Becoming Readers and Global Citizens through Current Events!
My students need a class set of the NY Times Magazine, UpFront for an accessible and engaging way to be informed of the issues and events shaping our contemporary world.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Spitz's classroom raised $465
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
I'm on a mission: a mission to create a history class that is rich with perspective, inquiry, relevance and engagement. I too often see my high school students quick to label the subject "old," "boring," and completely insignificant to their own world and to their own lives.
My students are bright, imaginative, and inquisitive.
Each day I see countless examples of their love for learning and genuine desire to be challenged and inspired. As an arts and technology-based school, we pride ourselves on the levels of creativity and individuality embraced by our students inside and outside the classroom walls.
My students are predominantly Latino and African-American, and most will be the first in their families to attend college and for some, to graduate from high school. They come from some of the most violent and impoverished neighborhoods in our state and so genuinely want more for themselves and their families. They are exceptionally brave in expressing themselves and communicating an idea, yet many of them struggle when it comes to broaching written text. In my 9th grade classroom, my students' reading levels range from 2nd grade to college level, with an average reading level at around the 6th grade.
My Project
Many of my students were not exposed to reading on a consistent basis during crucial years of their formative development and as such, many need intensive work to repair literacy deficits stemming from their early years.
Having access to a news source like Upfront in our classroom that is both accessible and engaging will not only build their awareness of what's going on outside of their neighborhood, but will also help them find relevancy and agency in being informed and in building their literacy. Classroom routines such as weekly current events can provide the structure and access to information that many of my students lack at home. Because UpFront is written specifically for a teen audience, the articles and topics addressed will help my students have positive experiences with reading and enable them to draw connections between their own lives and the lives of others around the world: an experience that I feel is absolutely priceless and essential to a successful classroom.
My students deserve more than a simple fact sheet or timeline to understand history and the human experience.
Providing my students with relevant and accessible reading materials will open the door towards learning patterns that will help them become stronger readers, writers and members of society. Ultimately, these reading experiences will help my students navigate and more deeply connect to our already complex world with an empowered perspective and an informed heart and mind.
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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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. Spitz and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
