My classroom is a picture of true America. My students bring diversity of all sorts (gender, race, socio-economic status, language) to create a challenging but strong community. I teach 7th Grade Core which means I get to spend half of my day with the same 30 students (a gift, trust me) teaching them writing, literature, social studies, and basically how to be better human beings. We are a high poverty & high pride school.
Last year was my first year at this high-needs middle school. My previous teaching experiences were with advanced high school students. This year my students taught me A LOT about what it means to teach. Now that the year is wrapping up we are doing a lot of reflecting on what we learned and how we've grown. A comment that has come up a few times: "Mr. F. you talk about Shakespeare a lot. How come you didn't teach us Shakespeare?" Good question.
I have realized that my "high-needs" students NEED Shakespeare. I love teaching Shakespeare and know that if I can get these students to love him it will do wonders for their academic confidence. Shakespeare is often held up as the pinnacle of English Literature. My students would think differently about themselves if they were able to enter into and play around in his world.
By donating to this project you will not just be giving a class set of a highly accessible Shakespeare text but also a gateway into a new category of student. I truly believe that teaching Shakespeare to my Middle School students will get them to start thinking about themselves as scholars instead of "strugglers". These books, and the unit I'll design around them will increase their potential and sense of self-worth. Your donation will make this a reality.
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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. Fox and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
