I teach English and history to an amazing, enthusiastic group of sixth grade students. Many of the students at my school are English learners, and the majority of students receive free and reduced lunch.
Sixth graders are passionate, curious, creative thinkers who love learning about the world around them.
It is my job to help them see themselves as lifelong learners and caring, compassionate global citizens. Woven throughout everything I do in my classroom is the message that acceptance, empathy, and kindness are among the most important traits they can possess. I want my students to leave sixth grade feeling passionate that they can change the world for the better.
My Project
More than anything else, I want my students to grow up to be kind, caring, empathetic, and accepting of others. As a teacher, I strive to fill my classroom with diverse books because reading starts important conversations and makes students venture beyond what is familiar to them. I love to wander around book stores with my students in mind, carefully choosing books with important messages that I know my sixth graders will love.
Through reading and conversation, I want my students to see that, though we have differences, people are mostly the same.
I want my students to seek to understand and stand up for others instead of feeling intolerance or fear. The books I have requested include books about brave refugees and immigrants, strong women, characters of many ethnicities, and LGBTQ+ characters. I have found books about being kind and doing the right thing even when it is not the easy thing to do.
I want my students to read books that celebrate and respect their diverse cultures. I want my students to read stories they love about characters who are different from them and to see the world through the eyes of those characters. This grant is the gift of conversation, kindness, empathy, and a love of reading.
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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. Castaneda and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
