Pencils: Why you should not be giving them away

They make me crazy. The sharpening. The erasers that disappear faster than the lead. The lead that breaks. Oh, and then there is the sharpener racket. What finally worked for me: I stopped giving out pencils. I got really tired of spending MY hard earned money on pencils. While my own children needed things as well. So I quit. And it was liberating! When a kid tells me they have a pencil problem I say "Oh, that is too bad. I'm sure you can find a way to solve it" in my sweetest voice. If they persist, I tell them to ask a friend or use a hand sharpener and remind them to be responsible and bring more tomorrow. The hand sharpeners are on my supply list every year but you can also score them very cheap at the dollar store. Yet strangely, they always go missing as fast as the pencils. The big hand crank or electric sharpeners are off limits during non-transition times. They are available at arrival, dismissal, after lunch, etc. I have a little basket with two or three of them by the trash can. If you are consistent, the class will become more responsible with their pencils over time. At the end of the day I gather up all the pencils that are on the floor and put them in a little cup. I show the class the cup of pencils and tell them when they loose a pencil it goes in the cup. The cup is where they can find a pencil if they don't have one. When it is empty, that is it. There are no more. Eventually, they will catch on that you are not giving away pencils and will bring their own. But it takes time, especially if you have been giving away pencils and they have to expect it. But your students will learn something more valuable: responsibility. I have even gone as far as creating an anchor chart about pencils. It lists problems and solutions. I really think that if we as teachers are consistent and uphold responsibility then the students will learn to be responsible. Part of the reason why so many students have learned to rely on teachers to provide them with supplies is because we do it so willingly. It really irks me when a student comes to school with an iPod but can't remember their pencil. Occasionally, I have one or two students that just can not remember a pencil or that always have a problem. I send their parents an email or note and ask them to send in a few packs of pencils. If the parents can't or won't buy the pencils then I get several from the cup of lost pencils instead. The student sharpens all of them. Then, I give the student a zip lock baggie with their name on it and I store it in my teacher cabinet. They get one at a time. If you don't think this is an option: I saw a system on teachers pay teachers that I thought was neat by wise owl. Oh and I got so sick of buying expensive and cheap electric sharpeners that I quit doing so. Either way, the motor in them would burn up.