My students need 4 copies each of "That Was Then, This Is Now", "Whirligig", "The Red Kayak", and "The Princess Bride") that have a special appeal to young men.
My classroom is a picture of true America. My students bring diversity of all sorts (gender, race, socioeconomic status, language) to create a challenging but strong community. I teach 7th Grade Core which means I get to spend half of my day with the same 36 students (a gift, trust me) teaching them writing, literature, social studies, and basically how to shape their own worlds.
Our district doesn't have a lot of money (or if we do I'm not sure where it is going). Our library has a few new titles, but most of the books on the shelves are "old," "boring," and falling apart. I have a small classroom library but nothing that can fully support what we are attempting to do as a class: fall in love with reading.
I am trying to build a Lit Circle friendly library. This would be a library that has at least 4 sets of high quality Young Adult Titles that students can read in small groups and then discuss and write about. Lit Circles are AMAZING. Students really feel empowered when they get to choose their own books and they really look forward to talking about what they've read with their small group. This program looses its effectiveness when they've read everything I have. The titles on this list are ones specifically requested and recommended by my male students. These are books young men connect with and want to read. I have another list on Donors Choose for the young women in my class.
You will make it possible for my students to continue to develop their love of reading. This increases their literacy, self-confidence, and eventual ability to be critical thinkers and productive, active, participants in our world.
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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 Mr. Fox and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.