This School is Brought to You By 3M.

First week of teaching is over. Overall an enjoyable experience and I already have plenty of “kids-say-the-darndest-things” stories. One big thing I noticed:

There has been a revolution in elementary schools since I was a student. It is of the paper variety. Post-Its have taken over our public school system. Did you know that in New York, it is against school policy for a teacher to mark up a student’s paper? Meaning, it is grounds for dismissal if I were to put checkmarks or revision suggestions directly on a child’s homework or essay. Apparently, it transfers ownership away from the student and demeans their work. Therefore, all teachers must use post-its to grade homework and papers. I have a problem with this for a number of reasons:

1. It’s wasteful. While I like post-its (especially when they have fun colors), I have never really gotten used to using them since they. are. so. wasteful. You write a couple words on it and then stick it to something expecting that in the not-so-distant future they will be thrown away.

2. It’s ineffective. How can I circle a particular word or a step in a math problem with stickies? “You may want to check the spelling of your third use of the word ‘impashunt’.”

3. A post-it smiley face or “Super!”???

4. Post-Its FALL OFF. Especially when they are crammed into a messy elementary student’s desk.

5. Ownership smonership. I would eat my hat if a kid ever said: “By marking my paper, the teacher has taken away my ownership of my paper. Learning is dead to me now.”

6. Teachers have a small enough budget to work with…Post-Its should at the very least be provided to us (they’re not).

I smell a conspiracy here. All I can hope is that Baltimore is not quite as strange.