"Pencil only."

Two words I have said, been told, and heard others say repeatedly throughout my life as a student and a teacher. In Math class especially, you use pencil. Pen is not acceptable. Nope, no markers either. Colored pencils? You've crossed the line.


The problem is, I cannot decide where I stand on this issue. I have heard some arguments, valid ones, from either side of this debate, but I'm still a total swayer when it comes to the Pencil v. Pen debate.

This past year I have even gone through a bit of a roller coaster on this issue. I started the year off with, "No pens! Only pencils allowed!" Then, after a few months of having a significant number of students each day without pencils and having gone through my stash of 50+ pencils to give to kids it became, "You must give me collateral in order to borrow a pencil!" (Turns out collateral for a 13-year-old often involves a shoe). When I was tired of the ever growing pile of Jordan's on my desk, I switched to "Fine! You may use a pen, but your work must be neat! No scratch outs!" I thought, sure this will teach them! They'll learn on their own that a pen is not an effective tool for work which breeds mistakes and backtracking...But, of course, they continued to use pen and scratch mistakes out anyway, so now my rule is a very strict "Bleh, whatever, just turn it in."

I've questioned myself on the pencil stance: Is this a rule I'm enforcing simply because it's the norm? Do they really need to use a pencil in order to be successful?

Yes and no.

I have a few students who are a mobile Office Depot; meaning that they have with them, at all times, no less than 30 colored pens, highlighters galore, stickies of all sizes and white out. They label and color-code absolutely everything and if when they make a mistake, they white it out as if it never happened. These are the students that spit in the face of the Pencil Nazi.

Here's what I know...

1. Neat, organized work is important. Especially when doing multi-step, complex problems.
2. Scratching work out directly competes with neatness. 
3. Sharpies, just, no.