Classic Books And Studies Create Life Long Readers!
My students need classroom sets of two of the classic books we read during their 7th grade school year. Specifically, 30 copies of "To Kill a Mockingbird" and 20 copies of "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
Remember the smell of a new book? Many of my students have never experienced that sensory pleasure first hand, but they often will talk about it. "I love the smell of books. That's the first thing I do when I open a book--sniff the pages. There's a world there, Mrs. B." Give them that world!
My students are a thoughtful, inquisitive, compassionate group of urban seventh grade students.
They are academically gifted but have not enjoyed many of the economic advantages of their suburban counterparts. Although my students love to learn and read, it is sometimes a struggle for them to obtain required reading books. They do not want to make excuses for their situations, but my students are having to deal with issues most adults do not have the strength and grace to endure. Several of my students have spent time in local shelters with a parent because of spousal abuse or poverty. School is a safe place for these academically gifted middle schoolers. They love the classrooms and teachers because of the security and success they feel in school.
My Project
My students LOVE _Midsummer Night's Dream_! We act it out in class, and they think it is hilarious. By the end, they want to read every Shakespeare play in our library. The Bard was the earliest of rappers and an amazing weaver of tales. My students appreciate both. We have a set of 8 books right now. They are taped together and the students share them. I can only imagine the excitement the students would feel having their own play to read during the scenes.
In the Spring, the students have the pleasure of reading _To Kill a Mockingbird_ and are swept away to the world of beautifully crafted prose only found in classic literature. Many of my students, once we complete the book and activities for the unit, start at page one for "one more read." A student I taught last year came back to my classroom yesterday only to tell me, "Thanks for teaching _To Kill a Mockingbird_ last year. It changed my life. Now I just think, 'What would Atticus do?'"
Help change a life!
My students come to my class with an innate love of reading and a desire to learn.
They leave my class with an appreciation of literature and the historical times around classic literature. With these books, my students have two of the tools for escaping the poverty cycle.
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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 Ms. Busby and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.