A Discourse on Racism, Refugees and Emotional Agility
Help me give my students materials to read in class that will help them process their emotions while informing them about society and racism.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. Reid's classroom raised $1,094
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.
My Students
Many of the students that would benefit from the project are struggling readers and need extra support. All of the students in my class have specific learning differences which include autism, dyslexia, and other disabilities. Some of the students qualify as emotionally disturbed and have suffered serious trauma. More than fifty percent of my students live below the poverty line and have serious economic difficulty. Some of the students are homeless.
Many of my students have serious disadvantages but come to school with a mindset that they will succeed in even the bleakest circumstances.
One of my students has been homeless for over a year and takes showers at the YMCA before school. A few months ago his car got broken into and they lost everything that was important to them. Another student's father was murdered and the next day he showed up to class. When tears started rolling down his face, I asked him if he needed to leave. He told me that he didn't want to leave given that his father would have wanted him to be in class. These are just two of the students that I work with that continue to fight.
My Project
Students will learn about the importance of emotional agility and the potential costs of emotional rigidity. We will create projects demonstrating the differences and how we can take some of those principles and apply them to our lives and community. We will also use this as the basis to start to have difficult conversations about race and oppression in society.
We will examine race and oppression in film, history, and current events to create a better understanding of the world that we live in and how we got to where we are.
We will analyze films that have changed the way that we think about race in society and how they relate to what we see today. We will review the history of police violence and oppression in the US. We will also look at the reality that so many people in the world are living in with a unit on refugees.
I am hoping that these materials will help students better understand how media and history affect the way we think about society. Students will increase their capacity for empathy and different perspectives as we review and discuss the materials. It is more important than ever to put books into the hands of students that are engaging and relevant to their lives.
More than three‑quarters 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
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. Reid and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
