Help Us Feel Not Out of Place by Funding Our Book Project!
My students need 30 copies of Edward Said's "Out of Place: A Memoir" in order to better help them on the journey of earning their International Baccalaureate diplomas.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Rowe's classroom raised $488
This project is fully funded
My Students
My classroom is a unique bright spot in an urban school district plagued by many problems. We are a small learning community within a very large, public high school in Philadelphia. Our program is the International Baccalaureate, an outside degree program of world-wide renown.
My students are all highly-motivated young people who applied to be a part of our special admission program during their sophomore year.
Joining our program is a huge commitment: in addition to earning credits for a state diploma and preparing to go to college, our students follow the curriculum created by the International Baccalaureate in order to earn an IB diploma on top of a high school diploma. Acceptance to our program means that they have been recognized as among the top students in our school. Successful completion of our program--even if it doesn't lead to an IB Diploma--usually means a pathway to a prestigious college. We've had students accepted in previous years to Emory, UPenn, Brown, and Purdue Universities, among others. These are amazing successes from a school that has a high poverty level among students and is a part of a district that is woefully underfunded.
My Project
One of the biggest challenges at our school has always been keeping our materials current. For an English classroom, this is challenging, though not impossible, as we can use the same books over and over again until they fall apart. For a program that follows a specific syllabus, however, like ours, it literally ties our hands. In order to remain a viable part of this outside degree program--IB--we must have the books that IB wants us to read. My students will use these Edward Said memoirs to study the craft of non-fiction, as part of a larger unit that focuses on the differences between writing in different literary genres.
Specifically, I feel that this book will speak to my students on a very personal level. Many--if not most--of my students are the children of immigrants or immigrants themselves. Said's memoir is about growing up as the child of immigrants in a place where he did not always feel he belonged, just like many of my students themselves.
Donations to this project will certainly better my students' experiences in the classroom, by allowing them to experience new perspectives so different from their own.
Even better, these donations will remind my students that somebody cares about them, recognizes their hard work, and wants to help them to succeed.
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. Rowe and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
