Teaching in the extremely diverse and picturesque neighborhood of Ditmas Park, Brooklyn is a rewarding experience. My classroom is full of eager and excited learners from all over the world who teach me new things every day. These children love coming to school where they grow as readers, writers, mathematicians, and scientists. Our school offers some amazing music and art programs through which our students learn to express themselves in different ways. They take pride in their work and enjoy sharing it with each other and with their families. Many of our wonderful families join us in our classrooms to engage in our learning as often as possible.
The advantages to being part of such a unique and richly diverse school community also come with countless hardships that we strive to overcome together every day.
Many of our students are living in poverty and we have high populations of students with disabilities and English Language Learners. Even with a love for learning, many of our students are reading far below grade level, which often carries over to struggles in writing and math as well. I want to give my students every possible resource to help them reach their potential.
My Project
Teaching a classroom full of learners from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds means that I must be able to meet a wide range of learning styles, abilities, and needs on a daily basis. Reading is perhaps the subject area where I have found the widest achievement gap in my classroom. Every student has unique strengths and challenges but struggling readers tend to be more likely to struggle in other academic subjects as well.
Whole class instruction by itself is simply not sufficient in meeting the needs of all of my 3rd graders so targeted small group instruction is vital in our classroom.
Working with small groups of 4-5 students at a time allows me to teach, coach, and assess students more closely and offer each child the exact supports they need. Students understand this and look forward to their small group time each day. However, small group instruction can be challenging without the proper materials. Sitting on the floor with a group of students means that I am not able to see the entire room and effectively manage students who are working independently. This can also be distracting for students. It is difficult to be accessible to each child if we are gathered around a group of student desks. Having a dedicated small group table would allow me to be directly across the table from each student while also allowing me to see the whole classroom.
Your help will make it possible for me to work more closely with each of my students. This will raise their engagement and maximize learning in all subject areas.
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
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