Help me give my students a variety of reading materials to help them expand their ideas. They use their reading to deepen both their understanding of lives unlike their own and their discussion skills.
My students are bright and inquisitive and competitive. They are (mostly) college-bound and have been getting by with shallow thinking for years. Many have learned to "do school" in rooms where test-prep is the norm. Because they are bright, learning to pick the right answer from a list of options is not a challenge. What they don't know (yet) is that the ability to discuss ideas is a vital collegiate and career skill.
Because they live in a world of sound-bite rhetoric, they don't yet know how to engage in meaningful discussions.
Rather than discussing ideas with a give and take process, they tend to talk over each other. I want to prepare them for what comes after high school so that they are prepared to succeed in places where articulating ideas is the key to success.
Part of being able to do this is putting a variety of texts in their hands. Yes, sitting face-to-face is an important part of discussions but without ideas, discussions don't go anywhere.
My Project
My students use the classroom library often. We've been blessed with a number of donated books, but the kids have read almost everything we have. They're asking for more.
They're already engaged in civil discussions of important ideas and the books I have selected today are connected to some of the popular topics of discussion.
They expand on their previous reading and help the students continue to see the world at large through different lenses.
It is exciting to hear students ask for new books. But it is also exciting to hear their discussions evolve because of their reading. They make connections to local and national news from their reading and I don't have to prompt them to do it!
Why They Can't Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities
• Amazon Business
$26.45
1
$26.45
The Improbable Rise of Paco Jones
• Amazon Business
$12.00
2
$24.00
Becoming
• Amazon Business
$19.50
1
$19.50
Educated: A Memoir
• Amazon Business
$16.80
1
$16.80
Where the Crawdads Sing
• Amazon Business
$15.60
1
$15.60
Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction
• Amazon Business
$14.37
1
$14.37
Speak
• Amazon Business
$6.99
2
$13.98
Perfect Match
• Amazon Business
$13.60
1
$13.60
The Storyteller
• Amazon Business
$13.59
1
$13.59
Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office
• Amazon Business
$12.75
1
$12.75
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
• Amazon Business
$11.41
1
$11.41
Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer
• Amazon Business
$10.48
1
$10.48
The Tragedy of Brady Sims (Vintage Contemporaries)
• Amazon Business
$10.20
1
$10.20
Twisted
• Amazon Business
$9.99
1
$9.99
How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times
• Amazon Business
$9.27
1
$9.27
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman
• Amazon Business
$8.14
1
$8.14
Materials cost
$312.27
Vendor shipping charges
FREE
Sales tax
$21.55
3rd party payment processing fee
$4.68
Fulfillment labor & materials
$30.00
Total project cost
$368.50
Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
$65.03
Total project goal
$433.53
How we calculate what's needed
Total project goal
$433.53
2 Donors
-$433.53
Donations toward project cost
-$368.50
Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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. Vincent and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
