Promethean Board's projector faded to an impossibly dim gray. Of course, the type of technology purchasing our district does with grants is big programs and gadgets and no real plan for sustainability. So, we don't have any replacement bulbs. (And nevermind that our "technology coordinator" had boxed up six of our projectors, thinking they were broken because they were showing a "clean filter" message.) Thus, after a couple of weeks of hassling the tech guy and my administration, a work order has been placed and the definitive hour of "hopefully pretty soon" has been estimated as the bulbs' ETA.

Until then, I have to make do with very little space to convey a lot of visual information. One thing I have come to believe with absolute certainty over the past two and a half years is that kids do best when information is presented both visually and out loud. So I have giant paper pads (about $30 a pop), and writing on the board, and I'm relying more on handouts, since I can't do Powerpoints for the time being. In general, it's been working well. I cringe a bit at all the paper, but still, 1-2 pieces of paper per student doesn't seem ridiculous to me, especially considering our lack of good materials.

So I've been purchasing additional copies from the school, per an agreement with my principal. (We're allotted 1500 per quarter... if you do the math: I have 130 students. So making one copy everday per kid leaves me out of copies after 11/12 days.) So I've purchased many sets of replacement copies- out of my own money, because our school reimbursement for teacher-bought-supplies is a whopping $40 per semester. I justify it because it makes teaching so much easier... the kids do a much better job focusing and staying organized when I provide them with more structure. And Stefin has unlimited copies at his school, so I figure our budget evens out.

But each time I buy copies, I have to deal with the appalled-bookkeeper of doom. She glares and scoffs and what should be a simple 2 minute purchase inevitably becomes a 15 minute plea-and-explanation-in-response-to-criticism-and-"How come they can't just write?" I work really hard to try to channel my inner Buddha and not say, "I'm sorry, do you know anything about teaching writing? Do you know that all the research consistently shows that kids copying down sentences is a waste of instructional time? I'm sorry, do you have another feasible suggestion for letting kids practice revising and editing on a sample essay? And is it your job to question my instructional choices? Do you know that many charter schools factor in an extensive budget for copies because they trust that teachers are purposeful in what they choose to copy for their kids? Isn't it really just your job to count the money?!?!"

Usually after scoffing and shaking her head for a bit, making some comments about how I'm the only teacher who has ever used so many copies, she reluctantly agrees, takes my money, and adds more copies to my account. This time, however, she refused. She went to my administrators and now I am barred from making any more copies until there is a conference with the vice principal and principal- who has been out for the past 6 weeks due to knee surgery.

Fortunately there is the TFA office, where I've been taking advantage of my status as a recent alumni to blend in with the current corps members and utilize their work room- with my own paper- since I so rarely used that service when I was still officially in the corps. And every time I'm there, I'm reminded how it is totally possible to run an effective organization, and that there are adults in the world who are logical and do their jobs and don't act like they're some sort of martyr because they're doing what's outlined in their job description.

I apologize for such a rant of a post, but this is just one of many straws on my camel-y back. Seven more days and then I get a three-month hiatus! Oh yeah- and a baby!

Oh my.