This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
As seventh graders, my students are not yet in the habit of reading books at home. They are just starting to learn to love more advanced fiction books, but nonfiction and historical fiction are harder sells. With high school right around the corner, they need to start building these crucial habits!
My students come from all over our city to attend a K-8 public school in south city.
Many of them are the older siblings to younger students in our building, and as such, they are crucial role models in our community. A number of my students are avid readers, while others could not be more reluctant when it comes to picking up a book for a good time. Of those that are already readers, the majority find historical fiction and nonfiction dreadfully boring, and I can't blame them! They're used to tired articles about uninteresting topics, informational passages on standardized tests, and mechanical biographies about people who lived and died hundreds of years ago. Needless to say, they were sad to see our fiction unit end, and they're not necessarily looking forward to starting nonfiction in a couple of weeks.
My Project
I am looking for 70 copies of Margi Preus's excellent historical fiction novel, "Heart of a Samurai." I am hoping that this incredible, action-packed tale of the first Japanese person to set foot in the United States will help them realize that not all nonfiction and historical fiction is dry and irrelevant to their lives. I am so proud of the progress I've made so far this year with my students, and I want to continue to build their enthusiasm for reading and their awareness of the world around them by making their historical fiction unit jump off the page with this story.
I wish I had unlimited resources to be able to give books to my students to take home, but that is simply not the case.
So far this year, we have had to drag units out due to the fact that we did not have enough books for each student to take home a copy. Having 70 copies of a class novel makes the learning faster, more effective, and more meaningful for myself and for my students. Please help me engage my students in this incredible story of an enduring human spirit and a sense of adventure!
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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. LeRose and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.