This year I'm teaching 11th and 12th graders English, literature, and composition, and I'm really excited about what's on their required reading lists in 2024-2025. The selections include classic drama, a contemporary nonfiction memoir, and several powerful novels. Ideally, students would purchase these books on their own or check them out from the public library and start reading them over the summer; however, for various reasons, this is not possible for every young scholar. Whether it's a question of a student's family's financial challenges or library or vendor unavailability of stock, many students won't have secured their own copies before school starts and are unlikely to get their hands on one in a timely way even after the beginning of the school year. In order to hit the ground running in the first term, I'd like to have classroom sets of all the required books on hand, so I can put them in my students hands as soon as we start reading and exploring these great literary works together.
When you're trying to teach language arts and critical reading, writing and thinking to teenagers, you don't need any barriers, practical or otherwise.
I want my classroom to encourage group and individual reading and give kids no reason to avoid literacy activities, because reading truly is fundamental to their success. So please help us get the books we need quickly. I know this is a tall order with a big price-tag, but it is so worth it. Certainly, the school can supply the kids with digital copies (PDFs), but no one wants to see high school scholars squinting at and scrolling through their phones or other devices, trying to read FRANKENSTEIN or THE GREAT GATSBY off of a screen. Real books allow for real engagement with lengthy, substantive literary works.
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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