"People who hurt people hurt people." "We should learn from history, so we don't repeat the same mistakes." "If you believe in yourself, you will accomplish your dreams." "Real friends love you for who you are and you shouldn't try to be someone else." These are all quotes from my fifth grade ELA classes in rural South Carolina. We are a group of caring, loving, aspiring students that love to learn with a combination of ESOL students, students with special needs, students that have difficult home lives, and all of those in between.
Our classroom becomes a safe place on a level playing field in which we strive to think deeper academically while also challenging ourselves to grow our character and make a positive mark on the world.
We sometimes leave our worries at the door, while other times we bring them right in and embrace them.
My Project
What makes our classroom unique is our authentic use of literature to learn not only about author's craft and literary elements, but we also use literature to analyze the author's craft and elements in order to learn how to leave our footprint on the world.
We LOVE to use literature to learn how to become better people.
All great literature has a theme that can be applied to the world around us. We have already learned how important it is to learn from the mistakes of our past, and we know Countdown will continue to help us grow and learn how we can make this world a better place even at a young age.
By having a class set of the book Countdown by Deborah Wiles, we will be able to hone our ELA skills, such as determining theme, mood, tone, types of conflict, elements of plot, author's craft, etc. We will also be able to understand history on a personal, less abstract level since the book is based on events from the sixties, including the Cold War. Most importantly, we will determine how we can use the experiences Franny and those close to her have - to learn more about ourselves and how to develop our own character. All great novels, especially historical fiction, show growth of the protagonist. He/She develops into a better person through conflicts. Franny and everyone around her is currently living in fear due to factors out of their control. Somehow, though, life must go on. How will Franny choose to face challenges? How can we apply this to our lives so that we don't have to live life in fear? How can we encourage others to rise to the challenge?
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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. Shepherd and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
