I teach 6th grade Language Arts, Social Studies, and P.E. in a middle school in a low income area in Northern California. My students come from various backgrounds and home situations, making for a very interesting teaching experience. Although a few students come from very enriched and supported homes, many in my class have little educational stimulation at home. They arrive at school thirsting for knowledge and enriching experiences. This is much of the reason that I really love this school; they keep me on my toes!
I have built my teaching career building an enriching educational experience for students in my classroom in math. I use manipulatives and lots of hands-on activities to give students a meaningful connection to the math they are learning. However, this year I will be teaching social studies to my 6th graders. The curriculum in 6th grade is centered around Ancient Civilizations. Although this subject is rich with interesting stories, the subject matter can come across as boring in textbooks and print material.
I would like to give my students the same fun, exciting, interesting experience in social studies as I do in math. I believe that if students see artifacts and re-enactments of ancient civilizations, it will give them a real connection to the material we are learning in class. This is why we would benefit greatly from a DVD player and a collection of DVDs about various ancient civilizations. My DVD player and VCR were recently broken and the school, unfortunately, cannot afford to replace it. It would be a tragedy, however, to teach students about the world's first civilizations without having live-action video to connect to the print in their textbooks. My students would have this experience with a DVD/VCR combo and the Time-Warner Ancient Civilizations box set of DVDs.
With the way that kids today are becoming more and more disconnected to their past, I feel a strong obligation to show my students the importance of learning about the past. Additionally, they cannot buy into a subject that is presented in a boring, uninteresting way. All of us can connect to curriculum more strongly if it is presented in various interesting ways. Allowing me to present it through video gives me just one more way to allow that buy in! Your contribution will allow my students to actually see the way life was long, long ago to make connections to life in ways they will carry throughout their lives. After all, seeing is believing!
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