My fourth grade students attend a very small, rural Pennsylvania school. Many of my students come from low-socioeconomic families and a large percentage of our school qualifies for free or reduced price lunches. However, our teachers embrace this rural advantage and make the effort to break the mold of the traditional classroom setting by connecting our students to their community and utilizing the plethora of resources that our country setting provides us.
A well-planned teacher has such a positive influence the climate of a classroom.
Teachers truly lead by example, so they must practice what they preach and maintain a classroom that runs as smoothly as a well-oiled machine. Such preparedness takes time, effort, and the right supplies, but unfortunately, district responsibilities and school budgets dictated by administrators do not always cater to the true needs of the classroom teacher. I take pride in my classroom, and as expectations have evolved for the health and safety of our students, so have our needs. I am looking for some new additions to refresh my teaching environment.
My Project
As we all know, public school budgets are under more strain than ever before. There is such a demand to meet the emotional, behavioral, and academic needs of our students, and the funds to support extracurricular learning just isn't readily available, let alone the physical classroom needs of teachers. Schools are struggling to give their students the basics in school supplies and technological services to get them through the year. Wish list items have not only become a luxury, but an afterthought.
This year has been one that has been met with unprecedented obstacles, both in a personal and professional capacity.
I am teaching during a global pandemic while in the later months of a pregnancy. When I have students, I'm doing my best to socially distance while at the same time give them the one-on-one feedback they need. My students are learning throughout my classroom in non-traditional seating to encourage healthy habits and spacing. The teacher chair we have been using for flexible seating is literally falling apart and beyond repair. Replacing it within our district budget isn't an option. I would like a chair to take my students away from the confines of desks, break the monotony of their day, and make them feel special. We will have the capability to wheel around the room on a mobile working station and flip our environment to meet whatever curricular needs arise.
I know that this resource breaks the mold of traditional classroom teacher requests, but it would be such a relief knowing that I have the equipment I need to comfortably support my students no matter how I am providing my daily instruction.
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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 Mrs. Ingram and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
