Building My Classroom Library To Build My Students' Literacy
My students need a classroom library.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. W.'s classroom raised $513
This project is fully funded
My Students
The longer I stay in education, the more I realize the key role that sustained, interactive reading plays in student growth. As an English teacher, I know that research shows that the more students read, the more they grow as writers and as readers. A classroom library will help with both goals.
My students are juniors and seniors from all backgrounds and income levels, some on an advanced reading level and some who struggle and even hate reading.
They all want to accomplish great things in life, and it is my belief that reading will be the key that that success. The more my students read, with structured, supported Sustained Silent Reading twice a week, in class, the better they will be at writing, reading, and interpreting the world around them. I cannot, in good faith, send my students on to do their graduation projects, a school system requirement, without building their reading and writing abilities, both of which are needed for this research and project based assignment. In an increasingly visual, media-based culture, my students need to understand and see that a solid foundation and footing in being able to read texts will result in them being able to read and interpret symbols, patterns and allusions in the modern world.
My Project
The resources I have requested will help me start a thriving and student-centered classroom library. I have been out of teaching for three years, and my supply of books for students has been depleted, through lending out of materials over the years and other reasons. Now that I am returning, I have selected texts of various genres, racial and ethnic backgrounds, lengths and more, in the hopes that my students will become active and excited readers, pushing themselves to try texts that challenge their reading and their thinking. Challenging them is truly the only way they will grow, and I hope that this selection of books can provide a springboard for them into hitting the reading and writing goals I want them to develop for themselves over the course of the school year. These books are just the start, as I plan on adding to them myself and asking others for donations as well, all with my students' growth in mind. I can't send these young adults into the world without that base.
This is so important to me, as I want my students to have really gotten meaning out of my time with them.
They may be high school students, but they are not fully developed people yet. My hope is that this project, and the year-long impact it can have, will lead them to new thinking, new skills, and an appreciation and understanding of what it means to be a literate adult in this new, fast-paced world.
This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
• Barnes and Noble
$6.83
1
$6.83
The Outsiders S. E. Hinton
• Barnes and Noble
$6.84
1
$6.84
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Sherman Alexie, Ellen Forney (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$7.68
1
$7.68
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Ishmael Beah
• Barnes and Noble
$8.20
1
$8.20
Little Bee Chris Cleave
• Barnes and Noble
$7.00
1
$7.00
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter #7) J. K. Rowling
• Barnes and Noble
$10.25
1
$10.25
First Part Last Angela Johnson
• Barnes and Noble
$5.97
1
$5.97
Speak Laurie Halse Anderson
• Barnes and Noble
$6.84
1
$6.84
Lost and Found (Bluford High Series #1) Anne Schraff
• Barnes and Noble
$3.41
1
$3.41
Blood is Thicker (Bluford High Series #8) Paul Langan, D. M. Blackwell
• Barnes and Noble
$3.41
1
$3.41
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance Barack Obama
• Barnes and Noble
$10.22
1
$10.22
Home Team: Coaching the Saints and New Orleans Back to Life Sean Payton, Ellis Henican
• Barnes and Noble
$17.06
1
$17.06
Deer and Deer Hunting: The Serious Hunter's Guide Robert Wegner
• Barnes and Noble
$16.19
1
$16.19
The Greatest Hunting Stories Ever Told: Twenty-Nine Unforgettable Tales Lamar Underwood (Editor)
• Barnes and Noble
$10.22
1
$10.22
The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time Series #1) Robert Jordan
• Barnes and Noble
$5.97
1
$5.97
The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time Series #2) Robert Jordan
• Barnes and Noble
$6.83
1
$6.83
