Chess Boards And Sets For Middle School Chess Team
My students need the books because their enrichment class requires books that my school cannot afford, and the chess team of 15 students only have three chess sets to use.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. Kozel's classroom raised $1,000
This project is fully funded
My Students
My students live in a world of violence and fear where their sanctuary becomes my classroom. Through books and poems, I open their minds to worlds that are far different than the realities they know and it is my mission to let them dream of and work for a world better than what they know.
I work in an all boys public school in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
I teach seventh grade and it's almost humorous because the first few weeks were very tumultuous between us, but now I consider these young men of great potential, my own children. I would and do anything I can for their betterment and can think of nothing else but their success and what I need to do as a teacher to get them to set goals and achieve them.
Some say our school is the forgotten school, with the "reality" that the boys have no future. It infuriates me this stigma has been attached to our school. There are wonderful, kind, caring young men that yearn for and deserve a better future than the one many say is not ahead of them.
I advocate for these young men because they deserve the same education as every other child in this country, and unfortunately they have been left behind in so many cases, but I will not let that define them, they will succeed and become the men I know they can.
My Project
I requested three sets of books that I believe will open the minds of my seventh graders. The first, "The Road" is a Pulitzer Prize winning book, that happens to be my favorite book, with many themes that I feel would be fitting to address in my classroom, but none more so than the relationship between the father and son within the story. Many of my students are not aware of what a relationship of this stature could be and I believe this will open their minds and hearts to what it means to be a man, for their future families.
The other two books are amazing works of literature that capture the mind and imagination of the reader and I want my boys to experience those feelings, because often, they do not.
Finally, the printer will be used for their own writing products that we hope to turn into a book of poetry and essays relating to the stories we read in class and their own life experiences by the end of the year. My school lacks technology and a printer would help our goal immensely.
The minds of children are the future of our country.
No socio-economic status, race, religion or sexual orientation of any student should prevent them from receiving the same education that every child deserves in this country we call the land of the free. The ideas learned from these books and the project of the student's writing their own book may never leave the walls of this school, but they will always be in the hearts and minds of those that read and created them, my students
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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