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Mrs. McNaughton's Classroom

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We'll charge your card today and send Mrs. McNaughton a DonorsChoose gift card she can use on her classroom projects. Starting next month, we'll charge your card and send her a DonorsChoose gift card on the 17th of every month.

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Make a donation Mrs. McNaughton can use on her next classroom project.

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show projects from all time

Past projects 3

  • Book Clubs Continue To Be The Litty-est!

    Funded Aug 23, 2019

    Given the current culture and climate of the world today, as well as the makeup of the US and the diversity of the population in the state of New Jersey, students are more exposed than ever to groups of people from different cultures, backgrounds and histories. The question I posed for this project was: does exposure to multicultural literature enable secondary students to empathize with people of historically oppressed or marginalized groups? Within the scope of this question, I was hoping to discover the extent to which students have been exposed to or are aware of historically marginalized and oppressed groups and develop their empathy for these groups of people.

    The idea for this project comes from the simple fact that the world, thanks in part to the young people within it, has become and continues to become more diverse and inclusive in its social groups. The seed from which this project grew is rooted in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TedTalk titled "The Danger of the Single Story". Adichie raises brilliant and overwhelmingly legitimate questions regarding the types of stereotypes and prejudices that exist among all people, and does so in language that is direct, genuine and emotional. Despite many positive and dynamic changes within the thinking of the makeup of our current culture and society, media and politics continue to fight to create a polarizing and divisive environment. The overwhelming presence of political coverage, the internet and social media may prevent young people from producing their own opinions about cultural, political and social events that occur on-what feels like- a day to day basis.

    Students at the secondary level must be prepared, educated and well read enough to be able to curate their own informed opinions about political, social and cultural events and peoples, and to avoid the detrimental effects of harboring their own "single stories" about others. This ability to curate their own informed opinion starts with their exposure to the voices of other people and especially of those from oppressed or marginalized groups.

    Through your donation, I was able to create a multicultural classroom library that spans the spectrum of so many different cultures. Through choice in their independent reading, my students were able to find a book that spoke to them for any myriad of reasons- they saw themselves reflected in the story, were moved by the uniqueness of the story itself or were simply looking for something they were interested in. Throughout the remainder of the year, students continued to return to my library to check out books that they perhaps would not have been exposed to otherwise.

    This library will be with me and with my students for many years to come- thank you so much for your generous donation as I continue to educate my students on the impact and importance of the stories of marginalized and oppressed people.

    A final note also comes from Adichie, and continues to inspire my philosophy as a teacher and as a human being. "Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity."”

    With gratitude,

    Mrs. McNaughton

  • Book Clubs Are Lit

    Funded Jun 18, 2019

    Given the current culture and climate of the world today, as well as the makeup of the US and the diversity of the population in the state of New Jersey, students are more exposed than ever to groups of people from different cultures, backgrounds and histories. The question I posed for this project was: does exposure to multicultural literature enable secondary students to empathize with people of historically oppressed or marginalized groups? Within the scope of this question, I was hoping to discover the extent to which students have been exposed to or are aware of historically marginalized and oppressed groups and develop their empathy for these groups of people.

    The idea for this project comes from the simple fact that the world, thanks in part to the young people within it, has become and continues to become more diverse and inclusive in its social groups. The seed from which this project grew is rooted in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TedTalk titled "The Danger of the Single Story". Adichie raises brilliant and overwhelmingly legitimate questions regarding the types of stereotypes and prejudices that exist among all people, and does so in language that is direct, genuine and emotional. Despite many positive and dynamic changes within the thinking of the makeup of our current culture and society, media and politics continue to fight to create a polarizing and divisive environment. The overwhelming presence of political coverage, the internet and social media may prevent young people from producing their own opinions about cultural, political and social events that occur on-what feels like- a day to day basis.

    Students at the secondary level must be prepared, educated and well read enough to be able to curate their own informed opinions about political, social and cultural events and peoples, and to avoid the detrimental effects of harboring their own "single stories" about others. This ability to curate their own informed opinion starts with their exposure to the voices of other people and especially of those from oppressed or marginalized groups.

