Help me give my students the high interest, riveting, diverse classroom library that they deserve. We're trying to make our Silent Sustained Reading sessions as dynamic as possible!
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
My students this year are so curious, powerful, and hungry to grow as readers! After two years of distance learning as a result of COVID, my students (mostly 12th grade and an AP Lit class) have come back to school with the best mindet that I have seen in years being an educator. There are days when I have to pinch myself, because the discussion and thinking just seems to be moving to a new level.
While my students don't lack for innate brilliance, they do lack for consistent access to high interest, lexile-varied texts to foster their reading skills.
Our West Baltimore school is in a high-poverty, disinvested neighborhood. In short, there just isn't enough systemic money being invested in class libraries.
I recently surveyed my classes to see what kinds of books and topics they'd be most interested in reading. Let me tell you--they were enthusiastic JUST TO BE ASKED. These are my students. They deserve the world.
My Project
Research shows that Silent Sustained Reading (SSR)/Independent Reading is one of--if not THE--most effective ways for students to grow their vocabulary, develop deep thinking and literacy skills, and improve scores on state standardized tests. This is true despite state education systems inexplicably moving away from these tried and true practices.
This year, guided by research and intuition, I am going hard in the paint on Independent Reading.
This is going to be an intentional (not unplanned mishmash) time every day for students to self-select a text that is of interest to them, read it deeply, and engage in book talks and writing around it.
That's where this project comes in. Without high interest, diverse, and lexile-varied texts to read, my precious students would have to read the boring, falling apart hand-me-downs from the 1980s that gather dust in our storage rooms. If that happens, nothing good happens.
Students will be reading these engaging novels, biographies, and non-fiction books in the classroom, but will also be able to take them home if they're that hooked!
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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. Krempel and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.