I teach tenth and eleventh grade English in a diverse urban school. Although many of my students are musicians, artists and even avid readers, many of them have not even passed the state reading and writing exam required for graduation. Although most of them say that they want to go to college, many of them do not fully understand what it means to participate as a thinker and a scholar in a 21st Century learning community.
One idea I have implemented based on training and inspiration from National Writing Project teachers has been to develop an online community for my class using a Ning website. Last year we used it throughout our research process during a semester-long research project. Students shared ideas on difficult questions in life such as "What is Beauty?" and "Why do we have wars?" They also shared resources, responded to each others' work and learned to give useful feedback. I had planned on continuing to make use of the cart of laptops with wireless internet at our school. However, this cart is no longer functional. In addition, our school of over 3000 students only has two computer labs for class sign-up. Arizona has seen crippling cuts to our already underfunded education system, and we no longer have the tech support staff to maintain the laptop cart, nor money to replace the aging computers on campus. In addition, it is very difficult to get consistent access to the technology that we do have. I truly want to continue to offer students an online community, and to refine my own practice using one. However, the current academic reality at our school does not support this.
Having a set of laptop computers that my students can turn to consistently will open up a world of opportunities for my them as they prepare for college level work and the 21st century job world. Even if the ratio is one laptop for every three students, it would be a start, and I can build from there. I have the support of our technical support team, and the professional resources to move forward-- I just need access to the technology.
Many of my students may be behind in their academic skills, but they all have real interests in the world. Using an online community to help them communicate with peers through writing, and to open up doors of exploration will help them see the relevance of school and how they can connect their personal interests and passions to academic work and a successful future. Please donate to help make online learning communities possible in my classroom.
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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. Hinton Sainz and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
