My students need seven Chromebooks to develop our creative poetry unit.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. Landazuri's classroom raised $1,512
This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
My Students
"I pledge allegiance to myself and who I want to be..." Each day, we begin our class with a promise that helps my students focus on what they want to do, and to learn today to make their future dreams a reality. "Poetry is a language in which man explores his own amazement." – Christopher Fry
Ours is a Title I school, serving a largely immigrant, Latino population, in a densely-populated urban city.
Statistically destined to drop out before they complete high school, my students aspire to go beyond the stereotypes, and be the first college graduates in their family. From day one, we foster a safe community of learners in our room. If a student doesn't feel comfortable, they won't try anything new. We are all learners, and support each other in taking risks and making mistakes, because we know that is where the real learning happens. Last year, I incorporated Ralph Fletcher and his ideas on enabling students to create their own poetry into a unit of study, and was blown away with the results. We brainstormed ideas about the space around us. We looked at mentor texts and their different styles, and we wrote! Reluctant speakers shared out loud. Partners critiqued and praised each other. My poets kept on writing at recess and at home. They developed a passion for writing. It was a hit!
My Project
This year, we will dig deeper into different types of poetry, and explore them as both readers and writers. Students will understand that poetry is a powerful art form for expressing emotion, ideas, and vivid imagery. We will be integrating the creative arts into our Life Science lessons. Poetry challenges students to synthesize their ideas with powerful vocabulary and description. This is perfect for science! Last year, we had 1 computer. Now we will have 8, so my 32 students will be able to take turns to create and edit their own poetry on Google Docs! They will collaborate on their work, and provide constructive criticism right on the computer, and research new topics and poets. They will publish their poetry and illustrate it with different media, to display publicly, and to bind in their own poetry portfolios. This develops their writing ability, artistic creativity, and their technological skills. My goal is assemble a class set for all students to be able to work at the same time.
The arts are so often overlooked in favor of testable skills.
These Chromebooks will open up new ways of demonstrating learning. Students will publish their poems in other forms, to tap into and foster their artistic abilities. They will type out personal acrostic poems, and illustrate nature haiku poems with oil pastels, watercolors, and pencils. By supporting this project, you will bolster their learning and their love and passion for science, technology, art, and poetry.
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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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 Mr. Landazuri and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
