Help My Students See Themselves (Succeed) in Books
Help me give my students high-interest books featuring characters who look like them.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Snider's classroom raised $533
This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
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.
My Students
My students are passionate and readily engage with the themes that we focus on sophomore year: when and how an individual should stand up to society and the development of personal identity.
Though they embrace difficult topics, many struggle with the reading level of the core novels we teach in class.
The majority of our students read below grade-level, with many reading several grade levels below 10th. In addition, many of them say they dislike reading. Yet over and over, I have seen them become engaged when my colleagues and I put good books in their hands.
At my school, our English department invests heavily in an independent reading program to foster a love of (or at least enjoyment of) reading in students. At the sophomore level, we help students discover (and stick with) engaging books and set aside class time for discussions about those books. We believe that if you give students books that they can get excited about and inspired by, then give them an opportunity to share their excitement with other students, it creates a virtuous circle. All of a sudden, we have ten former non-readers excitedly talking about a book. It's kind of amazing to witness.
My Project
To help them get excited about reading, 10th grade English students need books that reflect who they are. Our curriculum is excellent, the books are challenging and engaging and address many issues that are top of mind to our students, but few of the authors and characters look like our student body, which is 54% Latino, 41% white, and 5% other ethnicities. All but one is written by a man.
Through these (and other) books, I want to show my students that the stories of women and men who look like them are important to read.
Forming book clubs of 3-4, students will agree on a timeframe for reading these books, then regularly meet and discuss them, talking about the characters and their conflicts, working together to resolve any confusion, and holding each other accountable for the reading.
The themes of personal development, success after struggle, and individual vs. society all tie in with the major themes we focus on in our class and speak to the population of our school, 49% of whom are on free or reduced-priced lunch. These books show the protagonist persevering in the face of challenge. Many of these books are popular independent reading books in my class, titles I frequently recommend to students, or titles chosen by programs who work to get engaging, high-quality, culturally diverse books in teens' hands. These copies will enable more students to enjoy -- and, I hope, learn from -- them.
More than half of 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. Snider and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
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