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Mr. McManus from Philadelphia, PA is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Mr. McManus is requesting

Independent Reading - Sports

Help me give my students books on various topics pertaining to sports that they can then choose to read for our year long independent reading project.

FULLY FUNDED! Mr. McManus's classroom raised $277

This project is fully funded

My Students

I currently teach Advanced Placement U.S. History, World History, and Human Geography to students at five different high schools throughout the Philadelphia School District. What I like about the classes that I teach and the AP program that I am involved with, is they help to prepare the students for college.

Many of my students have been underserved in their traditional high school classes and so they have been chosen to participate in our district-wide AP program.

These classes are more rigorous and challenging than what many of them are used to but, they all are excited about taking the classes, being better prepared for college, and the opportunity to earn college credit while still in high school.

My Project

I am requesting books on various sports topics. While I am a history teacher, a major focus of mine has been on literacy. 13 of my 21 years in education have been spent in the City of Philadelphia where only about 40% of our students graduate high school being able to read on a proficient level. I have seen a lot of literacy programs and changes to the curriculum come and go with little or no measurable gains. Then I had an idea.

How about we give students books to read that they might actually be interested in.

Recently I was doing research that showed that reading in social studies classes actually improved student literacy rates more than reading in their English Language arts classes. I have always tried to incorporate reading into my curriculum so this made me feel good that my instincts were correct.

I then came across a study from years ago, called the Baseball Experiment. When students with low literacy rates read a story about a topic they knew about, in this case baseball, their understanding and comprehension were better than those students who had higher literacy rates but knew nothing about the sport. My students will read these books to improve their reading.

So I figured if my underlining goal for independent reading is to get my students to read more which will then improve their literacy rates, why not include a category of sports books for them to choose from.

Mr. McManus South Philadelphia High School Grades 9-12

Equity Focus

This project directly supports students at a historically underfunded school. Learn more about our Equity Focus.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Philadelphia, PA View local requests

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

150 students impacted 3donors

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
The Sarajevo Olympics: A History of the 1984 Winter Games • Amazon Business $27.95 1 $27.95
A Brief History of American Sports • Amazon Business $24.00 1 $24.00
Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball • Amazon Business $23.89 1 $23.89
The Forgotten First: Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Marion Motley, Bill Willis, and the Breaking of the NFL Color Barrier • Amazon Business $23.49 1 $23.49
Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams • Amazon Business $19.99 1 $19.99
Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens And Hitler's Olympics • Amazon Business $19.97 1 $19.97
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson • Amazon Business $18.00 1 $18.00
Olympic Pride, American Prejudice: The Untold Story of 18 African Americans Who Defied Jim Crow and Adolf Hitler to Compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics • Amazon Business $16.03 1 $16.03
The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams • Amazon Business $15.99 1 $15.99
My Life in the Ring and Out • Amazon Business $12.95 1 $12.95

Materials cost

$202.26

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$3.03

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$235.29

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$41.52

Total project goal

$276.81

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $276.81

3 Donors

-$276.81

Donations toward project cost

-$235.29

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$41.52

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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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. McManus and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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