My students need need to see their identities reflected in the books offered by our middle school library.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Conover's classroom raised $403
This project is fully funded
My Students
Last year, I started the first GSA (Gender-Sexuality Alliance) at my middle school in South Brooklyn. I wasn't sure that any students would be interested, since my school is located in a very conservative area. To my surprise, over 30 students came to the first meeting!
These kids are bright, inquisitive, accepting, and hopeful.
They came to the first meeting with many ideas about how to improve our school community by making sure all students feel safe in the classroom and hallways, regardless of race, sexuality, gender expression, gender identity, immigrant status, religion, and ability. So far, they have organized a "no name calling week," created artwork and posters about accepting LGBT+ students, organized "no one eats alone" day in the lunchroom, read books about acceptance and diversity to elementary school students, and delivered a presentation to teachers and staff about creating LGBT inclusive lessons and classroom environments.
My Project
Last year, through your generous donations, my GSA (Gender-Sexuality Alliance) was able to create our library's first LGBT-friendly section. This project was a huge success- students regularly checked out books from the library, and recommended their favorites to each other.
All young readers deserve to see their identities reflected in the books they read.
The LGBT youth organization GLSEN reports that nearly 4 in 5 LGBT students don't see positive LGBT representation in their curriculum, nearly 9 in 10 experience verbal harassment, and almost a third miss school for feeling unsafe or uncomfortable. This library helps my students to feel connected to one another and to the world around them.
I want to further develop our library with recent Lambda Literary Award finalists. The Lambda Literary Awards ("Lammys") celebrate excellence in LGBTQ publishing in multiple categories, including Young Adult and Children's books. One book I am very excited to add to our library is "Girl Mans Up," a debut YA novel by M-E Girard which explores questions of family, friendship, loyalty, and identity through the voice of Pen Oliveira, a 16-year old girl who’s “not into dudes,” is told that she "looks like a boy," and doesn’t understand why “it’s such a big deal to people, the way I am.”
More than half 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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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. Conover and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
