"I am a special education teacher at a high-need, inner city high school. I teach World History and American Government to students with a wide assortment of disabilities ranging from MR (mental retardation), to Autism, to Learning Disabilities. The majority of my students read below grade-level. ...
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"I am a special education teacher at a high-need, inner city high school. I teach World History and American Government to students with a wide assortment of disabilities ranging from MR (mental retardation), to Autism, to Learning Disabilities. The majority of my students read below grade-level. Their reading abilities vary from pre-k up through 7th grade, and as a result the school-issued high-school level textbooks and curriculum are not accessible learning tools for most of my students. Consequently I create my own readings, hand-outs, homework sheets, projects and other assignments. This, of course, uses up a great deal of paper that unfortunately my school does not provide for me.
Due to the large amount of paper I give to my students on a daily bases (1-2 page for reading and cloze-style notes, 1 page for the warm-up, 1 page for classwork, 1-2 pages for homework), not to mention the paper I use for tests, quizzes, projects, and group work, I devised a color-coding system to help them stay better organized. Each of my 3 major areas of work –Reading/Notes, Classwork, and Homework-have their own color paper. This way I can tell students, “please turn in the green sheet when you are done, but put the tan sheet in your binder. Take home the purple sheet for homework.” This assists them and me greatly in staying organized and ensuring that everything is put in the right place. Parents have even told me they have benefited from the system since they always know if they see a ‘purple’ assignment that it is for my class and needs to be turned in the next day.
Unfortunately, my school does not provide white, let alone colored paper. The colored paper I buy costs more than regular paper, and I easily go through 3-4 reams every two weeks. I want to continue to provide my students with an easy way to distinguish between assignment types, but cannot afford to go on much longer given all the other classroom expenses involved in teaching in an urban school.
Many of my students hope to go to college, but lack the basic organization skills to excel in high school. With your help I can better assist my students in becoming organized and efficient in their work, and thus more successful in their high school careers.
Ms. B. sent this note after the project was fully funded:
Oct 19, 2009
Dear Joyce, Barbara, Keith, Paul and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
I can't fully express my joy, excitement, and thanks for your donation
to my project. It is great to see that you share my vision for reaching
children. Sometimes things as simple as paper are what students most need in order to fully access their education.
The paper that you have funded will enable students to color-code their assignments, and easily differentiate between classwork, notes, homework and tests. It will assist them in staying better organized and being more successful in school.
Again, thank you so much for your help. Its great to know that there are others out there as committed to our students as we are.
With gratitude, Ms. B.
On Oct 19, 2009, Ms. B. followed this note with student letters sent via mail to the donor who completed this project, and to donors who gave $100 or more.
"I gave to this project because I appreciate the many sacrifices that teachers make of their own time and money in doing the important job of preparing students for a brighter future."
" I'm glad to help, I especially favor this age group. I want to take this chance to thank Adam Lambert for introducing me to DonorsChoose"
Barbara
from Ankeny, IA
gave
on Oct 12, 2009
"We provided DonorsChoose.org with matching funds for projects that improve college readiness. We believe that when all people in the United States have the opportunity to develop their talents, our society thrives."
gave
on Oct 12, 2009
Project fully funded!
Happy news
on Oct 12, 2009
"Thank you so much everyone! My students will greatly benefit from all your generous support!"
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Lisa C. (volunteer)
on Sep 5, 2009
