Laser Printer For Learning In A South Bronx Special Education Classroom

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My 4th/5th grade special education class struggles to push their compositions through the writing process. Many of the students struggle just to get the words they want onto their paper. Once the words are there, they consider the composition finished. And of course, there are many more steps involved before a piece of writing can be considered publishable. They must rewrite, revise, and edit these drafts. A sturdy little black and white laser printer would be of great help to motivate them to work through the steps of developing their writing. A printer with which I could help them type out their compositions would be a juicy carrot to lead them through those important steps of writing. They also think that the only good thing on the Internet is the Cartoon Network website. I want to open them up to the wealth of research information on the web. A printer would help them use the web as a learning tool. My students are already required to do more web-based research in this year's curriculum, and I'd love for them to be able to print out this research for their research assignments and experience how convenient and useful the World Wide Web can be. After a recent visit to the American Museum of Natural History to finish off our unit on Native Americans, one of my struggling students said, ?I had fun taking notes!? I want them to experience that same sense of fun from using the web for research, but we need to have all the tools. Our computer center is short an essential tool: a working laser printer. I want to mention that this printer would also help me differentiate worksheets to the many different levels of this classroom. Because of the disparate levels of abilities in a special education classroom, it is impossible to work out of a single text or exercise book. The laser printer would make the process of meeting the classes' disparate needs more manageable and be of essential benefit to their academic growth. For these reasons, I'm requesting a Brother HL-2070 laser printer, a USB cord, a USB hub, and 3 replacement toners for our special education classroom. The students and I will really appreciate being able to print out compositions, research projects, and worksheets. Thanks for your donation; it will help a classroom in the Bronx to be a more productive place for learning and enrich my student's learning experience. I want to hear my struggling students say, ?Hey, I had fun writing this!?