I'm a dancing queen again today! Yippity skippity zoo-da-di and all that happy time jazz. The Smart Board is going up in my room tomorrow.
They are awesome, wonderful, fantastic, and way cool gizmos that will enable me to do different types of things with my kids next year.
They are expensive and I work for a very impoverished school district that is barely keeping its head above the water. Mine was given to me by the local Indian Reservation. To be perfectly honest, without the aid of the Reservation, I wouldn't have a whole lot of things.
I am the department head which means I have to buy the supplies for my department of three. We have to purchase everything from student materials, teaching materials, and office materials from a whopping $425 per year. No, that was not a typo, folks. On the other hand, for the past few years the Reservation has given my department about $1800 PLUS purchased us new computers, projectors, and now the Smart Board. Each department gets a certain amount of help from them. It is like Christmas for us!
This morning I scampered off to school to put things in place for the electrician who will be running the power to my new toy. Tomorrow Santa's elves show up to install it for me. I feel positively giddy!
I pranced around thanking the custodians for getting my room done so quickly this year. My floors are all waxed, the walls freshly painted, and my furniture has been put back in place. I think I'll bring them cookies!
My co-workers tease me about how well the guys on the custodial staff and I get along. I think I'm the only one that can say my room is polished from head to toe each day. If I need something fixed, they do it immediately. If I ask them if I can borrow a tool, they bring it to my room and take care of whatever I needed it for right away.
It's the little things, I think. I always take the time to make sure they know how much I appreciate all they do. I never treat them like the hired help. I know how important their role in my school is to all of us. Those small gestures go a long long way in human relations.
Babycub was with me this morning, and while I was out of my room, a couple of the custodians came in muttering about another staff member. I don't think they saw Babycub sitting behind my desk when they said "she's nothing but a psycho bitch". I don't want them to refer to me that way - not ever!
Anyway, I'm back to dancing around in glee. I am getting a Smart Board!
Peace
Watching the garden spiders grow
5 years ago
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9 comments:
WOW a Smartboard, that is totally cool!!!! Dancing with glee for you! Our school just upgraded to whiteboards from chalk boards :) That was exciting around my school. No more chalk dust or hand prints on my pants.
Enjoy your new toy!!!!!!
I'm shocked to know that $425 is all you have to spend, that's quite ridiculous!
Nikkie - I know; I am so dang excited for it! I'm going to be dashing into school this week to play with it. LOL It's a good thing the school isn't far away. I have had whiteboards for a while now. I love them!!!! I kept two of them on one wall and the SmartBoard replaces the old chalk board on my other wall.
King - It's really ridiculous. When I tell teachers from other schools, their jaws drop. My school seriously has no money at all for anything. Much of what we manage to get for our building is donated. We got furniture from a hospital that was redecorating. We got computers from the prison when they upgraded. We got office desks from the social security office when they updated. The list goes on and on.
Well - I have no idea what a Smartboard is, but I am happy it is making you positively giddy! I am in shock - $425?! Totally amazing. How do you run a department on that much money? I have NO idea what our high school was allotted for a budget, but I am pretty sure it would have been WELL above that. Teachers eyes positively glazed over when Donna was allocated to their class as it meant they would get a HUGE government subsidy for having a "disabled" child in their class.She does have her percs! (One of them being the kick ass parking I get when I am with her! LOL) Congrats on the Smartboard. Do you start back to school soon?? Kids here don't go back until around Sept 3.
The same is true in our little town -- working people just want to have their work respected and appreciated. My husband laughs because I usually bake a pie when we're going to have work done on the house. I like sending people home with something to share with their families.
For some reason, we never seem to have trouble with scheduling and always are billed fairly... ;)
There really is something to that... treating people more like guests than "the help".
Wishing you all the best with your new toy!
Kinni - It's an interactive white board that hooks up to my computer. The kids can write on it, manipulate things on it, etc. Everything can be saved and all kinds of cool things! As for making ends meet with the budget - many of us end up buying most of our own supplies out of our own pockets. It's the only way we can make it. : )
Midwest - I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. It really is about treating people well. Nobody likes to be treated like they are inferior, and truly each of us really does have our own role in society. : )
I believe you qualify as the happiest, jolliest, teacher in the history of everything. :)
And I'm glad Kinni asked, cuz I was going to say "Smart Board... wuzzat?"
Oh Deej, my daughter's school has those Smart Boards and Audrey loved learning on them this past school year. Her school is very slowly getting a couple each year to be installed in the classrooms. They have fundraisers for the Smart Boards even.
Like someone already mentioned, most people like to be acknowledged for a job well done. It sounds like you do that with the maintenance crew! I try to do that at my work with the cleaning and maintenance guys, they do a lot of grunt work and hard work!
Moth - No worries, there are a lot of people that don't know what they are. I am just so excited. OMG - it's being hooked up in a few hours. I'm heading to school to check this all out soon!!!!!!!
Missy - We are doing the same thing; just adding things as we can affod them. These are a priority for us.
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