"Reading is a discount ticket to anywhere!" And for students from low-income backgrounds, reading provides one of the few opportunities for experiencing life "outside the box."
My 10th grade students live in a rural town in the Arkansas Delta.
The area is very impoverished, with many of students receiving free breakfast and lunch. With limited access to contemporary, young adult fiction, students in my English 10 classes are starving for good books.
My Project
I require my students to read four books each grading quarter, and often times the books in our High School Library are above the students' reading levels or are so dated as to be of little interest to my students. As I build a diverse classroom library that will entice students to read, I would like to expand that by providing books from genres that I know are of high interest to my students: realistic fiction and suspense. Diverse selections of young adult fiction will allow my students to gain confidence in their reading skills as they self-select books that are both interesting to them, as well as varying reading ability levels. Offering such a variety of select titles will encourage students to expand their book choices, and ultimately their love for reading.
Reading provides the frameworks for success in every field.
Strong readers will ultimately be strong writers, strong in other subject areas, and strong thinkers. Without reading, a child can expect little success in life, as these skills are needed from everything to reading directions to enjoying a novel. Self-selected literature is the way to garner student interest in reading.
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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. Farless and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.