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Ms. O'Brien from Albion IN is requesting Books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
Expanding Cultural Awareness
My students need books written from the perspective of diverse characters in order to gain an understanding of people from all different cultures and backgrounds.
My Students
My students are creative and passionate!! They love hands-on activities that allow them to work in groups to solve challenging problems. They love reading and get very attached to beloved characters. Throughout the year, the back chalkboard gets covered in students' drawings of book characters and quotes from stories we've read in class.
Books are a way for my students to experience adventures and meet characters that are unlike themselves.
Unfortunately, a lot of my students do not get the types of experiences children often dream about. We are in a small, rural town at least a 45 minute drive away from bigger cities. Some of them have never even been outside of Indiana, and if they have, it's only to the surrounding states.
My Project
These books will allow my students to explore cultures they don't yet understand. We are a part of a small, rural town without much diversity. Most of my students are caucasian and are constantly surrounded by people who are similar to them. For example, if you ask my students what they know about the Islamic religion, you would probably get blank stares, but they can definitely tell you about Christianity, because that's what they have been exposed to in the community.
The diverse book characters will open their minds and hearts to people from all over the world.
My hope is that by exposing them to diverse characters, they will gain cultural awareness and be able to better relate to the problems other people face not only in other countries, but also here in the United States. I want to prevent stereotypes and instead foster love and compassion for ALL people.
Most of these books include events that are relevant to things my students are seeing on the news or events from history they've heard about. Students struggle to put themselves in others' shoes. These stories will make these events and tragedies come to life for them. They'll connect to the characters and feel what it is like to go through something, such as being forced to leave the only home you've known in fear for your life. Being able to connect to the characters will help them be more compassionate and teach them to stop and think about what another person is going through before forming an opinion.
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