Empowering Students by Teaching about Human Rights
My students need 14 human-rights themed books, including "Aung San Suu Kyi: Standing up for Democracy in Burma" and "Amnesty International".
$411 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! 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.
I could not believe the reactions of my inner city students when I started teaching them about global human rights issues!
I teach in a very inner city school. Most of my students are on free or reduced lunch. Most of my kids come from broken homes. Parents are struggling to put food on their tables.
As a reading teacher, I struggle with getting my kids interested in school, let alone interested in reading. It is difficult for them to see the importance and relevance of education to their own lives. Not having enough teaching materials does not help this situation. Our school barely has a library (3 or 4 shelves of out of date books) and no computer lab to speak of. Like many teachers in my school, I bought my own computer for my class and my own "library" for my students to use.
In this learning setting, it is easy to see that my kids are used to feeling like victims. They know where they come from and say things like "our school is poor." It was primarily in response to statements like this that I decided to teach them about how fortunate they are in comparison to so many children all over the world. I could not believe how well they responded. My students, even the ones who formerly said they hated reading, started asking me for books to read about human rights!
I would like to build a library of human rights resources for my students to use to conduct research. I have selected 14 books that I know my students would love reading on a variety of related subjects. My students will each choose a topic that they are related to and after conducting their research, they will present their finding to the class and hopefully some parents will be able to come see their children's presentation as well. This will be an incredibly empowering experience for them.
You will help my students realize that they are not powerless. They do have a voice, a very powerful voice. My students are used to being on the receiving end of charity and being thought of as disadvantaged. You can help me show my students that they are actually in a position to help others.
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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. L. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
