You Get a Test! You Get a Test! You All Get Your Own Test!

My Students

What do tests, worksheets, letters to parents, exit tickets, and published student work all have in common? They are all printed on paper. Paper is the most basic school supply. It's simply impossible to teach without it, yet our school doesn't provide us with a single sheet of paper.

This is a wonderfully simple project.

We need paper. That's it--just paper. All that's missing in our English classroom is paper. My children are intelligent and talented. They work diligently for 90 minutes every day. They know what’s at stake: their futures. We all tirelessly strive to read and write like successful ninth graders. They have succeeded beyond my wildest imaginations. In one semester, their reading & English ACT scores raised an average of 6.46 points! 3 points is considered a significant gain in one semester. My students are preparing themselves not just to go to college, but to excel in college. My students live and learn in the Mississippi Delta, one of the most impoverished places in America. This means that they have faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles to reach this level of success every day. Our school is old, almost every child in my school receives free/reduced lunch, and supplies are severely limited.

My Project

With your help, one major obstacle can be eliminated: the paper crunch. Even with my shameless recycling, I can only afford to print class sets of assignments. This means that my students cannot write on any assignment. They can’t underline the questions. They can’t circle key terms. They can’t cross out wrong answers because two other students have to use that same copy. Even in this paper famine, my students have demonstrated their capability. However, if I could provide my students with individual copies of assignments, their potential to grow even more would be unprecedented. They could take more notes in the margins when something clicks. I could teach them active test taking strategies to attack their final exam and the ACT. If every child received an individual copy of each unit test and the final exam, I know their grades and mastery levels would continue to improve. If every child received an individual copy of the ACT, many of their scores could double in just one year.

We have a 32 page final exam, 3 more ACT tests, 8 unit tests, and countless worksheets for independent practice ahead of us.

With your donation, I could provide every child with an individual copy of each of these. This will push them to even greater successes. All of my children have the potential to do amazing things, in and out of the classroom. They need someone to believe in them and the necessary resources. I already believe in them 128%. All they need now is the paper!