Dear Head of Special Education,
I just received notice that almost all printers in my school would be taken away, so that printing could be centralized and the district can save money on printing/toner cartridges. The printers to be removed included both the ones in our classrooms and the laser color printers.
I know that this would be a huge hardship for me, and I'm guessing the other special education staff as well. Please consider the following my thoughts as to why my printer is vital to my classroom:
1. I use it daily to make copies of materials that I have created with a group. I can hand draw a game based on speech words and then use the "copy" feature of the printer to make copies for each student. Or I can quickly stick the targeted word cards into the copy feature and print for the student. Because my groups change every 30 minutes, I would not have time to do this on the regular copy machine and still get it to the students for their daily homework assignments. This requires me to have and use the scanning printer that sits next to my computer. Both my assistant and student teacher this last year found this tool to be invaluable for providing quality follow up and homework for the students
2. I print out confidential materials daily and do not want these going to a centralized location where other staff may be looking at the papers. Many times I am printing late in the afternoon/evening and the doors to the computer lab are locked by this time.
3. I use the color printers daily to print out Boardmaker pictures, visual schedules, communication boards, circle time activities. Some argue that a color photograph is a more concrete level of representation than a black and white photo/drawing (the following list shows visual representation from most concrete to least concrete):
4. On a frequent basis I need to print a social story, lesson, or articulation word list in the middle of a 30 minute session. I cannot leave the students unattended to go pick up this printing from the other end of the building.
I know that this would be a huge hardship for me, and I'm guessing the other special education staff as well. Please consider the following my thoughts as to why my printer is vital to my classroom:
1. I use it daily to make copies of materials that I have created with a group. I can hand draw a game based on speech words and then use the "copy" feature of the printer to make copies for each student. Or I can quickly stick the targeted word cards into the copy feature and print for the student. Because my groups change every 30 minutes, I would not have time to do this on the regular copy machine and still get it to the students for their daily homework assignments. This requires me to have and use the scanning printer that sits next to my computer. Both my assistant and student teacher this last year found this tool to be invaluable for providing quality follow up and homework for the students
2. I print out confidential materials daily and do not want these going to a centralized location where other staff may be looking at the papers. Many times I am printing late in the afternoon/evening and the doors to the computer lab are locked by this time.
3. I use the color printers daily to print out Boardmaker pictures, visual schedules, communication boards, circle time activities. Some argue that a color photograph is a more concrete level of representation than a black and white photo/drawing (the following list shows visual representation from most concrete to least concrete):
- 3-D exact object (Ex. goldfish cracker = goldfish cracker)
- 3-D representation object (Ex. bubble wand = blowing bubbles)
- Color photograph
- Black & white photograph (Zerox)
- Color pictures (drawings)
- Black & white pictures
- Outline drawings (ex. Board Maker black& white)
People | Yellow |
| Verbs | Green |
| Descriptions | Blue |
| Nouns | Orange |
| Social | Pink |
| Miscellaneous | White |
4. On a frequent basis I need to print a social story, lesson, or articulation word list in the middle of a 30 minute session. I cannot leave the students unattended to go pick up this printing from the other end of the building.
5. Finally, there are times in meetings that a page has not been printed, or an additional piece of special education paperwork is needed. I need to print these immediately and have ready access to them for the meeting, without worrying about whether the computer lab doors are locked.
I understand that money is very tight right now, and that budget cuts are inevitable at this time. However, thank you for considering letting me keep this valuable, valuable tool!
I understand that money is very tight right now, and that budget cuts are inevitable at this time. However, thank you for considering letting me keep this valuable, valuable tool!
Love, Super Woman
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