Binders and Paper and Pencils, Oh My!

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.

Too many of my students come to school with inadequate materials if any at all. Even my most consistent and careful students forget their homework and lose their pencils. My students are not careless, these behaviors are a direct result of their exceptionalities which range from learning disabilities to mental retardation to ADHD. Even though they are never punished for asking for materials in my class, they are ashamed and embarrassed to ask for them. I want them to feel successful and having the proper materials is the first place to start. In addition to teaching content, I am also responsible for teaching life skills and learning skills. It is critical that my students who struggle to read be able to skim a science or history text to find important information. Armed with highlighters and sticky notes I will be able to teach these students to mark important words and passages in what they read. As adults and educators, we use these tools to help ourselves remember appointments and other important bits of information. I want my students to have the tools to help them remember the main points and details of what they are being taught. Note taking is another area where we need structure. My students will eagerly copy notes from the board but their loose papers typically end up missing. If each student had a binder with color-coded tabbed dividers and filler paper, we could build on the previous days' notes without having to search every corner of the room looking for them. This would also help conserve paper because we would not have to replace and recopy missing work. Having pencil boxes supplied with pencils, a pencil sharpener, erasers, a glue stick, scissors and a ruler would fulfill each students' daily materials need. With all of these supplies I can build my students sense of responsibility because they will be accountable for their materials and I know that they will take pride in using them. I can also continue to make school a place where these students want to be and make it a place where they can be successful. Thank you very much for helping in this effort.