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This teacher needs your help!

Ms. Luxton from Springfield, MA is requesting a class trip through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Ms. Luxton is requesting

A Visit With Emily Dickinson

My students need to connect with their literary heritage by befriending Emily Dickinson and bringing the poet herself, and her poetry, to life.

FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Luxton's classroom raised $689

This project is fully funded

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

Celebrate 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

My students are inquisitive poetic 6th graders who live lives void of poetry--and void of connections to their literary heritage. They understand the timelessness of human elements found in poetry, but do not see how to make the link between their own lives and those of N.E. poets just out of reach.

My students' lives resemble those of the children Jonathan Kozol loves and writes about: they lead lives filled with strife and hunger and are transitory in their nature.

But, they are children--loving, sweet, articulate, poets in the making. So often coming from print-deprived environments, they do not see the value of literature, nor do they see their lives mirrored in that of poets. However, befriending Emily Dickinson changes this reality: Dickinson's poetry has themes of loss and love and nature--all a perspective, all very modern, and all an approach to a life not so very different from their own. My students are looking for an alternate life--for an alternate way of being--and this trip will provide it for them. And, knowing that you, as donors, value them for their intelligence, not their street smarts, adds another layer of meaning for these wonderful poets and citizens of the 21st century.

My Project

I was incredibly lucky enough to receive a grant two years ago to take students on this trip I created--even today, these now eighth graders come up to me and say "Ms. L...the best day of my life was the trip to Emily Dickinson's house...and here, here, look at what I've written." It is transformative! We walk from the green of Amherst to Emily Dickinson's resting place, visit her tombstone, are amazed by the collage painted near by with Emily as the "Belle" of the town, then and now. Students will walk through "The Homestead," the birthplace and home of Emily; on display are one of her infamous white dresses, the lovingly detailed books of dried flora and fauna, the bed she was both born in and died in, her writing desk, an interactive room filled with her poems, the gardens surrounding the house, all described and elaborated on with rich details by volunteers full of knowledge on Emily Dickinson's life and poetry, as well as that of her brother, Austin, in the "The Evergreens."

This trip will allow students to see how one, through hard-work, diligence, and thoughtfulness, can write poems and begin to see life around them with kinder more gentle eyes.

This trip allows students to see themselves on the continuum of poetry and poets, and it exposes them to a college town--Amherst College; students must see it to dream it to make it real--to see education and poetry as the cultivation of endless possibilities. I need your help, please. This truly is a gift of a lifetime.

Ms. Luxton Van Sickle Academy Grades 6-8

Equity Focus

This project directly supports students at a historically underfunded school. Learn more about our Equity Focus.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Springfield, MA View local requests

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

50 students impacted 9donors

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Component Company Total
Activity The Emily Dickinson Museum $300.00
Transportation First Student School Bus $247.00

Trip cost

$547.00

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$8.20

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$585.20

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$103.27

Total project goal

$688.47

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $688.47

5 Donors

-$460.95

Donations toward project cost

-$415.20

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$45.75

match offer

-$200.00

Match offer toward project cost

-$170.00

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$30.00

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$27.52

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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Project Activity

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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 Ms. Luxton and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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