Junior Scholastic To Help The Next Of Generation Citizens
My students need access to engaging, relevant, and up to date resources. Junior Scholastic would align directly with the Geography standards because we can connect the current events in the magazines to countries discussed in class.
My students live in Chicopee, Massachusetts which is also my hometown. In my lifetime I have witnessed Chicopee become an increasingly impoverished district. For example, Chicopee is one of only 3 cities in Western Massachusetts that receives Federal funding for universal free and reduced lunch. This is a testament to the low socio-economic status most of my students are living in.
Despite these humbling conditions, my students are raw with potential.
Their wit, humor, and inquiry keep me on my toes every single day. Their potential is so vast that I believe the only other part of the equation missing is adequate resources. If my students had adequate resources, combined with their raw potential, and the passionate teachers I work alongside, many success stories would have their origins in my school.
My Project
My Social Studies Department currently has access to about 60 Geography Textbooks that were published in 2001. Not only are these books older than our students and in horrible condition, these 60 books must be split between 3 teachers, with some class sizes that are 25+. Despite these deplorable resources, my department is dedicated enough to our students' learning that as a department we spend dozens our hours weekly researching, borrowing, purchasing, and creating appropriate resources for our students to use.
As a department we have learned that the most engaging lessons are ones about current events.
Our students love to debate these issues, share their personal connections to the topics, and even do their own research. However, current event resources can hardly be recycled year after year and it requires constant diligence on our part to bring these engaging topics into the classroom. With a subscription to Junior Scholastic Magazine and the teaching resources that come with each issue, we will be able to have a plethora of current events for our students to delve into. If granted this subscription, we will constantly be able to bring current events to life as we learn about countries around the world and drastically increase the engagement in our classrooms.
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