My students range from 9th through 12th grade, and many of them have special needs, from learning disabilities to behavior disorders to limited English proficiency. A large percentage of our students come from low-income households, and most of them work hard for everything that they have.
Despite their difficulties, these dedicated students strive to help each other.
The ESOL students have created a clothes closet and the student council has organized school supply drives for our school and neighboring schools. They have pulled together to raise money for fellow students with serious illnesses and students who have had personal tragedies. They inspire me with their sense of community.
My Project
Many of my students walk into my classroom each day with nothing but the clothes on their backs and their district-issued technology. They have no backpacks, they have no pencils, they have no paper. They have no printer at home to print their essays. This is an English class, so we need writing utensils for rough drafts, highlighters for annotating literature, and printer paper to print our final drafts on the classroom printer.
Making sure my students have basic supplies to use in class makes our class time run more smoothly.
If I have a supply of paper, pencils, and pens that they have easy access to, we don't waste precious time trying to find these supplies from their classmates. This makes them more productive in class and it takes away the shame of not having the supplies that they need.
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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. Hammond and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.