Do you have any idea how hard it is for us to save money? Well, if you've been with us from post 1, you know many of the reasons why it's hard. Mostly it's hard to save money when you don't have anything left over to save in the first place... but when we do have a little left- things like this happen:
Student's birthday is coming up... he tells me, "Mrs. Jones, do you know what would mean the world to me? If you could get me a Snickers for my birthday." You wouldn't BELIEVE the smile and hug that kid gave me. It was like no one had remembered his birthday in the 18 years he'd been alive. A lot of my students ask for "little" things, and I'm a sucker. In fact, I've got a kid who has shown up twice all year. Last week, I told him if he could show up every day for a week, I'd buy him breakfast. Guess who has been in class every day?
"Mrs. Jones, do you have a folder? Do you have a notebook, too? My grannie doesn't get paid til next month. I'm failing classes because I can't get organized."
"Mrs. Jones, please don't mark me late for class. I'm pregnant. It's taking me longer to get here. Also, do you know where I can get free baby clothes?"
"Mrs. Jones, do you have anything to eat? I was working all night and my momma left for work at 3 and I had to get my sisters to school and I haven't gone grocery shopping in a week."
This weekend I'm dropping off ALL of our baby stuff to a student who is expecting a baby girl this Spring. I told him he'll have to pay it forward for someone else some day.
During my "free time" on lunch break at work I put together DonorsChoose projects to fund supplies for my students and get books for them to read. We just got another project funded so my kids will have pens and paper again! When I run out of those supplies, I end up buying them on my own. How can I let my kids fail because they can't afford a notebook?
Add in when kids need to pay for an ID to ride the city bus, need a bus ticket home, cry because they can't afford a 5 dollar field trip to a college, or any other simple "cheap" thing that can make a world of difference in a life... and there goes that little bit of extra money we could have, should have, saved.
Teaching, especially in the city, is just one of those jobs that you end up spending too much of your own measly paycheck on your students because SOMEONE has to.
Since it's the season of sharing, I thought it would be nice to let you all know some of what we do on our end. I know we're probably driving you crazy with our daily posts, but we've got a dream-- and we've gotta reach it somehow!
Aaron and I have considered this... teacher shortage a surprise? I think not.
Thank you again for sharing our blog, encouraging us to continue, and not "defriending" us on Facebook when we fill your feed with crazy updates ;)
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