It’s back to school time, and teachers everywhere are groaning over the tsunami of products being marketed at them while simultaneously filling up Amazon wishlists. I get it. I used to be that teacher too—hunting down the perfect organizational system, buying yet another set of markers, adding teaching props to my cart.
Then something changed.
I stopped. And my teaching got better.
REASON #1: How you spend your time is how you spend your life.
In IEP life, most of us don’t even have our own classrooms. You’re carrying everything with you, class to class, day after day. (That job where I had the same classroom for two months at a time was SWEET.)
So why are we accumulating MORE stuff?
Look, keep your manipulatives if they work. Keep the materials you actually use. But that organizational bin that’s still empty? The teaching props you bought two years ago and used once?
How much of your life do you want to spend managing, organizing, and hauling around STUFF? I used to waste hours on this. Hours I could have been prepping better lessons, sleeping, or doing literally anything else.
Cut down what you’re carrying, physically and mentally. Decrease what’s using up your time to increase the time you actually have in your life.
REASON #2: Your students don’t need more stuff competing for their attention.
Adult ESL teachers aren’t decorating like elementary teachers (thank god), but we ARE hoarders. Stacks of handouts, multiple textbooks, storybooks, old magazines, teaching props for that one activity. We try to accumulate materials for every possible scenario.
Instead of packing your classroom full of eye-catching displays and organization supplies, make less be more. Say no to that obsessive little consumer in your brain that demands something colorful from Target to be “happy.”
After all, your students already have a million things competing for their attention. Their phones alone are a constant distraction. They don’t need you drowning in supplies too.
You don’t need seventeen different activity types if you master three that actually work. You don’t need backup materials for your backup materials.
Besides, your adult students aren’t motivated by cute decor or perfectly organized binders. They’re motivated by feeling seen, challenged, and supported. None of that requires carrying around a rolling suitcase full of teaching supplies or a Pinterest-perfect classroom.
REASON #3: They’ll remember how you made them feel, not what you put on the classroom walls.
When I think back to my own teachers, elementary through high school, I can’t remember what materials they used. Not one handout or even visual aid. Sure, I remember the heat that came off the overhead projector, but anything that was shown on it? Nope. I learned a lot, but what stayed with me? How my teachers made me feel and whether they saw me and whether they cared.
Also? Teachers don’t get paid enough. You know it. I know it. That’s not changing anytime soon.
So resist the urge to fund your teaching life out of your own pocket. I’m just here to tell you that it’s a grand, freeing feeling to let go and spend more time on connections with students rather than the appearance of a classroom. Save that money for something that serves YOU as a person, not a teacher.
Right or wrong, this approach has been freeing for me. Less stuff to manage means more energy for the teaching that truly matters.
You don’t have to go full minimalist. Only you know what works for you. But if you’re spending more time managing your teaching materials than connecting with students? Maybe it’s time to let some of it go.
Read more about teaching adult ESL!
- How to Stop Homework from Devouring Your Time
- Teachers: Stop Martyring Yourselves!
- Teaching Adult ESL: Real Talk for New Teachers
- 3 Ideas for Inspiring Shared Gratitude in the Classroom
Find the practical adult ESL teaching material you’ve been looking for in my TpT store!
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I have to admit. The title caught me. I thought, “why should I invest the bare minimum into my students?”, but as I read the article I couldn’t help but nod my head and agree with all of your points!
Just because we don’t invest monetarily, doesn’t mean we aren’t invested! I think it’s easy to hide behind the trendy posters, resources, textbooks, etc., but what’s really important is the connection and relationship we build with our students. After all, that’s how you meet needs, not through a color-copied past-tense verb worksheet!
Exactly! Also, just because we aren’t spending money on classroom decorations doesn’t mean we aren’t spending it on our students. Whenever we pay for a subscription to a journal or invest in a course to further our knowledge, we are spending money on our students.
I hadn’t thought about “hiding” behind trendy posters, resources, and textbooks, but I think you are right. It happens. Making those connections and nurturing those relationships can be an intimidating commitment. And with the push to get students through the book and into the next level, we often feel like we don’t have the time and end up prioritizing the language end goal over the people trying to learn.