Fanny Packs: Just Do It

Aug 27, 2014

It’s the start of school. So let’s talk FANNY PACKS! I cannot teach without a fanny pack. Can you? I mean, how else on earth can you keep your smartphone, pens, stickers, and flashcards all in one place and on your person???

Over the past year, I’ve encountered many variations on the fanny pack theme, like DC Prep’s teaching aprons and Kumal’s tool belt, shared with you here.

But there’s just nothing better than the real thing. Matt McConaughey also confirmed that I’m very fashion-forward these days.

Here’s me with my fanny pack. Just a plain old Patagonia black fanny pack. And yeah, I do want to see just how many times I can work the word “fanny” into this post. I wear it when I’m running workshops. It’s packed with extra batteries for my clicker, cough drops, Band-Aids, markers for chart-making, and Chapstick!

And here’s Sarah Gonzales of KIPP Austin rocking a way cooler Jansport fanny pack. Sarah describes the contents of her own FP: “I keep my school phone, my personal phone, my school keys (I hate wearing a lanyard), Chapstick, a few Band-Aids, hand sanitizer, tissues for my allergies, a few pens, paper clips and Advil!”

Last but not least, we’ve got King of Style Spencer, a seventh grade teacher in Colorado, who models here for us his JammyPack (a jammy-fanny, if you will). Yes, you see it right. Those are built-in SPEAKERS! Spencer uses the music as a motivational tool for his students. You know. . . kids can select the transition music – within reason, of course!

Long story short, we often need something on our person while we run around classrooms and school buildings teaching. Fanny packs: Just do it!