This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
Build conversational and academic language through the use of motivating learning technology. Due to budget limitations, the students in my classroom are not able to have enough access to this valuable learning resource. Help us to provide the materials that will focus students' learning!
The students in my New American's Classroom are English language learners who have been in the country for one to two years.
Not all students who are non-English speakers are selected for this setting. My students are refugees from several different countries. They had limited or very interrupted schooling in their own countries due to lack of resources and upheaval.
During the 2009/2010 school year, most of my students were from Somalia via Kenya or from Haiti. This past year, I had a large group of students from Burma via Thailand. I also had students from Nepal, Iraq, and Somalia/Kenya.
We have a wonderful classroom culture where everyone helps each other to grow in their English and academics. We have a supportive faculty and community.
For these students, life in Kansas City is very different than their lives before coming here. They want to know everything and work extremely hard to be successful. They are gracious and thankful for everything they have and receive.
My Project
The Smart Talk complete technology system will directly benefit the students in my classroom in several ways. First, students will be able to participate in individualized instruction on targeted vocabulary utilizing a highly motivating technology resource. Pictures and sentence structures are well chosen and clear for students.
Second, because of the way the resource is organized into themes and levels, I will be able to organize targeted theme activities, unit activities, and center activities to match the levels and needs of individual students, using the Smart Talk for reinforcement and reteaching of critical vocabulary. Third, I will be able to use the Smart Talk for a variety of hands-on, independent and partner activities. Finally, the picture cards are visually supportive of other content areas, including science and reading, and the targeted language development opportunities are an excellent scaffold for reading and writing.
For English language learners, the development of correct vocabulary to describe what they are learning is critical.
By utilizing a motivating technology resource like Smart Talk, students will not only grow in their language skills, but they will be able to apply that language to other areas, like reading and math. They will use their new learning to develop a broader range of interests for further research and learning.
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. Jensen and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
