This teacher needs your help!

Mr. Pulice from Montebello, CA is requesting technology through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

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Fully Funded

Mr. Pulice's classroom raised $1,118

Using A Media Projector To Bridge The Gap

My students need a media projector.

Mr. Pulice Schurr High School

Montebello, CA Grades 9-12

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 teach English in 'the Beverly Hills of East L.A.'; that's what we call it. We have gangs and we have violence- but there is a reason hundreds of hopeful mothers line up outside every summer. Our school represents an oasis from the problems farther into the city. Our test scores are higher, our Honors and AP programs are bigger, and our graduation rate is the highest in the district. Our principal mentioned this at our last meeting: there is a line running down a street a mile from our school's driveway. If you live on the east side of that line, you come to us, and your chance of graduating is two out of three. If you grow up on the west side of that line, you go to one of the other schools and your chances drop to one in three. We are proud of that statistic...but it still hurts to lose that one kid in three.

Our problem is that there is a yawning gap between the literature we use to teach skills and standards and the world my students know. I can bridge that gap (and I do) by connecting the dots in my lectures, drawing on the common ground I share with them and putting out enough energy that they can (hopefully) feel my enthusiasm and share it. My students, however, live in a visual age. They respond to what they see; for better or worse, they are most comfortable with a TV set. For proof, just turn on my 1950s overhead projector: their heads come up, they focus, they notice the words- that light on the wall is like a beacon. But it doesn't do anything... Other teachers draw or sketch, and if I could, I would. Unfortunately, I have neither skill nor talent in that area. My stick-figures look bad. I could find illustrations in books and magazines, send them to the photo-copy shop at school, have them copied onto transparent film and use those. They wouldn't move or make music, and I would be pinned down next to the overhead machine, swapping and swapping films, away from my source text.

With a media projector connected to the Internet, I can create that vivid, 'bright' spot where my students can see their world through the lens of my literature. An example? I'm teaching Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. I can talk about the social and economic conditions that led Lennie and George to that farm; I can lead my kids through verbal exercises, 'quick-writes', 'clustering' and more. But if I sit them down and show them: -scenes from Depression bread-lines and soup-kitchens -scenes of an IWW (International Workers of the World, 'Wobblies') rally and from the labor camps where families settled and waited for the end -scenes from the movie 'The Grapes Of Wrath' -photos of WPA projects, videos of interviews with workers who built them... I could go on for dozens more.

I didn't always know about media projectors. Now, the possibility of having one consumes me. Now, when I start teaching a new unit, I start making a list in my head: what would I show them if I could? 'The Odyssey'...showing them the islands, the ships they used, the hills of Ithaca that kept Odysseus going all those years. 'Julius Caesar'...showing them the Rome Brutus knew, that little temple near the Forum where the scene really happened. I've stood there and walked the path Caesar took that morning. With this 'tool', I can take them closer to him and further from the things holding them down.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

More than half of students from low‑income households

200 students impacted 2 donors

Project tagged as

Montebello, CA
Grades 9-12
Literature & Writing
Traditional School
Technology
More than half of students from low‑income households

Mr. Pulice Schurr High School Grades 9-12

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Montebello, CA 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

200 students impacted 2donors

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes

Materials Cost Quantity Total

Hitachi CP-X200 XGA LCD Projector • Highsmith Inc. $750.64 1 $750.64

Materials cost			$750.64
Vendor shipping charges			$75.06
Sales tax			$54.42
3rd party payment processing fee			$18.77
Fulfillment labor & materials			$17.00
Total project cost			$916.00
Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms			$201.07
Total project goal			$1,117.07
How we calculate what's needed
Total project goal			$1,117.07
1 Donor			-$538.65
Donations toward project cost			-$457.85
Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms			-$80.80
match offer			-$539.00
Match offer toward project cost			-$441.98
Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms			-$97.02
Excluded support for DonorsChoose			-$19.70
Still needed View calculation Hide calculation			$0.00

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

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Project Activity

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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 Mr. Pulice and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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This teacher needs your help!

Using A Media Projector To Bridge The Gap

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

Project tagged as

Boost your odds

Top rated for efficiency and transparency.

TEACHERS, FEELING INSPIRED?

Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes

How we calculate what's needed

Project Activity

Project Activity

DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

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