My students are incarcerated in a juvenile jail 24 hours a day where they live in tiny cells. Many of my students come from poverty and have experienced trauma or community violence of some kind. Students have struggled with education and often come to the institution having dropped out of school. Up to fifty percent of our population is classified as special education and requires services for disabilities.
Despite the often challenging circumstances, my students are resilient, brilliant youth who are working hard to transform their lives.
I am lucky enough to be their English teacher and want to give them opportunities to master tools that will help them to empower and rehabilitate themselves.
My Project
Due to COVID, students who are arrested first go to a quarantine unit where they stay for 14 days in order to ensure the safety of others. Students in this housing unit do not get to go to the education center and must access their teachers via virtual learning. I want to bring virtual reality into the academic experiences of my students.
Virtual reality will transport my students from jail to different historical eras or even outer space.
My aim is to create academic units of study around some of Oculus's educational apps such as "I Am a Man" which gives people an experience of history in a way that provides a better and more personal understanding of the struggles of these marginalized people. The VR experience allows one to literally walk in the shoes of the people who fought for freedom and equality during the civil rights era. Most importantly, this project gives users a deeper awareness of their struggle. Using historical film and photographs, along with voice narrations of actual Civil Rights participants, the project falls along the lines of a new type of interactive-documentary experience.
In addition to this there are experiences that teach anatomy, languages, and others that take the students to the wonders of the world. I want to help alleviate the depression that often accompanies incarceration by providing an epic experience. Thank you, in advance, for your consideration.
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 Ms. Mercurio and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
{"pmaHash":"","schoolCity":"San Francisco","showProjectRecommendations":true,"teachersOnPage":[430297],"isTeacherViewingTheirOwnProject":false,"hideTeacherDetails":false,"schoolState":"CA","teacherPossessivePronoun":"her","PMsManager":null,"schoolGradeType":{"id":4,"name":"High School"},"TeacherPMForms":{},"proposalId":5312857,"proposalMessageFormModel":null,"numActiveProjects":1,"completingDonationAmount":0,"teacherHasClassroomPhoto":true,"proposalURL":"https://www.donorschoose.org/project/bring-virtual-reality-to-a-quarantine-un/5312857/","verifyShowPhotos":"","eligibleToBeCopied":false,"mayHaveReplacements":false,"numStudents":999,"teacherScreenName":"Ms. Mercurio","isEquityFocus":false,"authorIds":{"430297":{"owner":"Ms. Mercurio","donationSalutations":{}}},"displayedPercentFunded":1.0,"proposalsOnPage":[5312857],"proposalHash":"-1871701613","isApplePayMobileOnly":true,"progressBarPercentage":100.00,"pmaId":"","teacherProfilePhotoURL":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/136/teacher-placeholder-4_136.png","teacherHasProfilePhoto":false,"currentWorkflowStatusCode":21,"teacherChallengeId":33919,"photosPublished":false,"queryString":"","DonorPMForm":null,"isApplePayEnabled":true,"fundedByTarget":false,"activeProject":{"completingDonationAmount":190,"proposalURL":"project/bring-hygiene-and-self-care-to-incarcera/8316964/","proposalTitle":"Bring Hygiene and Self-Care to Incarcerated Young Women","proposalId":8316964},"donorIdsForImpactPhotoCheck":[],"teacherId":430297,"schoolCounty":"San Francisco","fullyFunded":true,"isStudentLed":false,"isExpired":true,"schoolStateObj":{"code":"CA","name":"California"}}