My students need to read engaging non-fiction in order to build their knowledge base; we need an updated classroom library that offers good NF choices.
$513 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
It's not that they don't know things. It's that they don't know they don't know things. And, thus, begins my challenge as I try to get my students to gain knowledge of the world beyond their families and hometown. In order to be successful writers, they have to know about things in which to write.
They live in poverty and come from homes of hard-working immigrant parents.
My students are trend-setters, cultural warriors who may be the first in their families to graduate from high school, and many will be the first to attend college. When they come to me, they know that they will have to read a lot and write a lot. And once they spend a day with me, they know I care--a lot. I push them into higher-level thinking that they do not know they are capable of, and that makes the whining and resistance worthwhile. Students raised in poverty need many things; some I cannot give, but I can expose them to books--good, engaging books that they will read.
My Project
I shared some data on literacy (from Alliance for Excellent Education) with my students:
â On average, African-American and Hispanic 12th-grade students read at the same level as white 8th-grade students. (This one made my kids mad.)
â Roughly 23% of high school graduates are not ready to succeed in an introductory-level college writing course. About 40% of high school graduates lack the literacy skills employers seek. Male and female students with low academic achievement are twice as likely to become parents by their senior year in high school compared to students with high academic achievement.
My students can see themselves in these statistics. It scares them, and they want something more. By updating my classroom library with engaging non-fiction books, I can help my students expand their worlds. I can help them rise above the poverty that prevents them from growing. I can help them learn at a level in which they are capable. Reading will change lives. I have seen it.
If I expect my students to write about their thinking, I have to know that they have rich material to think about.
Flooding my room with books that will interest my readers--and then talking about the books and their value myself--is one way I know that will help my students think. If I can help them think, I can help them write. If I can help them think and write, I can help them achieve and accomplish. Can reading non-fiction make a difference? Yes, one book, one student at a time.
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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. Rasmussen and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
