Lifelong readers are created at the meeting place of engagement and relevance, a place that many of my students have not found...yet. They find reading the books that are most relevant to their lives challenging, often too challenging.
I begin my class every year by discussing the definition of literacy with my students.
I like to use Paulo Freire's definition both because of its simplicity and its inclusiveness: literacy is the act of reading the WORD and the WORLD. Most of my students have grown up, often out of necessity, with a keen ability to read the world. They can read the movements of their neighborhood in order to find the quickest and safest path to school. They can read the look in a teachers eyes to know how he is feeling. They can even read the sounds outside their houses to know when it's a good time to go out and when they should stay inside. However, far too many of them enter my high school classroom having been left behind in terms of the other half of Freire's literacy equation: reading the world. Though they are brilliant in many ways, over 80% of my students enter high school reading significantly below their grade level.
My Project
I believe in the power of reading. I believe that there lies in every young person the potential to fall in love with reading. For those who do not like (or love) to read, I believe relevance and engagement are the two main barriers keeping them from becoming lifelong readers - and if I can spark this love of reading in my students, then I have given them a gift far more important than else. My hope and belief is that the books I am requesting through this Donor's Choose project can be just that catalyst for my students. I am building a classroom library of books that I have researched and selected specifically for their ability to engage reluctant readers with stories relevant to their lives and experiences.
I see each one of these books as a potential spark that will set my students' minds ablaze.
From there, with their abilities to read both the WORD and the WORLD, they will become the young leaders and agents of change that the world needs.
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 Mr. Gardner and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.