Florida teacher’s viral video shows what a classroom looks like before and after using her own money, donations!

A teacher in Florida said she received an influx of school supplies after sharing a video showing her empty classroom before the start of the school year.

Megan, a public school teacher who asked that her last name not be used, said she took nearly six years of teaching to raise her two children, and returned as a full-time teacher this year.

When she stopped by the classroom in July to see what it looked like, Meghan said she was devastated.

“When I decided I was going back to teaching, I wanted to see what the class had before I spent a lot of money that I didn’t have,” Megan said.good morning america“When I went in and saw him, I left crying. I was supposed to have it ready for kindergarten camp in a week or so.”

Meghan said she took a video of her class so she could show it to her mom, who said she spent nearly $1,000 to get her first class outside of college ready, in 2014.

She then decided to share it on TikTok, hoping to spread awareness of the work teachers are putting into their classrooms.

“I feel frustrated going to my class today. There are no library shelves for the classroom. Desks are weird for a kindergarten class.. No lockers. No rugs. Not many supplies or books left. How much of my money should I expect to spend?” she said. Megan commented on the video.

An elementary school teacher in Florida shared videos on TikTok that show her class before and after preparing the students.

Megan / Tik Tok

Meghan’s video has garnered thousands of comments, many teachers sharing similar experiences, and others responding to her being grateful for a clean room.

One commenter wrote: “Yes! That’s all you get. Desks, chairs, textbooks. This is what people don’t realize. We buy everything!!”.

“This room is clean with nice desks and tables & Store. Count what you are blessed with. I’ve been in rooms with holes in the wall & floor with mice, insects and mold,” another commentator wrote.

“I’m less interested in furniture – where are the educational resources and materials?” Another comment was written.

In addition to sharing the video, Meghan also included a link to her Amazon wishlist, which reads: “This wish list will be used to buy things for my Kindergarten class for the 2022-2023 school year! Thank you for supporting us and helping me create lifelong learners! !”

By doing so, Megan joined a growing trend in the United States where teachers are posting public wish lists of supplies they will have to pay for out of their pocket, including everything from children’s snacks to books, learning materials, and classroom supplies like wipes and hand sanitizer.

Wish lists are often shared on social media, and oftentimes by celebrities with a large following, strangers can find them and donate supplies.

In Megan’s case, she said that within days of sharing a link to her wish list on social media, about 70% of it had been fulfilled, with strangers, family and friends sending everything from storage containers to STEM activities, backpack organizer and options for flexible seating for her students.

“All students deserve everything, but my kids are number one,” she said, referring to the rating of schools with high percentages of children from low-income families. “I don’t know if they’ll come home to nice things and I really want them to have it here.”

An elementary school teacher in Florida shared videos on TikTok that show her class before and after preparing the students.

Megan / Tik Tok

On average, teachers in the United States spend upwards of $500 of their own money in their classrooms for each academic year, Marie Kosler, senior director of advocacy for the National Education Association, a union of teachers, told GMA.

“It is very common for the experience, the time and attention that teachers spend before their students take their first step in the classroom to create this learning environment in a welcoming way,” Kosler said. “It’s work that teachers do, and that time is often overlooked.”

Social media and programs like DonorsChoose, which allow public school teachers to order required materials, have highlighted the problem teachers have long faced with having to use their salaries to provide for their classes, according to Kosler.

“They will do everything from spending money to create nameplates for their children’s desks to creating billboards to make sure they have an extra granola bar in their desks, extra clothes, or extra water bottles,” she said of the teachers. “They are there to meet the needs of these students, and they will do what they need to do.”

Kosler noted that teachers use their own money in their classrooms, despite being in a historically low-paying profession.

In 2021, the median elementary school teacher salary in the United States was just over $67,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Meghan said she discussed whether to return to teaching after staying home, due in part to the low wages and high pressure of the job, noting that she has seen many of her colleagues leave the teaching profession.

The National Education Association estimates that the United States faces a shortage of 300,000 teachers for the 2022-23 school year.

As for Meghan, she said she eventually came back because teaching children is her passion, and she said she was determined to succeed in her job.

An elementary school teacher in Florida shared videos on TikTok showing her before and after class setting it up for students.

Megan / Tik Tok

About two weeks after posting her first video, Meghan shared another video of her classroom, all decked out and ready for students.

“What happens in my class with my kids, relationships, I can’t imagine doing anything else,” she said.

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