Adopt-A-Classroom

A simple fact, jacked from the Adopt a Classroom website:
Teachers spend $ 1,200 of their own money each year buying materials for their classroom.
I teach history, and when I walked into my classroom last year, I had no maps, no overheads, no TVs, no computers, no printers, no functioning desk equipment. What I had was a box of chalk and a blackboard. Traditionalists might chirp all they want about that being enough, but anyone in education knows that students require much much more. They require enrichment, they require visuals, they require world maps that acknowledge that the USSR no longer exists and that there’s no longer a country called Rhodesia in Africa.
I spent a lot of my own cash last year on supplies to better my room, and also did so before the start of this year. And then I caught wind of Adopt A Classroom (thanks Kristina R.!) and quite literally, my whole life changed.
From various sponsors, I have been given $ 400. With some of that money, I have bought a 14′ US History timeline, a new printer, and a heavy-​duty three hole punch. I still have funds left over that will most likely go to file organization.
Before I had those aforementioned supplies, my MO for creating work for my students was this:
1. Create worksheet/​graphic organizer/​handout/​prompt on personal laptop.
2. Email it to myself.
3. Print it out in the school library.
4. Take it to the copy room and pray to whomever that the copier is working.
5. Spend 20 minutes punching holes into work, because hole-​puncher only punches 3 sheets at once.
And now, #2, #3, and #5 have been supplanted by being able to print the work directly from my computer and punching 30 sheets at once.
It may not seem all that significant, but in the schedule of a teacher, those were precious moments lost before.
I don’t mean to say this site solves all of my classroom’s problems, but to have funds that are specifically and strictly reserved for school supplies, I can make the learning process so much better. I work in one of the lowest-​paying districts in the state, and it can be tough deciding between buying supplies and spending money on myself. Adopt A Classroom alleviates a little bit of that stress and financial burden.
(I would totally pimp out my personal page so that you can donate to my classroom, but then you get my last name and assorted family relatives’ last names, so you’re out of luck. Unless, of course, you have $ 1000 you can donate for an LCD projector — in which case, feel free to PM me.)