Today I gave away prizes to my students who won the spelling bell I held in three of my classes. They weren't much--some jolly rancher gummy candies and some squishy stressball-like creatures of different colors. The fun thing is, students like prizes. I would be happy if someone gave me a stress ball creature, too. Most teachers spend money like this (it was probably about $8-$10) on their students. Some, of course, never do. I wonder if women are more likely to do this than men.
I was also able to give away five copies of Into Thin Air today to those English teachers who will have seniors next year. I purchased the copies with money from a Barnes and Noble gift card, so it wasn't exactly out-of-pocket; however, the books never would have materialized without me. So often teachers (and especially English teachers) have to purchase their own materials for class. I know plenty of teachers, including myself, who even end up purchasing books for students. I've bought sets of Macbeth, Gina has bought Pygmalion, etc... It's annoying, but necessary. This is probably what made giving these five simple copies of Into Thin Air all the more gratifying for me. I wish they had been purchased by the district. I wish a lot of supplies were purchased by the district, but that doesn't occur. You do what you can.
Although my giving wasn't really "charitable" today, it was worthy.
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