Paper. A school is dependent on paper. This thin, white, innocuous object has value beyond what is initially seen. Paper marks the flow of ideas and learning throughout the school. It is hard to imagine a school without paper. Yet, each year imagining a school without paper becomes easier to imagine.
Paper is an indicator species for resources in the school. Paper represents the health and strength of the school. Paper is symbolic of other resources within the school such as writing utensils, novels, additional support in the library, or clubs to create school culture.
Paper, and that for which it represents, is another item I will include on my list of Invisibles.
People who spend their time outside of a school may call out, "Do more with less! Less paper!" It sounds good when you are the person saying it, and I am all for doing more with less. However, for many schools there even less than less, to even do more with. In this case, telling a school to "Do more with less" is like telling a kid to "Be more content with less love."
Ya, kid. Why are you so greedy.
The school environment is an awe inspiting ecosystem. There is so much going on within it that it is impossible to understand it all. After 15 years of teaching, I am still amazed. If one part of the system is weak, other parts come in and fill the need. This is, in essence, good. However, at some point, the resources will be so depleted that there will not be anyone able to come in and fill the need.
So back to the paper. I teach English and my 9th graders write a minimum of two multi-drafted, well crafted, critical analysis essays in a semester. In doing this, we use a great deal of paper. The paper is not wasted. The paper is used for drafting, editing, revision, redrafting. The paper is used in the learning process.
153 students with an average of 5 pages in their superb essay is 765 pages. Take that 765 and double it for a mid draft and final draft, and it becomes 1530. This is several reams of paper, and only for one of those district required essays. Some would see this as a place to "Do more with less!" but the act of using this paper for drafting and revision, editing and formatting is so important, and at this age level, it cannot be done soley on a computer.
And so I buy paper. I buy paper with my own money because I believe in the power gained by marking on drafts. The power my students see in watching their ideas develop on paper.
This is an invisible part of my class and I have shared it with you, hopefully making it not quite so invisible.
This post is part of October's theme of Invisibles. "Invisibles" is a general term for all of the unseen things that teachers do to keep the education machine running. The goal of October is to bring several of these Invisibles to light so that people outside of the school setting have a clear idea of what it is like inside the school.