In my classroom I am always looking for ways to help my students develop a love of reading. Having a new title in which I can engage my students would be a wonderful way to start the 2014-2015 school year.
My students live in a rural area in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
We are a high poverty school district with 73 percent of the students eligible for free or reduced price lunch. This spring our school board grappled with a $1.7 million budget deficit that led to a building closing and staff layoffs. Because of this financial struggle, our district was forced to eliminate the high school librarian's position.
Despite the challenges, however, we continue to support our students and provide the best education that we can. Even though we are struggling financially we are committed to making sure that the stress and strain does not trickle down to our students so we avoid low morale. Please help me meet state and national reading standards and foster a love of reading in my students.
I have many struggling readers and writers in my classroom and I know that I need to search for texts that will engage them. I try to strike a balance of classic and contemporary literature units.
My Project
Because of budget cuts our district has not had the resources to purchase new textbooks or novels. We are in dire need of literature to serve as mentor texts, to help reach our school literacy goals, and meet the state and national curriculum standards.
While I have quite a few contemporary titles that I use in my classroom, I would love to balance out the curriculum with this classic. I think that Bradbury's dystopian novel would engage my students and help us discuss the importance of education and literacy in American society.
In my thirteen years of teaching I have found that I enjoy changing things up often in my classroom.
I am ready to teach a new title and build assignments around the themes found in "Fahrenheit 451".
When I became a teacher I promised myself that I would never allow my classroom practice to become stagnant and I anticipate that this new novel will help breathe life into my lessons. It will help me foster a love of reading in my students and teach them the timeless beauty of classic literature.
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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 Mrs. Waldo and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
