My students are my pride and joy and I cherish every minute I get to spend with them. Teaching allows me to shape the minds of my students and provide them with the best education possible. The majority of my students are living in poverty and I see the struggles they face on a daily basis. It breaks my heart to see some of the circumstances these students face, but I know that I can make a difference as their teacher. They are sponges, absorbing every ounce of love, education, and passion I pour into them. I would love to have more technology in our classroom to engage and inspire these young minds. However, being a teacher in a low-income school where 100% of the students recieve free breakfast and lunch, it's often hard to find funding and donations for classroom projects/supplies. Every bit counts to help these young minds!
My Project
As a teacher in 2018, it is often difficult to compete against the bright lights and exciting sound effects that students interact with on their tablets and computers. I have noticed a significant increase in student engagement when technology is involved, so instead of competing against technology, I decided to team up with it! Incorporating robotics and coding into my classroom will increase my student's abilities to problem-solve, plan, sequence, estimate, and collaborate and it can be integrated into any subject matter. I am looking to add three new Bee-Bots to my classroom to further engage my students in technology and coding, which will provide them with exposure to computer sciences. Bee-Bots are robots that are designed for young children. The students use the bots to navigate to different locations. Coding comes into play when the students have to problem-solve to create an algorithm to get the bot from one destination to the next. I have rented one bot from our district tech center and my students fell in love. They had so much fun with trials and errors, collaborating, and problem solving. Many of them even said it was the "best day ever!!!!". I am hoping to get 3 of our own Bee-Bots to house in our classroom, as the one we rented is shared amongst our entire district. I hope to continue to inspire these young minds and incorporate technology into our classroom!
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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. Sakinsky and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.