My students need high interest fiction and non-fiction that features characters that my students, especially young men, can relate to.
$420 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.
Whenever I tell people I teach middle school, the first reaction is usually something like "How can you stand it?" or "Wow, that must be tough!" with the occasional "Oh, God bless you!" thrown in. I used to feel the same way until I met my first group of seventh and eighth graders. They are the best! Yeah, sometimes the hormones go into overdrive, but my students are hysterically fun, have a great desire to learn, and are old enough to understand and discuss interesting topics.
We serve a very diverse population with students hailing from Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Togo, Somalia, Thailand, and beyond!
While my students don't all share the same culture, most share an economic status. One hundred percent of our student body qualifies for free breakfast and lunch. Despite all of the challenges that they face, my students come to school willing and eager to learn. They have great plans, hopes, and dreams for the future. They are funny and bright, and I consider myself lucky to be their teacher.
My Project
By seventh and eighth grade, some of my students have had many expectations placed upon them. Although they are under fifteen years old, they often feel the crushing burden of being grown, to be seen as man enough, tough enough, rough enough to be respected. Being seen as weak, emotional, too smart, too stupid, or a host of other traits is a fate worse than death. Unfortunately, this leads to disengagement from school. Some of my students would rather refuse to read and fail than admit they're struggling. This is especially true for some of my young men. The boys in this group have a history of being suspended due to acting out in class - often to avoid admitting they don't know how to do an assignment. Many have also failed a class, and are more likely to become disengaged or disconnected from school, resulting in major loss of career and life opportunities.
The only way my disengaged young men are going to learn to love to read is by supplying them with books about their interests.
I have tried to do this, bolstering my classroom library with bins of books featuring super heroes and basketball stars, but I need more. They also need to see themselves in the books of my library. They need to read stories where they can easily place themselves in the shoes of the main characters, where the young men are real and authentic, not just a trope or portrayal of a negative stereotype. Fewer than 400 of the 3,200 children's books published in 2016 were written by and about people of color, according to data from the Cooperative Children's Book Center. Books written by authors with similar experiences as my students will be key to re-engaging students in reading and school overall.
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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 Ms. Munafo and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
