My students need books that they are interested in! My goal with selecting these books is to have a pop culture library, with books that are contemporary, including graphic novels.
Being a middle school student can be pretty challenging, but add on top of that being in the middle of nowhere and you have a recipe for being bored. I teach at a K-12 school in a very rural town that doesn't even have a gas station and the nearest 'big' town is half an hour away. Students either work on the family ranch, play sports, or....nothing. Many students don't even have internet!
33% of my students are on free and reduced lunch and do not have easy access to a library, nor can they afford to buy books.
Our school has a library, but it is limited because it also caters to the elementary students. A mobile library comes every two weeks, but students must remember to request books for the library to bring. Students do not get access to literature besides what the teachers require for them to read. So what can my nerdy book worms and comic geeks do?
My Project
My students need some excitement, and what better way to do that then by introducing them to a bunch of great, contemporary books, including graphic novels! I want a diverse selection of different genres and formats to encourage students to read even more.
I will also be building a reward system based on the game, Pokemon Go, to encourage students to "read 'em all!" Students will read books from different genres to collect a Pokemon in a sticker book.
I hope that this will encourage those hesitant readers to expand what they like to read. But in order to expand and have something fun to read, they need to have access to it! That is why I am building up my personal classroom library, so my middle school students can take these books home and read them to their hearts desire.
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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. Birdsall-Thomas and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
