My students need 3 books so we can work on writing strategies; 11 math books and math manipulatives to build math skills; and story cards to work on reading strategies.
I believe in an interactive classroom where students do more than "sit and get." Provided with appropriate materials, my students flourish in an environment where their teacher believes in multiple learning styles. However, I currently lack materials necessary to provide them with what they need.
I have students in a middle school setting with various types of disabilities that are expected to take the same Common Core assessment as the rest of the students at the end of the year.
My job, as a Special Education Teacher, is to help them close the achievement gap as much as possible from year to year. I do this, oftentimes, with very few resources, so I get creative, use the internet, and come up with plans that involve no books or making lots of copies. My school is progressive in the sense that we believe students with disabilities should be in an inclusive environment, but my resource classroom also does not get much in the way of supplies. Our budget for Exceptional Children is very low, so we do not have much. I would like to see my students thrive in an environment with multiple resources so that I have many different options for teaching my students and allowing them to learn in several different modalities.
My Project
I have several different plans for the materials selected. The writing books and cards will allow me to teach students who still cannot form paragraphs how to write paragraphs and the students who know how to write paragraphs how to structure and write multiple paragraphs. The reading cards will allow me to either put students in stations to learn or do whole group instruction and teach them reading comprehension skills. The books will allow for direct instruction of reading comprehension skills. The math books will allow for direction instruction of math skills that the students lack for the common core in thinking through the process of math. The relationship-building cards will allow the class 5 minutes of positive relationship-building which is often important in these types of classrooms.
I envision the classroom as a place where students can grow and learn both educationally and socially and these materials will allow this learning to take place.
My students will not only be able to close the gaps on their writing, reading, and math skills, but build positive relationships in the process. How exciting would that be?!
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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 Ms. Stebelton and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
