Despite what many people may think, teachers are not wealthy individuals with unlimited funds to spend on their classrooms. I know I am very guilty of spending too much money on technology - quite frankly a lot of it just duplicates what I already have. I just wanted to put some options out there to see what people think.
1. Try to see what you school already had, or what they might be willing to buy if you are going to use it. I am constantly surprised by how many times I've been asked to submit a receipt for something I have purchased. The worst case scenario might be that they tell you no and you don't submit receipts and don't ask for permission anymore.
2. Have the students bring in more of their own supplies. Honestly, I think that the students depend too much on the teacher providing everything. Ask them to bring in their own technology sometimes and use it/share it.
3. Do you really need it? Do you really need that latest gadget or is it just another toy? How many laptops do you really need? How many tablets do you really need? Try and put the purchase off for a while and see if you really still want it.
4. If you have to have it, make it serve many purposes. I did this recently with my new Macbook Pro w/Retina Display. I wanted just one computer and I know I have been spending way too much money on technology the last few years. So here's what I did.
What do you you all think? Any suggestions or questions?
1. Try to see what you school already had, or what they might be willing to buy if you are going to use it. I am constantly surprised by how many times I've been asked to submit a receipt for something I have purchased. The worst case scenario might be that they tell you no and you don't submit receipts and don't ask for permission anymore.
2. Have the students bring in more of their own supplies. Honestly, I think that the students depend too much on the teacher providing everything. Ask them to bring in their own technology sometimes and use it/share it.
3. Do you really need it? Do you really need that latest gadget or is it just another toy? How many laptops do you really need? How many tablets do you really need? Try and put the purchase off for a while and see if you really still want it.
4. If you have to have it, make it serve many purposes. I did this recently with my new Macbook Pro w/Retina Display. I wanted just one computer and I know I have been spending way too much money on technology the last few years. So here's what I did.
- I got a faster laptop with a big SSD drive so I don't have to update in a year or two.
- I used Bootcamp to install Windows 8.1 on a second partition. Now I have a Macbook and a Windows laptop. Here is an article from Apple about how to set up Bootcamp https://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/
- I picked up a program that runs Android in Windows - so now I have an Android computer with access to the Android app store. Team the touchpad or Wacomm-type tablet and it's a pretty effective Android device. The software can be found at http://www.amiduos.com/
What do you you all think? Any suggestions or questions?