You're on track to get doubled donations (and unlock a reward for the colleague who referred you). Keep up the great work!
Take credit for your charitable giving! Check out your tax receipts
Donate
To use your $50 gift card credits, find a project to fund and we'll automatically apply your credits at checkout. Find a classroom project
Skip to main content

Help teachers & students in your hometown this season!
Use code HOME at checkout and your donation will be matched up to $100.

Your school email address was successfully verified.

See this teacher's page

This teacher needs your help!

Mr. Stuart from Baltimore, MD is requesting supplies through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Mr. Stuart is requesting

Making Writers Out of Apathy

My students need colored editing pens and five separate folders for spelling, reading, writing, and resources.

  • $507 goal

This project expired on September 28, 2008.

This project expired on September 28, 2008.

Classroom photo
Mr. Stuart profile photo
Mr. Stuart Woodlawn Middle School
Baltimore, MD Grades 6-8

Reading and writing are why I became a teacher. I loved both. Both were relevant and useful to me as a kid. I could use reading or writing to escape, to get things done, to make money, and dozens of other purposes. After spending a year teaching urban kids a one-size-fits-all curriculum, I realized that imparting the usefulness of reading and writing to my students was not going to occur through magic or osmosis.

Now I'm in year two. Students entered my seventh-grade classroom at the start of the year not knowing how to read or write like seventh graders should. They had learned that reading and writing were for worksheets (or the foreboding "future" that adults always talk about), and their reading and writing skills were--on average--at a second- or third-grade level.

Over the course of this year, my students and I have taken the plunge into an approach to reading and writing that holds the bar high and motivates them to reach it. Final drafts of written work are to be publishable only--no exceptions. Self-selected books are to be read nightly for at least a half hour, and book discussions require personal responses to reading rather than mere summary. The approach is called reading/writing workshop, and it's working. Kids are writing and reading stuff that matters to them, and they're doing it with a growing sense of depth, precision, and grace. To make reader's and writer's workshop more successful next year, we need some basic materials. We need multi-colored editing pens so students can become less dependent on my editing and more dependent upon themselves. We also need folders--five per child, some of which stay in class, some of which will travel with kids nightly--to keep organized the multitude of documents that students produce.

Your help will ensure that my students master the skills necessary for real life--both now and in "the future." My prayer throughout this process of learning to teach a workshop has been that students who come to our "bad" middle school could leave for high school (and life) equipped with the two essential skills of real-life reading and real-life writing. I'm thankful that you've read this proposal, and I pray that you'll consider giving even a little bit to this cause. Thank you, and may God bless you.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

More than half of students from low‑income households

50 students impacted
Mr. Stuart Woodlawn Middle School Grades 6-8

Celebrate Black teachers and kids! This project supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of students are Black.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Baltimore, MD View local requests

More than half of 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

50 students impacted

Boost your odds

Add a profile photo in addition to your classroom photo. If you add a photo, it'll show up right here on your project page.

You are more likely to receive funding if you put a face to your name.

Upload a photo

Top rated for efficiency and transparency.

You donate directly to the teacher or project you care about and see where every dollar you give goes.

Expand the "Where your donation goes" section below to see exactly what Mr. Stuart is requesting.

See our finances

TEACHERS, FEELING INSPIRED?

You can start a project with the same resources being requested here!

Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
LAMINATED TWIN PCKET PORTFOLIO -- Esselte Laminated 2-Pocket Portfolios; Crimson • Quill Corporation $26.99 2 $53.98
LAMINATED TWIN PCKET PORTFOLI -- Esselte Laminated 2-Pocket Portfolios; Grey • Quill Corporation $26.99 2 $53.98
LAMINATED TWIN PCKET PORTFOLI -- Esselte Laminated 2-Pocket Portfolios; White • Quill Corporation $26.99 2 $53.98
LAMINATED TWIN PCKET PORTFOLI -- Esselte Laminated 2-Pocket Portfolios; Teal • Quill Corporation $26.99 2 $53.98
LAMINATED TWIN PCKET PORTFOLI -- Esselte Laminated 2-Pocket Portfolios; Red • Quill Corporation $26.99 2 $53.98
PAPERMATE FLAIR 8 PK -- Paper Mate Flair Pens; Assorted • Quill Corporation $10.64 2 $21.28
PAPER MATE FLAIR 12/CD -- Paper Mate Flair Point Guard Pens; 12-Color Set • Quill Corporation $11.69 3 $35.07
FLAIR NYLON TIP PEN -- Paper Mate Flair Pens; Green • Quill Corporation $12.59 1 $12.59

Materials cost

$338.84

Vendor shipping charges

 $33.88

Sales tax

 $16.94

3rd party payment processing fee

$8.47

Fulfillment labor & materials

$17.00

Total project cost

$415.00

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$91.10

Total project goal

$506.10

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

View complete list Show less

Project Activity

Project Activity
Back to top

DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

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 Mr. Stuart and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

See how DonorsChoose works
{"pmaHash":"","showProjectRecommendations":true,"leadGenEnabled":false,"hideTeacherDetails":false,"schoolState":"MD","teacherPossessivePronoun":"his","PMsManager":null,"schoolGradeType":{"id":3,"name":"Middle School"},"TeacherPMForms":{},"completingDonationAmount":507,"teacherHasClassroomPhoto":true,"proposalURL":"https://www.donorschoose.org/project/-/167108/","mayHaveReplacements":false,"numStudents":50,"isEquityFocusV1":true,"teacherScreenName":"Mr. Stuart","isEquityFocus":true,"proposalHash":"-1307937193","isApplePayMobileOnly":true,"progressBarPercentage":0.00,"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":true,"photosPublished":false,"queryString":"","DonorPMForm":null,"shouldTrackEquityFocusV2":true,"schoolCity":"Baltimore","teachersOnPage":[199012],"isTeacherViewingTheirOwnProject":false,"minimizedLeadGenEnabled":false,"proposalId":167108,"proposalMessageFormModel":null,"numActiveProjects":0,"verifyShowPhotos":"","eligibleToBeCopied":false,"schoolId":64279,"schoolName":"Woodlawn Middle School","authorIds":{"199012":{"owner":"Mr. Stuart","donationSalutations":{}}},"displayedPercentFunded":0.0,"proposalsOnPage":[167108],"pmaId":"","teacherProfilePhotoURL":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/272x272/tp199012_272x272.jpg?width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1449092629661","teacherHasProfilePhoto":true,"currentWorkflowStatusCode":7,"teacherChallengeId":100064,"isApplePayEnabled":true,"fundedByTarget":false,"activeProject":null,"donorIdsForImpactPhotoCheck":[],"teacherId":199012,"schoolCounty":"Baltimore","fullyFunded":false,"isStudentLed":false,"isExpired":true,"schoolStateObj":{"code":"MD","name":"Maryland"}}