Things have gotten out of hand.
Near the end of the summer a movement took social media by storm and let me tell ya, it’s still raining. Hashtag Clear The Lists. Teachers from all over created Amazon wishlists and flooded social media in a frenzy in hopes that family, friends, acquaintances, celebrities, and rich people with a soft spot for education would purchase items they needed for their classrooms.
When I say “teachers”, I am including myself. Once I saw the hashtag trending I created a wishlist with a quickness, wrote a Megatron parody hoping to attract Onika herself (pssst…it didn’t work), and sprinkled my link everywhere that made sense. By the way, although my list wasn’t completely cleared, I got a ton of dope new books that have made a huge impact in my classroom already and I feel very grateful for it.
At a certain point, however, the movement started making me feel a bit squicky. I didn’t like what it had become. What started as a way for teachers to get some things they needed without depleting their own bank account turned into an educators version of “do anything for clout.” I saw a lot of Twitter handles promising to randomly purchase something from someone’s wishlist if they get ____number of followers and retweets. I saw the same handles requiring anyone they purchase for to be a follower or tag someone or something…because it turned into always being something.
In addition, I also saw my feed become saturated with nothing but wishlist links, begging, and in some cases whining and digital temper tantrums. I grew tired. I started unfollowing, muting, and blocking. I vowed to stop promoting my own list (and that is why it is *not* included here). I started to sift through the wreckage in search of real content again.
Slowly, I am finding it.
Then today, as I was scrolling through my feed I was stopped right in my tracks. Hashtag TPT Class Fund. Think #clearthelists but TeachersPayTeachers style.
Before I say what I am about to say, let me go ahead with my disclaimer. Over the years I have purchased plenty from this website. Some resources have been phenomenal, some mediocre, and others terrible.
That said…
TPT is NOT vetted. For every great resource, there are probably 10 mediocre ones and 5 terrible ones. Whenever I am scrolling for something specific, I see a lot of basic old school worksheets decorated with very non-basic fonts, colors, and clipart. I also see text that seems to be all wrong for the grade level it is specified for or even better, one text that says it is designed for multiple grades (think 1st-4th)…yeah…okay.
The worst part about it is that there are a plethora of vetted sites that are absolutely free to use. Free.
For those who argue that they would rather give their money to a regular teacher than a big publisher, I would tend to agree. I would also urge those on that side of the argument to check out some math behind TPT. In short, most teachers aren’t actually making anything substantial from the website.
It is also worthy to note that it appears as though this hashtag was either created or heavily supported by the TPT website itself…a website that is making bank and will likely make even more after this movement. Did I mention there are a plethora of resources that are vetted and free for teachers to use?
In short, I agree that many teachers need more financial support in their classrooms. Most of us have salaries that leave much to be desired and we spend a lot of what little we have on our own classrooms and our students. Although I hate that we are crowdfunding for some basic and even not so basic classroom needs, I understand. But…if we are going to crowdfund I would much prefer we do so as careful consumers. TPT is a resource for occasional, careful consumption…not something to trend on Twitter with a hashtag or tp raise hundreds upon hundreds of dollars from well-meaning folk. Nope, nope, nope. Instead, why don’t we fund rich texts, manipulatives, pencils, technology, or literally anything else?
Also…if we are going to crowdfund, can we somehow do so in a way that doesn’t litter everyone’s timeline…and can we do it without the clout?
Just sayin’.
Hashtag Teacher Life 