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Mark Twain, Robert G. O'Meally (Illustrator), Robert O'Meally (Introduction), Robert G. O'Meally (Introduction)
• Barnes and Noble
$4.22
1
$4.22
Call of the Wild and White Fang (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Jack London, Tina Gianquitto (Illustrator), Tina Gianquitto (Introduction)
• Barnes and Noble
$4.22
1
$4.22
Dracula (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Bram Stoker, Brooke Allen (Illustrator), Brooke Allen (Introduction)
• Barnes and Noble
$4.22
1
$4.22
Dracula (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Bram Stoker, Brooke Allen (Introduction)
• Barnes and Noble
$5.93
1
$5.93
Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Edgar Allan Poe, Benjamin F. Fisher (Editor)
• Barnes and Noble
$6.79
1
$6.79
Narrative of Sojourner Truth (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Sojourner Truth, Imani Perry (Introduction)
• Barnes and Noble
$5.93
1
$5.93
Frankenstein (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Mary Shelley, Karen Karbiener (Introduction)
• Barnes and Noble
$3.37
1
$3.37
When You Are Engulfed in Flames David Sedaris
• Barnes and Noble
$4.74
1
$4.74
The Red Badge of Courage and Selected Short Fiction (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Stephen Crane, George Stade (Editor), Richard Fusco (Introduction), George Stade
• Barnes and Noble
$3.37
1
$3.37
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Robert Louis Stevenson, Jenny Davidson, Jenny Davidson (Introduction)
• Barnes and Noble
$3.37
1
$3.37
Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul: 101 Stories of Life, Love and Learning Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Kimberly Kirberger, Mitch Claspy
• Barnes and Noble
$10.22
1
$10.22
Chicken Soup for the Unsinkable Soul: 101 Inspirational Stories of Overcoming Life's Challenges Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Heather McNamara
• Barnes and Noble
$10.22
1
$10.22
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King Jr., Clayborne Carson (Editor)
• Barnes and Noble
$10.90
1
$10.90
The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan
• Barnes and Noble
$10.26
1
$10.26
The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros
• Barnes and Noble
$7.52
1
$7.52
Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution Ji-li Jiang, Foreword by David Henry Hwang
• Barnes and Noble
$5.97
1
$5.97
The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank, B.M. Mooyaart (Translator), Eleanor Roosevelt (Introduction)
• Barnes and Noble
$5.12
1
$5.12
He Crashed Me So I Crashed Him Back: The True Story of the Year the King, Jaws, Earnhardt, and the Rest of NASCAR's Feudin', Fightin', Good Ol' Boys Put Stock Car Racing on the Map Mark Bechtel
• Barnes and Noble
$17.77
1
$17.77
Hard Work: My Life On and Off the Court Roy Williams, With Tim Crothers, Foreword by John Grisham
• Barnes and Noble
$17.06
1
$17.06
Blue Blood: Duke-Carolina: Inside the Most Storied Rivalry in College Hoops Art Chansky, Foreword by Dick Vitale
• Barnes and Noble
$12.98
1
$12.98
Tobacco Road: Duke, North Carolina, N. C. State, Wake Forest and the History of the Most Intense Backyard Rivalries in Sports Alwyn Featherston
• Barnes and Noble
$13.76
1
$13.76
One for the Money (Stephanie Plum Series #1) Janet Evanovich
• Barnes and Noble
$6.83
1
$6.83
Two for the Dough (Stephanie Plum Series #2) Janet Evanovich
• Barnes and Noble
$7.21
1
$7.21
Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two Joseph Bruchac
• Barnes and Noble
$6.83
1
$6.83
Geography Club Brent Hartinger
• Barnes and Noble
$7.68
1
$7.68
Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies Laura Esquivel, Carol Christensen, Thomas Christensen, Thomas Christensen (Translator), Carol Christensen (Translator)
• Barnes and Noble
$9.57
1
$9.57
The Devil Wears Prada Lauren Weisberger
• Barnes and Noble
$10.25
1
$10.25
Batwoman: Elegy Deluxe Greg Rucka, J.G. Jones (Illustrator), J.H. Williams (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$17.09
1
$17.09
Materials cost
$375.85
Vendor shipping charges
FREE
Sales tax
$29.32
3rd party payment processing fee
$5.64
Fulfillment labor & materials
$35.00
Total project cost
$445.81
Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
$66.62
Total project goal
$512.43
How we calculate what's needed
Total project goal
$512.43
8 Donors
-$512.43
Donations toward project cost
-$445.81
Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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 Mr. W. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.