I teach 4th grade in a small, rural town at a school with a large percentage of students who receive free or reduced lunch.
Every day in our room is full of wonder and excitement; my students are so excited about learning right now and I want to capitalize on that excitement with the integration of technology.
4th graders are at an amazing age where they are more mature, but still excited about learning and school and I believe that it is my job to help foster this love of learning and exploration. We spend our days adding to our wonder wall, growing our schema through reading, and sharing topics that excite us.
My Project
Right now we have very limited technology access in our classroom. We have an iPad cart that we get one day a week, and sometimes have access to a computer lab; however, I'm not able to teach students how to access information in an authentic way without technology in our room. With the help of all of your generous donations and www.donorschoose.org I'm slowly building up our classroom devices with the goal of eventually being able to offer each student a device.
Not all students have access to technology at home in order to acquire important digital skills and it's up to schools to provide an environment in which there is equity with access to technology.
We have the same amount if not more students as similar sized districts around us, yet our students lack the same access to technology that other students have. Our students are missing out on opportunities to learn digital citizenship and how to access and decide what information is relevant. These are important 21st century skills that I feel it is my duty to help nurture in my students.
My students will use these Chromebooks daily in ways that include but are not limited to: researching "wonder" questions, transcribing text and writing for reluctant writers, publishing writing for an authentic audience on our class blog, coding, accessing digital learning experiences that present content in a fun and engaging way and much more. I'll also be able to differentiate content more easily for some of my learners who need information presented in a different way.
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. Rapstad and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
