My students need 25 copies of "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" so that we can have a common understanding of the issues it deals with.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. Renz's classroom raised $426
This project is fully funded
My Students
Do you remember that moment when you finished reading that one book that had a major impact on your life? Maybe it was "Animal Farm" or "1984", in today's world, that book could be "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". We need a class set of this book so that my students can have that same memory.
Our school district is the most diverse school district in the nation according to the 2010 US Census and a study done by the New York Times.
Even in the AP or advanced classes, our classroom reflects the diversity of the school. We are a fairly small school of about 800 students. Over 50% of those students are non-native English speakers. We also are a high poverty district with about 60% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. The AP Biology class next year will not have a single student born in the United States in the class. There are 9 females and 5 boys currently enrolled. Our student are succeeding in upper level science classes in spite of their home and family situations rather than because of it.
My Project
We have many class sets of the traditional high school readings, but, we don't have this one. With the increasing prevalence of Biotechnology in our world, there is the increased focus on Bioethics as well. This book deals with both topics in a very manageable way for High School students. The science is solid and the possibility for ethics related discussions is rich. We plan on using this book, "The Immortal Life" as a supplemental reading to support the AP Biology curriculum. Even though it will be supplemental, it will be thoroughly analyzed and discussed. There is potential that the book would also be used with our AP English class as well and done as an integrated unit between the two classes.
This is a very current and high interest topic.
The students I am teaching today are going to be the adults helping to make the important decisions relating to biotechnology and bioethics. These decisions are going to be part of this generations legacy.
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 Mr. Renz and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
