In Transition 678: Whats In My Teacher Bag

Happy Fall, Everyone!

CONFESSION

I'm becoming a YouTube fanatic.

I admire YouTubers who have the courage to put themselves out there and share their ideas and expertise with complete strangers. I sometimes wonder if I would have the guts to start my own "A Day In the Life of a Teacher" channel. I'm not there yet. Nonetheless, I still enjoy watching them. I've gotten savvy ideas, inspiration, and energy watching teachers share what they do with such enthusiasm. Kudos to all of you. (In my last blog post, I hyperlinked some of my favorite channels.)

"What's In My Teacher Bag" is a popular YouTube topic that many teachers post. I'm fascinated by them. Go figure.

So, here's my version of "What's In My Teacher Bag".

MY TEACHER BAG REQUIREMENTS

My bag has to be cute, of course, functional and different from the one I used the year before. Yes, every year I kind of, sort of use a different bag. Why? Because I'm easily bored. I don't always buy a new one, sometimes I revive old ones. My teacher bag must have ample space to fit all of my stuff, but not too big where it's difficult to carry. And, one more requirement, my school bag keeps my school stuff and my personal bag keeps my personal stuff. I've tried combining everything making my school bag multi-functional. It seems like the logical thing to do. I mean, who likes to carry two bags? I don't either. However, merging the two didn't work for me. I often take care of personal errands after school and I don't need to bring all of my school items into the supermarket.

So, I do in fact carry two bags.

I usually don't purchase bags for myself.

My husband enjoys buying me bags for special days.

Last year, I asked for a Charming Charlie's bag for Mother's Day. When I saw it, I thought it was darling.

And, the price was, well, you couldn't beat it.

My intention was to use it for school, but then I didn't.

I just continued using the bag I had been using prior to Mother's Day. This summer I decided to take the Charming Charlie's bag with me on our trip to Jamaica and I loved it. That's when I decided I'd use it for school this year.

The best feature of this bag is that it's a bag in a bag.

The inside bag has snaps on either side that get attached to the larger tote. This is why it makes a great traveling bag. Important items are secured inside and the open tote provides easy access to other less important ones.

For school, I keep my tablet, electronic accessories and other items I need to secure.

This little black and gold zipper pouch holds my electronic accessories.

I keep a little stash of "stress relievers" in my private compartment for 2pm slumps. Vital.

My teacher binder goes in the larger tote for easy access.

This binder is used for lesson planning, student information, and my class procedures' manual.

My school gives teachers a copy of the student agendas and many of us use it as a monthly planner. This year the planners were back ordered and they wouldn't arrive until 4 weeks later. I couldn't wait, so I purchased an inexpensive one at TJMaxx to get me through the first few weeks. I'm just going to use it this entire year. It's not fancy, but it does the job and was budget friendly.

Another confession, I'm a pen and office supply hoarder.

I've noticed, however, I'm not the only one. It fits the profile of many teachers. I picked up this cute little silver pouch at Target for less than $2. It holds some of my pens and I just throw it into the tote part of my bag.