    Through your donation, I was able to create a multicultural classroom library that spans the spectrum of so many different cultures. Through choice in their independent reading, my students were able to find a book that spoke to them for any myriad of reasons- they saw themselves reflected in the story, were moved by the uniqueness of the story itself or were simply looking for something they were interested in. Throughout the remainder of the year, students continued to return to my library to check out books that they perhaps would not have been exposed to otherwise.

    This library will be with me and with my students for many years to come- thank you so much for your generous donation as I continue to educate my students on the impact and importance of the stories of marginalized and oppressed people.

    A final note also comes from Adichie, and continues to inspire my philosophy as a teacher and as a human being. "Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity."”

    With gratitude,

    Mrs. McNaughton

    This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 2 other donors.
  • Book Clubs Are Even MORE Lit!

    Funded Jun 19, 2019

    Given the current culture and climate of the world today, as well as the makeup of the US and the diversity of the population in the state of New Jersey, students are more exposed than ever to groups of people from different cultures, backgrounds and histories. The question I posed for this project was: does exposure to multicultural literature enable secondary students to empathize with people of historically oppressed or marginalized groups? Within the scope of this question, I was hoping to discover the extent to which students have been exposed to or are aware of historically marginalized and oppressed groups and develop their empathy for these groups of people.

    The idea for this project comes from the simple fact that the world, thanks in part to the young people within it, has become and continues to become more diverse and inclusive in its social groups. The seed from which this project grew is rooted in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TedTalk titled "The Danger of the Single Story". Adichie raises brilliant and overwhelmingly legitimate questions regarding the types of stereotypes and prejudices that exist among all people, and does so in language that is direct, genuine and emotional. Despite many positive and dynamic changes within the thinking of the makeup of our current culture and society, media and politics continue to fight to create a polarizing and divisive environment. The overwhelming presence of political coverage, the internet and social media may prevent young people from producing their own opinions about cultural, political and social events that occur on-what feels like- a day to day basis.

    Students at the secondary level must be prepared, educated and well read enough to be able to curate their own informed opinions about political, social and cultural events and peoples, and to avoid the detrimental effects of harboring their own "single stories" about others. This ability to curate their own informed opinion starts with their exposure to the voices of other people and especially of those from oppressed or marginalized groups.

    Through your donation, I was able to create a multicultural classroom library that spans the spectrum of so many different cultures. Through choice in their independent reading, my students were able to find a book that spoke to them for any myriad of reasons- they saw themselves reflected in the story, were moved by the uniqueness of the story itself or were simply looking for something they were interested in. Throughout the remainder of the year, students continued to return to my library to check out books that they perhaps would not have been exposed to otherwise.

    This library will be with me and with my students for many years to come- thank you so much for your generous donation as I continue to educate my students on the impact and importance of the stories of marginalized and oppressed people.

    A final note also comes from Adichie, and continues to inspire my philosophy as a teacher and as a human being. "Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity."”

    With gratitude,

    Mrs. McNaughton

    This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 7 other donors.
As a Gen Ed ELA Teacher in a large district, our book room cannot completely support the reading and interest needs of our student population. We can only ask for so much from our district's budget in terms of supplies each year, and those supplies are typically reserved for curriculum based (read: "the literary canon") reading and texts. Research and experience have proved to me that student choice in independent reading and book club activities are what really get students interested in texts, and, in order to encourage independent reading, contemporary and multicultural literature is a must! By supplying students with more options for reading, they are more likely to become engaged and interested in the text itself as well as the activities we participate in within the classroom. Book Clubs are an integral component to my classroom syllabus, and the more access students have to interesting texts, the more success they will attain as readers and as learners!

About my class

As a Gen Ed ELA Teacher in a large district, our book room cannot completely support the reading and interest needs of our student population. We can only ask for so much from our district's budget in terms of supplies each year, and those supplies are typically reserved for curriculum based (read: "the literary canon") reading and texts. Research and experience have proved to me that student choice in independent reading and book club activities are what really get students interested in texts, and, in order to encourage independent reading, contemporary and multicultural literature is a must! By supplying students with more options for reading, they are more likely to become engaged and interested in the text itself as well as the activities we participate in within the classroom. Book Clubs are an integral component to my classroom syllabus, and the more access students have to interesting texts, the more success they will attain as readers and as learners!

About my class

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