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.
I teach social studies to approximately 130 sixth to eighth grade students at a K-8 school in a high-need community.
Recently, our school district decided to put Smartboards in many of the middle school classrooms across the city. However, they prioritized math and reading classes, and very few social studies classrooms received a Smartboard, including mine. While the math and reading teachers hardly use their boards, there is not even have a current pull-down map to use in front of the classroom to help my students understand the world around them. Many of my students cannot tell me what continent they live on, cannot recognize prominent officials in the United States, and have very little concept of the world outside their community and their city. If shown a picture of the pyramids, very few of my students could tell you they were in Egypt, and almost none could point out this country on a map. Despite my efforts, it has been difficult for me to foster a love of social studies in my students- they do not see it as important because it is not tested in our district, and because in other classes they get a much richer, more multi-media educational experience that my room lacks.
An LCD projector would help me to profoundly change the way my students receive their social studies education. In addition to allowing me to create PowerPoints and other more interesting methods of presenting notes, power points would allow me to use the Internet to pull up and project a myriad of sources to enhance my students learning. The internet is full of resources that would help my students to better understand and enjoy social studies, such as Google Earth, images of locations we study as well as images of artifacts we discuss in class, CNN student news broadcasts, and much more. While I can present copies of pictures to my students, I get a very small copy budget, and being able to show a full color map or image is a much better way for my students to experience social studies- and I certainly cannot copy news broadcasts for students to view. On the few occasions when I have had access to technology in my classroom, my students have been much more engaged and excited about the lesson. I hope to see this excitement about social studies on a regular basis with an LCD projector.
By funding an LCD projector for my classroom, you will make it possible for my students to have a richer social studies experience. In turn, I hope to help students see that social studies provides them with the necessary skills they need to be successful citizens. An LCD projector would capture my students' attention and help them to achieve on a much higher level in my class.
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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. Deimel and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.