My students need 25 copies of the book "Parable of the Sower" so they can analyze contemporary socio-ethnic issues in African American science fiction.
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
Directly in the center of a major city, surrounded by noisy streets and busy vendors, you can find our high school. Inside, 100 seniors are working relentlessly to meet all of their graduation requirements. Many of my students come from the neighborhood while others have been constantly moving further north each year as the cost of living in New York rises.
School supplies have become less of a priority, and asking students to go out and buy a book they have never heard of is even more difficult. That being said, its apparent that they have the desire to learn something new. My classroom is very tiny, but I am able to see every 12th grader in the building during the day. That is 100 students who need a copy of the book while they are sitting in my classroom.
Our school caters to students in grades 7-12. Many of my seniors have been here for six years and have seen a copy of every book that the building currently holds. There is no extensive library to choose from and many of my students have read the same book in two different academic years.
For this reason I am desperately trying to build a library within my classroom. My students have been asking for new literature to read since last year. I feel as if their performance is directly related to their literature. I have chosen this particular novel because most of them have never been exposed to any science fiction, and to find African American characters created by an African American author in this genre will be mind-opening for many of my students. I read the back cover to them and it became evident that this was a text they would love to read.
I have created a curriculum that is not only challenging, but inspiring. I want to leave my students with an appreciation for literature as they learn to create opinions of their own as we dive deeper into a text. For this reason it is imperative that each child has a copy of the novel that we are currently working on. Parable of the Sower is an amazing text where my students not only have the chance to explore a new genre, but realize how diverse minority authors and characters can be. With 25 copies of the text I can ensure that each student will be able to have the text in front of them while we read the story.
Without class sets of the books I am hoping to teach this year it will be near impossible to push my graduating seniors out of their comfort zone. They have become complacent, especially since they are older and more aware of the paltry supplies made available to them. Placing a new book in a child's hand not only opens new doors for them, but gives them the means to begin exploring and thinking on their own. I can't think of a better gift.
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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. Doyle and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
