"What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself", said Abraham Maslow. Just as this 1900s American psychologist influenced the world in understanding human potential, we all share great responsibility to help ALL children discover how amazing they really are.
I invite you to place yourself in my students' shoes.
You are 10 years old. You live in a beautiful beach community w/strong family values and love for your roots in Hawaiian culture. You feel a great sense of belonging at your school and work hard for growth, success, excitement and discovery. You yearn to understand who you really are and what you're really made of as you prepare for middle school.
But others perceive you or treat you as "low" just because you are raised by your loving, "working-class" family. Others label you and your community to a negatively perceived reputation of the past. You feel proud of your academic accomplishments and problem-solve with intellectual depth in your classroom, yet you hear others judge you and your peers as low-achieving or lazy without having stepped foot into your classroom. Your school and family tells you, "You CAN", you tell yourself, "I CAN", but you hear others say, "You CAN'T".
At 10 years old, what would you start to believe about yourself?
My Project
These 5th graders will realize "they CAN." They will use the iPad to self-discover and self-affirm that "they CAN" no matter what anyone else thinks of them. The iPad will be used as a literacy station where students can record and play back videos of themselves to develop awareness of their literacy styles and literacy skills. Likewise, they will use their self-recording to learn how to assess themselves and to set goals for themselves toward continuous growth and achievement. They will discover what they look like, sound like and feel like when they read, respond, infer, reflect and recreate.
Your gracious donation toward the iPad will give 5th graders a meaningful and relevant tool to help empower themselves, connect with themselves and prove to THEMSELVES the great potential they already have.
Self-recording and playback will open their hearts and minds to greater awareness of themselves. They will learn to embrace their strengths or struggles as a catalyst to build confidence, critical consciousness, inquiry, reflection, and literacy. They will realize the power of their own voice.
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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. SULVITA and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.