Dealing With the Financial Crisis in
Your Classroom
This article was published
by us on December 6, 2008 on Ezinearticles.com
http://ezinearticles.com/?Dealing-With-
... id=1764593
Almost every sector is
affected by the economic crisis in one way or another, and the Education sector
is no exception. Classrooms all over the country if not the world are being
affected by budget cuts. Teaching materials are scarce, after school services
are being eliminated, and layoffs are becoming inevitable. Do you have less
teaching materials to use in your classroom? Are your planned activities not as
engaging as they used to be as a result? Here are a few suggestions that will
help bring back the enthusiasm and a full engagement from your students in your
classroom again.
The most basic thing you
can do is to recycle your old teaching materials. For example, you can adapt
materials that were used 2 or 3 years ago with your 5th grade class to plan
activities for your current 7th grade class.
The next option is to
literally raid your colleagues' closets. Fellow teachers are a great resource
for teaching materials. Teachers are known to keep all types of materials
including decorative materials years after years. It is common knowledge that
teachers have a hard of getting rid of their teaching materials hoping that
such materials will be somehow reused in the future.
Teachers have always used
their imagination and skills in their classroom. Teacher-created materials as it
is known are materials that teachers create to be used in their classrooms for
specific lessons. The financial crisis and the challenges that it brings is a
great opportunity for you to put your imagination to use. This is a great time
to pull out your construction paper, scissors, markers, etc. Your imagination
is the limit.
Finally, have you ever
thought about swapping or selling your teaching materials? As mentioned above,
most teachers have accumulated a lot of materials over the years that are either
sitting in their closets or that they no longer have any use for. Do you have
any used materials that other teachers can use in their classrooms? That
activity book that you used 5 years ago with your New York City 3rd grade class
can certainly be of use to a 3rd grade teacher in Kansas this fall. In return,
you will gain access to materials needed for your current assignment. Swap it,
sell it, and use it.
The economic crisis is
inevitably affecting American classrooms. Budget cuts make teaching materials
more and more scarce nowadays. In order to keep your lessons interesting to
your students, you need to be very imaginative. Recycle, create your own
materials, swap or sell your old teaching materials.
Gia Theodore is the creator
of http://www.swapboards4teachers.com, a website operated and owned by Educationow. Educationow
is a resource for educators, scholars, researchers, and others seeking to
improve and raise the level of educational standards in the world.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gia_Theodore
