"Our district had to cut about $450,000 from the budget this year, so we've lost a lot of teachers, and any funding we have is just for the bare bone necessities. I ordered 10 new Spanish-English dictionaries I've needed, but I'll spend my own money for anything beyond that.
I went to a space camp this year and learned how to bring science into the classroom. I'm going to have my students translate parts of the NASA website. And as a fun final activity, we're going to build a rocket, so I'll buy the supplies myself for that project and other similar projects throughout the year.
Last year, when swine flu was a major threat, our district provided a single box of tissues to each classroom for the entire winter, and that's a true reflection of where we are with public education funding.
Teachers went out and bought jugs of hand sanitizers, Lysol, tissues and other hygienic supplies so that our students would feel comfortable and safe in our classrooms." -- as told to Hibah Yousuf
NEXT: Chris Reilly-Fazzina
New teachers see fewer openings
