My students need texts that they can feel successful reading. They need texts that match their maturity level while also being accessible for their reading abilities.
My students are outside-the-box-thinkers who are traversing some of the most challenging years of their educational career; middle school. They are hilarious, fiercely loyal, and generous beyond belief. My students are smart kids who have often suffered a trauma in their past; moving, foster care, loss of a parent, etc. They often feel more comfortable in a smaller environment, where it is safe to make mistakes, challenge authority, and be themselves.
In this class we work on believing in our own dignity and self-worth, achieving excellence and commit ourselves to beauty and justice (Summarized from a speech given by Martin Luther King JR.).
We are part of a K-8 school and the middle school works to be inclusive of our students in many ways. Our class believes in goal setting and helps each other achieve those goals. This year I hope to incorporate more opportunity for students to help each other reach their goals by creating learning partners or groups where students can hold each other accountable to achieving their goals at school.
My Project
Thank you so much for your generous donation to my classroom. I am so excited to work to increase my students engagement in reading. They are eager to discover themselves and prepare for the next challenge - high school! Through the engaging texts in these books, students are particularly able to explore the way they communicate with their friends and adults in order to achieve goals.
This project included several graphic novels in order to invest my readers who are not currently accessing texts at a middle school level.
Because of the visual supports, these books help my students to practice the skills we are learning in my mainstream English Language Arts classroom with a text that makes them feel successful.
In my reading intervention course, students are able to read independently daily. I try to make as convenient of a reading space as possible - dimmed lighting, pillows, and comfy chairs - so that while they read, they can practice reading strategies and grow their skills while also having FUN (like real readers in the world). My students are not fully invested in reading YET. Exposure to these practices of real readers helps to increase engagement and build lifelong readers and critical thinkers.
Thank you for your generous support in my students as readers and leaders. I am humbled and grateful to have such loyal contributors to my work.”
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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 Ms. Devens and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
