The Great Paper Save

As I wrote in my previous post, Apps such as UPad are replacing paper handouts and notebooks in the classroom. So, just how much paper is being saved by UPad in my class? Well, quite a lot!

Last year, I had 52 grade 7 students, this year 50. And that's in 2 different classes, in case you're wondering.

In a typical week in a geography class there would be at minimum 4 sides of paper copied per student: one quiz double sided copy and one study guide also double sided copy. So, the minimum paper being saved is 50 students x (1 quiz + 1 study guide)  = 100 pieces of paper every week.

But that's the minimum. Now, with older students I use a lot less handouts, but with 12 and 13 year olds I do use more. And as it's a geography class we do a lot of map activities as well. This all adds up. I can't give an exact number, but we can make the assumption that there's at least one more handout every week, and up to three more on top of the quiz and study guide.

So, 50 students x (quiz + study guide + 1 to 3 additional handouts) = 150 to 250 pieces of paper a week, or 2 reams a month. Or, 1 ream / class a month. 10 reams/class over the school year. Of course, that's just their geography class. They also use IPads in mathematics and science, and in the future they'll be using it for all their classes. Add it all up, that's a lot of paper.

To the good people of Prince George, British Columbia: I'm sorry, but your stinky, job-creating pulp mills I passed every year on the way to visiting Nana and Papa are going to be a thing of the past one day.