I teach Visual Art (specifically Commercial Art and Illustration) to a group of about 150 amazing students at a large urban title 1 high school. They are all amazing because of what they face each day outside of the classroom, and still show up every day giving 110%. They are the strongest group of people I've met, and they inspire me to do better every day. For many, art classes are where they feel the safest and where they feel heard. They express themselves freely through their art.
The students are a diverse group, ranging in students with a 1 to 1 instructional aide, to students who are college bound.
Due to the location of our campus, students come from all over the city. 79% of our students receive free or reduced lunch, which means that many of our students come from homes with some financial difficulties. This makes many students unable to purchase the materials needed to be successful.
My Project
My students are in a three year career visual arts class that focuses on commercial art and illustration. The class was designed to expose students to both traditional (drawing, painting, etc) and digital (photoshop) media. During the 2018-19 school year, we secured funds to update our iMac lab. We previously had about 8 working computers that were at least 10 years old, and in the spring of 2019 we brought in 33 brand new 2019 iMac desktop computers. It was certainly a win for a title 1 public school in Oakland!
My students felt valued, seen and like their learning mattered.
Tragically, that was taken away from them this summer, right before school started. Someone broke into our classroom (they cut the security grates off of the windows with a metal grinder) and stole almost all of the computers, as well as our DSLR cameras. Currently, we have 5 computers remaining. We are hoping insurance covers our loss, but processing this claim may take months, and was estimated that our computers may not be replaced this school year.
Please help us get through the year with some additional Ipads for students to create digital artwork on. These two Ipads will go far- students can share at their tables to make collaborative artwork, look up reference photos, access content from my Google Classroom and research artists and styles.
If, and when our desktops are replaced, these iPads will support my students with learning differences. I teach many students with moderate and severe learning differences, and Ipads are a great medium for them to create art with.
Please support in building students morale and sense of value- this was such a loss for my digitally focused student artists, many of whom do not have access to technology outside of our classroom.
More than three‑quarters of 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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