My school has a diverse population of that is split 50/50 students of color and white students. The majority of students do not fall below the poverty line, but those who do fall far below. My 9th grade students come into my class ready to learn about a future career, but many are labeled at a high risk of failure based on past grades or attendance in middle school.
Our school community is dedicated to building learning partnerships between students and teachers as well as fostering trust to learn within the community of the classroom.
Giving students choice in their learning by providing them with engaging books helps to do just that.
My Project
The English canon is and always will be a great resource for literary study, but today's students are so savvy about the choices in the world that it would be academically irresponsible of me to not provide them with a classroom full of books to read. Books like Tweak, Tyrell, and When The Moon Was Ours focus on real-life topics that students might be facing themselves or, at the very least, least provide them with a cultural perspective other than their own.
I use the English canon as a supplement to choice books as students read their own books cover to cover while I assign excerpts from the great books of the past to illustrate and model literary analysis.
They then use their choice books for engaging and creative projects that reflect their learning. They write essays, make posters, create blogs, and collaborate on a variety of projects to connect the dots between the common texts that I provide, their choice books, and life beyond the school walls.
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. Mead and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
