A few people gave me money for my bat mitzvah, and I’ve decided to apply the money towards something I’ve wanted for six years: Real desks for my students. I’ve got about $500 in the fund, since I decided that family money stays in the family, but all other funds go towards the desks.
If anyone wants to add a little bit to the Bat Mitzvah Desk Fund, I’ve got Amazon and Paypal tipjars on the left sidebar. Amazon allows anonymous donations. (Email me if you’d rather have an address to send a check.)
I’m also donating some of my own money. It really is nice to be able to start contributing more to the school. Today was a rough day—the kids were nearly unmanageable—but I still went home smiling after spending two hours with my students. And with individual desks, I’ll be able to solve about half the discipline problems. We currently sit around two long tables put together, which is not the best learning environment. The kids need their own space. And I need them sitting up and attentive like they’re at school—which they are. But they call public school “regular school” and don’t think of Hebrew school as such. Desks will do a lot to change that way of thinking. Oh, I could be a lot stricter on the kids, and that would get them to sit up straight, sit in their chairs, and stop bouncing around and grabbing the other students things and doing half the things that nine-year-olds do—but it would also get them to resent coming to religious school, and make it that much harder to teach. Right now, my students hate to miss one of my classes. And that’s the way I like it.
I should scan in some of the hand-made bat mitzvah notes they gave me. Very, very cute.