Computer Lab Classroom

Celebrating 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.

I work with children from diverse cultures and backgrounds at a wonderful primary school in Fort Worth, Texas that serves approximately 800 Pre-K through second grade children. Specifically, I teach the Gifted and Talented class in 2nd grade.

One hundred percent of the children in my class, qualify for the reduced or free lunch program and live in nearby apartment housing. As a result, many of our children do not have a computer at home, nor do they have access to the Internet.

I want to empower and challenge my students by making computer work an everyday part of our routine. Too many times in school, children are shown a demonstration of how to use a computer in different ways. They might get a little practice to perform the demonstrated activity. Somehow, this is supposed to demonstrate mastery. I want to go beyond demonstrations!! I want each child in my classroom to have a station that they use everyday to solve the challenges they meet as we learn together and to have supervised access to the Internet at anytime. If this proposal is funded, my children will no longer have to miss the opportunity to use a computer for research because of a lack of time. Each child can research as the need arises. Each child can look up the books they need from the library in the classroom before they even get into the library. They won't have to pray that the library computers are working to be able to research. If the children have a question, they can look it up immediately on the Internet. True learning would begin as each child searches at that moment for the things that have pricked their curiosity. Moreover, they could learn many other vital computer skills.

Please seriously consider funding all or a small part of this project. You will make it possible for the children in my classroom to really use a computer the way we do in the real world. Moreover, you will give our children access to skills and technology they would never access to at home.