My students desperately need 17 copies of "Speak", by Laurie Halse Anderson.
$231 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
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.
It was not until I talked to my tenth grade male students about rape that I realized how deep their crisis of misinformation was.
In a class novel, "The Underdogs," a fourteen year old girl is raped. We read the rape scene as a class, discussed it, and then held a mock-hearing in class to determine what happened. Only one of my four classes acknowledged that the girl had been raped. Even worse, our discussion was peppered with inappropriate and simply sexist comments such as "She liked it!" I was flabbergasted and appalled.
I teach at a public but military themed high school in the Bronx, NY. Out of my 120 students, 110 are boys. Classes are all too biased towards male interest and opinions. Some of my male students verbally abuse and insult my female students, and for the most part the girls do not fight back or defend themselves. I do not know if it is the unequal genders or simple apathy, but I want to teach my students empathy.
You can help. I am an English teacher, but I like to think that I also teach students. I want my students to show respect towards each other even after they leave my class. All my students need is literature that will teach them why rape and harassment are so damaging. The book "Speak" is the story of a high school girl who overcomes being raped to find her voice. Please help my girls find their voices and help my boys learn how to treat them.
This donation is not just about books. These books offer a chance for students to connect with a world outside their own, and more importantly - the chance that they realize the effects (both positive and negative) they have on others. My students are all too often overlooked and suppressed when it comes to emotional problems. My "Free-Write Fridays" reveals every week another student who just wants to know someone is listening. Just like all of us, they just want to be heard. They need literature like "Speak" to inspire and guide them.
Please, please, please give my students a chance at educational and lifelong success. Don't give up on this chance to open up the world of literature and information they drastically need!!
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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. McAvoy and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
