"I don't want to be a statistic," a student told me today. Despite my students' deep-seated desire to escape that result, they are in true danger of ending up as just a number. Science literacy and supporting texts are the tools they need in order to fulfill their goals and dreams.
My students (freshmen) are required to pass the state end-of-year assessment in order to graduate.
In a state where 3000 students will not graduate due to failure to meet that requirement, my students face an uphill battle.
My students all hail from low socioeconomic backgrounds. For many of my students, they have built up a habit of failing classes and not caring about the consequences in middle school. They are bright, but academically they have had far less opportunities to experience content than their peers in wealthier districts. It's not their fault. In the final analysis, it boils down to the lack of content that connects to their daily lives, as well as a lack of academic rigor in science literacy.
Our school has no textbooks for physics, and no money to procure even a classroom set. We don't even have the paper to photocopy important readings for the students. My students know the statistics, and they know what their lives will be like if they do become one.
My Project
Conceptual Physics, by Hewitt, is a great text. It is fun, organized, rigorous, and connects with the students on a relational level. The examples provided are clear, scaffolded, and free of bias. It is a great (if not perfect) text for freshman being introduced into the world of science.
I am requesting 125 copies of this textbook. It will be our school's first copies of physics textbooks for our students. Using this text, my students can work on example problems, reread explanations that they may have heard in class, and engage with extensions the book offers for different topics. Coupled with lessons and labs, this will offer a complete sensory curriculum: reading, listening, writing, and seeing.
This project is so important to me because my physics teacher in high school was the one who inspired me to become a scientist, and then a teacher.
Physics opened many doors for my life, and part of that process was learning to be literate in that field. These textbooks will help many generations of students in my school reach that goal.
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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. Liang and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.