An Elegant Solution to the Pencil Problem

Lately I've seen new blog posts crop up regarding what to do about "the pencil problem."  When I taught fourth grade, I kept looking for the perfect system.  They have tips on when pencils should be sharpened, by whom, what happens when a student is unprepared with no pencil, and how to keep track of pencils. 

Pencil photo from the public domain

Keeping track was definitely the worst of it.  Have any of the following sentences ever brought your lesson to a screeching halt:

Whose pencil is this? 
Where did you leave your pencil?
He stole my pencil.  
No, that's my pencil.
Nuh uh.    
Yes, look, mine had a bigger eraser.  Yours had dent near the metal part.

I read blog post after blog post about different pencil systems, trying to figure out how to fix this daily problem.  And yet, now that I teach first grade, suddenly pencil problems are not interrupting my lessons.  What's my secret?  How have I reached Pencil Nirvana?  The solution is actually very simple.

If a student needs a pencil, give them one.

It's not complicated.  Kids need pencils in order to do schoolwork.  Unless you are at a paperless/all digital school, that's just a part of life.  If you vilify the students who are not responsible enough to hold onto/maintain their pencils, that's just one more step towards encouraging them check out.  It's one small way that, as time goes on adds up every day and (without you noticing it but the kid feels it) turns into a big way, to alienate your students who are already not "good students." 

Is there a time and place to teach responsibility?  Of course the answer is, "yes."  However, if you choose to make pencils the issue on which you make your stance, you are only going to reach those students who care about stationery.  Which my gut tells me is a small percentage of students. 

You may be thinking, "But then you're rewarding irresponsible students by giving them stuff."  Well, my way of thinking has completely shifted.  I'm not just a deliverer of content.  Part of my job is caregiver, there's no doubt about it.  Part of my job is to provide for the needs of my students.  If I'm teaching them writing, it's just as much my job to give them a pencil to write with as it is to teach them to start a sentence with a capital letter. 

And in reality, I am not rewarding the irresponsible students.  Because I don't single them out.  I simply level the playing field.  I give EVERY student a pencil.  Often.  I never allow the supply of pencils to run out.  And as a result, students feel provided for.  They have one less thing they have to worry about before lowering their affective filter and "buy in" to what you're teaching them. 

I know what you're thinking.  This sounds nice, but isn't it more work than those other systems where students have to bargain with you to get something you are requiring them to use?  Not really.  In my next post I'll give you 9 tips to help you make it work in your classroom.   

 

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