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This teacher needs your help!

Ms. Gazarek from Bronx, NY is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

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Fully Funded

Ms. Gazarek's classroom raised $881

Take Flight: Inspiring Reading Using Sherman Alexie

My students need two class sets (55 copies) of five Sherman Alexie novels and short stories.

Classroom photo
Ms. Gazarek Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School
Bronx, NY Grades 9-12

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

Celebrate Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

Creating a community of lifelong readers! I teach 9th and 10th grade Humanities. My students live in an exceptionally high-needs community, faced daily with poverty, violence, sub-par resources, and disappointing educational experiences. Our school is a refuge for these students, offering an uncompromising, holistic academic experience coupled with aggressive community resources and support.

This year as a class we began by studying Greek mythology and the legacy of what makes a hero, both in Ancient Greece and today. We recently began a unit where students chose a book to read, and we've been exploring the question, When did you last really enjoy a book, and what happened between then and now? How can we recapture that magic that happens when you find a truly good book? Students have taken hold of this unit with force, flying through books as they rediscover what it means to savor literature, and then to delve into it and analyze its meaning and significance as readers and writers. Many of our students who adamantly consider themselves non-readers have been compelled by Sherman Alexie's novels in particular. One student, Jonathan, maintained recently that he hated to read, and would never read anything except the New York Drivers Manual. I gave him a copy of Alexie's "Flight", and he was soon interrupting our silent reading time with his laughter and loud exclamations. This has happened numerous times with my "non-readers" when they encounter Alexie's work.

Sherman Alexie is a thoughtful, accessible writer for teens who both affirms their experience, and offers them a glimpse into a world they might never experience otherwise. As a class, we will do another "Choice Reading" unit next semester, where students read and enjoy literature at their own pace, both in and outside of the classroom. Instead of students reading independently, however, next semester we will create "book groups" centered around Sherman Alexie short stories and novels. Donors will provide class copies of 5 of his books (Flight; Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian; Ten Little Indians; War Dances; The Toughest Indian in the World). Students will choose one of them, then read and explore their chosen book in a small group of students throughout part of the semester. Students will read together, analyze together, and create essays and projects based on their readings of the work. As a class, we will have the common experience of reading many books by the same author, and the opportunity to apply our knowledge of Greek heroes to Alexie's modern "heroes", as he often refers to and models his story structure on Ancient Greek mythology.

Many of my students have been neglected by their schools and classrooms, left with sub-par books and materials and soul-less curriculum design. Your support will create an opportunity for students to use the momentum they have about reading this semester and apply it to their reading and writing work throughout the year. This is an unmatched opportunity for these students to engage in academic, analytical reading and writing in an authentic manner, as they redefine what it means to be a reader and writer inside and outside of the classroom.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Nearly all students from low‑income households

55 students impacted 10 donors
Ms. Gazarek Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School Grades 9-12

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Bronx, NY View local requests

Nearly all students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

55 students impacted 10donors

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
The Toughest Indian in the World Sherman Alexie • Barnes and Noble $10.08 8 $80.64
Ten Little Indians Sherman Alexie • Barnes and Noble $9.36 8 $74.88
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Sherman Alexie, Ellen Forney (Illustrator) • Barnes and Noble $12.23 15 $183.45
Flight Sherman Alexie • Barnes and Noble $10.08 15 $151.20
War Dances Sherman Alexie • Barnes and Noble $16.56 9 $149.04

Materials cost

$639.21

Vendor shipping charges

 $63.92

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$9.59

Fulfillment labor & materials

$9.00

Total project cost

$721.71

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$158.42

Total project goal

$880.13

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $880.13

10 Donors

-$858.19

Donations toward project cost

-$721.71

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$136.48

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$21.94

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Gazarek and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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