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 am fifth grade teacher in a high needs school in Brooklyn, New York. The 20 students that I will teach this year are full of energy, questions, and potential.
When I was given the opportunity to meet my students and work with them briefly at the end of June I was shocked to see that as a group they have two major issues that need to be addressed from day one of this school year. The first issue is that their oral fluency is very weak. When they read aloud they have limited expression and their phrasing is off. The second issue, which is even more problematic, is that when asked questions their responses don't match what is being asked. The combination of these issues will prevent them from making the gains they need in order to be truly successful in reading.
Using small tape recorders in the classroom throughout the course of the school year will motivate my students, make them aware of the skill areas each of them has to work on, as well as document their successes. With your help, my students would use these devices every day in different ways. The tape recorders would be used for students to read into independently so that they can monitor their own fluency. Using it this way would also enable me to play back their recordings to pinpoint areas of need and tailor a plan of action to help them improve. The devices would also be used to record book club talks and accountable talk sessions so students can see how they responded to questions and reflect on whether or not they did so accordingly. Another benefit to these devices is that once fluency has improved students would be able to make tapes to accompany various picture books to support our buddy Kindergarten class.
With your support my students will be motivated to make gains in fluency and overall reading comprehension, as well as give back to others. Please help my students hear their own voices and become successful readers by providing this resource.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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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. Cartagena and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
