The Adjunct

Are you serious? Buy you…chalk?

Well, I would prefer a box of dry-erase markers, but yes, I am 100% serious.

I’m sure they give you chalk.

You’d be surprised. Teachers of all levels, high school and college, tenured and adjunct, end up buying a lot of their own supplies. There are many reasons we do this, but mostly it is because cuts have slashed the supply budget of most schools to almost nothing. Our schools often don’t give us supplies because they don’t have any to give. In fact, just the other day I attended a department meeting in which our chair told us that our yearly supply budget was 92% less than they’d expected. Instead of $10,000 for supplies, we’d been given $800. The chair then proceeded to hand out reams of printer paer; half-reams for adjuncts, and whole reams for full-timers. We were told that we’d need to fill out individual requests for supplies such as pens. I have no idea how I am supposed to fill out a written request for a pen if I have no pen to begin with…

Do you really not have pens?

No, I have a whole box of pens. I bought them myself with my own money, because I need pens in order to grade student papers, write lesson plans, take notes, fill out attendance rosters, and sign add slips. I go through them pretty quickly, just like most of my teaching supplies.

What other teaching supplies do you use?

Paper, as mentioned above. I’m not joking when I tell you that our chair handed out half-reams to adjuncts. How long do you think half a ream of printer paper lasts for an instructor teaching 4-5 English classes? It isn’t too long until I’m buying my own paper, or using my personal supply from home. Gotta get those tests out, and there’s not always a copier machine available.

Chalk, believe it or not, is often absent from those classrooms archaic enough to have chalkboards. I keep a box of it in my satchel at all times, just in case. Since I am more of a lecturer, rather than a teacher who gives a lot of group work, I tend to write a lot of things on the board.

Dry-erase markers are my most used item. The majority of classrooms now have dry-erase boards in them, and I take full advantage of them by putting a lot of information up on the board, often using two or three colors to help emphasize an aspect of the lesson (i.e. writing the first independent clause of a comma splice with a black marker, the second independent clause with blue, and then adding a coordinating conjunction with red. I find this helps students better grasp the key concepts of my lecture, but it also causes me to go through a lot of markers, especially since they dry up quite quickly once the cap has been removed.

These are just a few examples of the needed supplies that I as an instructor often buy with my own cash. Some schools can offer me some of these supplies in a limited way, others can be quite hostile about giving out even a single staple, but for the most part our schools are tapped dry and just don’t have any more resources to give us.

So we should buy you a box of markers?

If you enjoy the website, then consider it a way of saying thank you. I pay for the site and its hosting out of my own pocket too, and I don’t get any kind of career or financial benefit from it.

The money is not part of some diabolical get rich scheme of mine, nor will it just go into my pocket to buy myself a round of golf. It will go towards exactly what you would like to buy for me, be it chalk, or a new stapler, or a bottle of tequila.

If you would like to donate, then here is a list of my most needed supplies:

* Crayola® Anti-Dust® Chalk, White, Box Of 12 Sticks $0.79

*Paper Mate® Ballpoint Stick Pens, Black Ink, Pack Of 12 $1.89

*Quartet® Zenith Sewn Chalkboard Eraser, 5″ Felt $2.99

*EXPO® Low-Odor Dry-Erase Markers, Chisel Point, Pack Of 4, Assorted Colors $5.29

*Office Depot® Brand Copy Paper, 8 1/2″ x 11″, Ream Of 500 Sheets $4.89

-OR-

*Office Depot® Brand Copy Paper, 8 1/2″ x 11″, Case Of 10 Reams $35.99

Other vital supplies for adjunct professors:

* Pint of Lagunitas IPA at my preferred local bar – $4.25

* 6 pack of Lagunitas CENSORED Copper Ale – $9.95

* Bottle of Mill Creek Sauvignon Blanc, Esate – $15.00

* Bottle of Fritz Late Harvest Zinfandel – $35.00

* Michters US1 Single Barrel Straight Rye Whiskey – $50.00