My students need companion titles to our first units theme: Friendship, Kindness, Empathy, and Acceptance.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. Thai's classroom raised $405
This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
My Students
Friendship. Kindness. Empathy. Acceptance. Our school is a microcosm of our world, and far too often, we fail to challenge each other to uncover our shared humanity. Books help student explore the complexities of relationships and the human condition to build resilient and moral people.
Pain.
Heartache. Suffering. Isolation. Confusion. Far too many of my students characterize their lives with these or related words. But they aren't the only sentiments that characterize students' lives, because over the years, I've been witness to countless tales of inspiration and love: Hope. Triumph. Resilience. Community. Clarity.
We are a small school community at the fringes of gentrification, a cultural dichotomy that's oftentimes hard to confront, especially when my students still live along its periphery, caught somewhere at the intersection of Wall Street's bounty, Chinatown's vitality, and Lower East Side grit. We are recent immigrants and many of us have special needs. But more importantly, we are peddlers of hope and hard work and have a bond that transcends so many of our daily challenges.
Our school is a place where mistakes are made and learned from. We believe that educating the whole child requires exploration and acceptance of our deepest selves.
My Project
In humanities class, my students will begin the school year exploring the question: How do stories reveal our humanity? Over the course of the year, my students will attempt to answer this and other questions to get at the heart of what it means to be human -- an inquiry that begins with a deep study of our earliest ancestors, tracing our lineage and the human narrative through Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece and Rome, and into the Age of Exploration in social studies and literacy.
These books, many award-winning and best-selling, were curated specifically because they explore the complexities of human relationships, giving us access to issues that authors (historically and contemporaneously) choose to confront, to convey some essential element shared by mankind. This curated set of books is related thematically to such historical and literary questions, and to our central text, "Wonder." Students will read about, discuss, and write about these themes with an historical perspective.
Beyond a collection of new books that augment our existing class library, my students will gain insight into authors' various approaches when confronting themes that transcend time and culture.
These books, connected thematically, will broaden and deepen my students' insight into human nature and will serve as touchstones as they learn to select texts, write critically and creatively, and hold small-group and whole-class discussions, drawing on the depth of their reading experiences.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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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 Mr. Thai and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
