Sage Advice: How Could Your School Benefit from $10,000?
If you had $10,000 to spend on your school, how would you spend it?
The winter can be very harsh here in central Pennsylvania. Many of our students do not have the economic means for a proper winter coat. If I had the money, I would make sure all these students are properly attired for the winter.
Robyn Dixon
Geography teacher
Roosevelt Junior High School
Altoona, Pennsylvania
Spend $10,000 to set up programs and activities to get parents into the school. We have used some of our limited funds to host family movie nights and bingo nights in our cafeteria, and the response has been tremendous. Parents that teachers would normally never get a chance to meet attend these functions, and it is a fantastic outreach to the community. It also allows time for families to come together, something that happens all too rarely.
David Lang
Language arts teacher
Louis P. Slade Middle School
New Britain, Connecticut
On a lobbyist who would work to end the one-size-fits-all, test-focused insanity ruining our schools.
Jon Simon
Former teacher
Fremont, California
Take every student in my school (in small groups) to the local bookstore and invite each one to pick out a book (appropriate for a middle school library) that they would like to see in our library. I would add those books to the library collection, putting bookplates in each book identifying the student who chose it. Each student would have a little piece of ownership in the library collection, and each would be able to find a favorite book here.
Joy Stoker-Hadow
Librarian/media specialist
Franklin Middle School
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Focus on play. Thanks to NCLB's trend toward instructional minutes and assessment, I think we have forgotten how. My list? Lots of sports equipment for recess to engage the kids. Good-quality paint and paper, pastels and charcoal, and modeling and ceramic clay. A music supply cabinet full of drums, percussion instruments, recorders, and basic acoustic guitars. I would refurbish the stage and sound system. Solidly over budget, I would stand back, smile, and say, "Play!"
Julie Page Ales
Assistant principal
Valencia Elementary School
Aptos, California
Bring in a resident artist, probably in the performing arts, to enrich our whole school program.
Norm Bossert
Principal
Black Mountain Elementary School
Black Mountain, North Carolina
Equip my students with technology:
- laptops
- LCD projectors
- school pads
- microscopes
- personal-response systems
- personal digital assistants
- digital cameras
- camcorders.
The children in our schools have grown up in such a visual world that it is necessary to reach them in their comfort zone.
Betty Jo English
Instructional-technology resource teacher
King's Fork Middle School
Suffolk, Virginia
Buy a mobile cart of sixteen laptops and a wireless hub so teachers could use it in their classes and not have to always go to the "lab."
Betty Brennan
Librarian
Ingraham High School
Seattle, Washington
Divide it in half and give it to two teachers, which would allow them to not work the summer job or the second or third job during the school year, thus giving them more opportunities to develop their teaching skills.
Bob Sexton
Teacher, civil engineering/
Communication systems
Seymour High School
Seymour, Indiana
I'd spend it on bright paint and comfortable furniture in common areas, so students would find their educational environment more welcoming and appealing.
Wallace Austin
English teacher
Floyd Central High School
Floyds Knobs, Indiana
Field trips! Community mentor programs! Research tells us that direct experiences like these can lead to increased academic achievement, but this is the first thing to get the ax in a budget cut. Students need to experience learning!
Theresa Gray
Coordinator, School Improvement Program
Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Board of Cooperative Educational Services
Fredonia, New York
I'd pay the registration or tuition fee for any and all programs or courses the teachers in my school chose to enroll in to further their teaching knowledge.
Myra Brand
Fourth-grade teacher
Stratford Road School
Plainview, New York
Provide tutoring for students. We are so thrifty in this district. I can provide about fifty minutes of instruction by a certified teacher for about $20. This involves direct instruction in a one-on-one setting. For that amount, I could make a difference for years.
Vickie Borton
Assistant principal
Clinton-Massie Elementary School
Clarksville, Ohio
Install acoustical tiles in the older classrooms. These rooms are echo chambers. The smallest sound is amplified and just bounces around. It is so much easier to talk and therefore teach in a classroom with ceiling tiles to absorb noise. In the newer classrooms, students can do group work without sounding like a riot.
Before spending a penny I think it would be pertinent to take an anonymous written survey of the students to see what THEY feel would be the most effective use of the money and what things they would like to see changed in their school. The survey should include open-ended questions and a comments section so they could freely express their unique opinions and concerns. Then I would try to use the money in ways that will help advance the school in areas the students are most concerned, perhaps using or adapting some of their own ideas. Students often have a much greater idea of what their school is lacking than faculty or parents, and they are often very critical of the imperfections of their learning environments. Most importantly, being able to contribute directly to and take responsibility for the way they learn empowers students and strengthens both their interest in education as well as their faith in educators. Student-directed programs seem like the obvious place to start en route to these all-important goals.
Parent Programs
I would create programs that would enhance the learning of our parents. In working with thousands of students in the urban school districts, I find that many of them are struggling because their parents are not fully equipped and/or educated. By properly educating the parents, including parental classes, they can then help and assist their students as well as continue to build self-esteem across the board. In addition, I would provide books for parents and students and develop additional projects that would center around students, however, it would benefit the parents as well.
How could your school benefit from $10,000
If I had $10,000 available to me to spend on ehancing the lives of my students I would spend it on fitness equipment. Many students in our school live very sedentary lifestyles and get very little exercise other than what we can provide to them in physical education class. Health issues related to obesity are a serious issue in our society
I would integrate the use of the fitness equipment into our physical education curriculum and make it available to the faculty and staff as well. I would also like to make this fitness center a place where families of our school community could come to exercise together.
I couldn't agree more. This is exactly how I would spend it.
$10,000 to spend
Our school is fairly new it is a chartered school. It is Waldorf methods based. Every year a play is done by the grades from second grade up to eigth. The children always do such a great job. But we have no theater. I would love to see some form of small "playbox" type module. I have seen this done by building a simple plywood box stage. I don't think 10,000 would be enough but it would be a great start! The children deserve it!
Amy Leader
Mom of a sixth grader
Woodland Star Charter School
Sonoma, California
who should decide?
The idea of asking the students is fine if they are in the second half of high school or beyond. However, children K-8 are lokking for example. They need adults around them to lead, so they will be ready to make choices that will affect them for life. There are many ideas as to what should come out of a small sum of money like this. Fitness, fuels good health and healthy thinking, art and theater are creative and contribute to creative problem solving.
Adults can learn about how the students are thinking by asking for such information, but that does not mean that they conciously can guide education. We need to hold them, and present them with truthful knowledge.Then they will one day lead, and not allow any student to live in lack.