#3: Hoarding

Teachers are master hoarders. Those people on the reality hoarding shows can't hold a candle to some of my teacher friends. Of course, teachers are often justified in their squirreling-away ways; given their budget restraints, teachers often have to be creative and "make do" with what they find, or make their own versions of fancy teacher-store supplies. Teachers quickly learn to be inventors--everything can be something else! Even if they can't see its potential yet, good teachers know that those Lean Cuisine containers/bottle caps/wire hangers can serve a purpose in the classroom. And old magazines--that's the BEST! If you have a stack of old magazines, I guarantee that I know a dozen teachers who would be happy to take those off your hands for you. If you have four hundred baby food jars taking up space in your garage, just drop them off at the front desk of any school anywhere and it will be like Christmas for those ecstatic educators. Of course, hoarding does pose a problem for teachers, in that most classrooms do not have much storage space. So teachers learn to be creative with their stash of trash. Nevermind that little Michael can't fit his book on his desk--he's in charge of holding on to the class supply of broken crayons! When teachers run out of space in their classrooms, the truly dedicated ones turn their own garages into hoarding storage. If you have not reached this level yet, you may want to consider how dedicated you really are to furthering young minds.

Master teachers can take this a step further and actually plan their curriculum around the trash they've accumulated. They spend the summer rinsing out baggies, stashing away used strawberry containers, and flattening all of the cardboard boxes in the pantry, "just in case." Hey, you never know when a desire to teach checkbook skills and a need to dispose of all the checks you saved from your old bank account will occur simultaneously! A master teacher is always ready for just such an occasion. A mountain of old ads from the Sunday paper could become tomorrow's lesson on counting money. Your husband's yard sneakers that smell so rank that they are no longer allowed in the house are perfect for a center on shoelace-tying practice. A box of wine bottle corks can easily become a science experiment in buoyancy or a raft-making project (just be prepared to field questions about where you got three thousand corks).

It's true what they say: One man's trash is another man's lesson plan inspiration.