Turn the door handle and walk through my classroom door on a typical school day. You now have something in common with over one hundred 8th-grade students! I want to make that door something more than just the entry to a square schoolhouse room, though. Let's make it a portal to imagination and adventure!
The students who walk through my door, each day, come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and they come in with a wide variety of needs.
Some of them come in eager to learn and explore new ideas. For these, I want to fuel that fire and give them something new to capture their imaginations, and to challenge them beyond their comfort zones. Others may enter with dread, having found reading a struggle in the past. For these, I want to help them see that reading is something they not only can improve in, but that they already have a wealth of knowledge and experience they don't even realize. Still others may come from homes or backgrounds where reading is discouraged or looked down upon. They may have grown up without a single book in their homes, and I want to show them that reading can be something fun, exciting, and even "cool"!
My Project
My students will be learning about how certain underlying themes and stories are common to human experience, and how these ideas get passed down and retold generation after generation. It's so easy for teenagers to think that they are alone in their experiences, and that no one else has ever gone through or faced what they are facing today. Yet we can see through stories, that there is hardly a new thing under the sun!
We will be studying myths, fairy tales, and classic stories, that have been passed down through the years. We will look at what made these stories endure for so long, and why people still have an interest in them, or read them. Each student will choose one modern novel to read, that retells such a story, and we will look at and discuss why these stories were worth telling, and why people still care about them today. Through fiction, they will have a chance to see how these core ideas have resonated with audiences for decades or even centuries.
Many of my students are not able to go out and purchase these novels on their own, and our library resources are limited, especially if every student is trying to read the same genre at once!
With these books available in the classroom, the students have access to valuable educational materials, and they also have freedom to choose between books of different levels, genres, and target audiences, to find something they can connect with on a personal level.
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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. Hickey and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.