Polar Bears or People

My only niece and nephew turned the age of twelve earlier this month. Bob and I gave them cold hard cash - literally! We froze $50 in a baggie in water in sour cream containers. In order to find out what and where their gift was, they had to solve a riddle. Such is how we give gifts in our family if the receiver has everything he or she already needs...

My nephew Robert pocketed the money right away, and my niece Rosann announced, "I'm giving my money to the polar bears!"

Silence.

After a time, I was able to ask Rosann, "Where will your money go? What will the organization do with your money for the polar bears?" She mentioned something about them relocating bears that had gotten too far away.

I tried to be a good actress and be happy for her - proud of her. I don't know if I was convincing.

The thing is, she's a giving person. She also sees that for my birthday we put together what some call "blessings bags" - see the post on how to make your own here. I donated money to St. Jude's in her name for her first communion. She volunteers with the Girl Scouts at Feed My Starving Children. What was my problem?! Why did her saying she'd give her money to the polar bears put me off? Why did I think - Maybe her parents will talk her out of giving ALL of her money to the polar bears. (It had totaled $140 by then.) Don't PEOPLE count more?

I saw my problem this morning (while washing dishes).

I was being a hypocrite.

EVERY time I speak or write about Genius Hour, 20% Time, Passion Projects, Personalized Learning... I have in the forefront of my mind that it is about the KIDS. It's about what THEY deem important. Who am I to judge? What if the biggest group of people helping polar bears financially are children? I revisited my post on the value of frozen marbles today. I'll promise to keep my hypocrisy at bay, and yet keep asking questions that keep the conversations going.

Pixabay

Does AdSense Make Sense?

When ads began appearing at the bottom of posts of educators I respect, I got turned off.

When ads began appearing on posts of educators who had just recently begun blogging, I was put off even more.

When teachers ask me to retweet their request for Donors Choose, I have to decline. It's one of my unwritten personal policies for how I use Twitter.

I'm not in it for the income. I'm in it for the outcome.

http://scholarsrm239.weebly.com/about-mrs-kirr.html

These are the thoughts running through my mind this morning. I have not promoted anything on Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram, or my blog that I have not read, questioned, or supported. I do not put requests on Donors Choose for my own students, as my district is fairly affluent and I do not want to take away from those who are struggling. I have donated to Donors Choose, and been rewarded knowing that I could help in small ways. These are all personal preferences everyone has to consider in their careers - whatever background we come from or circumstance we're in currently.

So seeing the ads on other blogs, although they turned me off, the message of the educator posting their thoughts was more important to me. I could overlook the ads. I have no clue why they added advertisements (that this world already has so much of) to their posts, but I realize it's a personal preference. Yes, they may lose some readers, but they didn't lose me. I know how to skip over the distraction. I've often wondered if AdSense would ever make sense to me.

Then it came to me today - I've learned how to skip over the distraction pretty well! How many of us who use tech daily have learned this skill?

It also came to me - I don't need the money that might come from having ads, but I could use it to help OTHERS. What if...

So I've decided. I, too, will add to the list of myriad educators who are adding advertisements to their posts. I am going to do this for GOOD. I resolve to donate any earnings generated (I have no clue how little or large they will be) from AdSense back into education. I will use any funds earned to help teachers on Donors Choose, to donate to schools themselves, or other causes for education that I believe in. Perhaps I can use the funds to help classroom libraries grow, or to give backpacks to those without, or to support children with no access to technology at home.

UPDATE: January 1, 2018
I'm done with AdSense. It did NOT make sense for me. After a year and a half, supposedly I'd only generated $8.48 cents. They won't send money until it's over $100. No harm was done, but there were no benefits for those in need, either.