My students need a printer and a set of intriguing atlases like "Infinite City" edited by writer-historian Rebecca Solnit to see examples of how unique maps and nonfiction essays about place can illuminate our world.
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 Students
My students attend a large diverse public high school in a big city. We are part of a STEMM (Science Technology Engineering Math Medicine) magnet. English Language Arts is a place where students can explore how the arts intersect with all that science. In our classrooms, they have the opportunity to be surrounded by many different people with unique stories.
My students are intelligent, inquisitive, and enthusiastic about their studies.
They get excited when we use project-based learning to deepen connections between literature, current events, history, and STEMM-related issues. They care deeply about the future they are charged with shaping, and I am continually impressed with how eager they are for ways of improving our world.
My Project
Rebecca Solnit's trilogy of atlases capture three iconic American cities like no work before. Each full-color atlas offers unique views of New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans through different maps and essays by insiders and outsiders of those places.
We will use Rebecca Solnit's luminous atlases as models to launch an oral history project designed to collect stories of our roots, and how we all came to inhabit this unique city of ours.
Students will interview elders in their family who can share stories of their connection to the city. Students will each design a map that conveys some information about their family's journey. We will partner with a local organization to publish class copies of our book of maps and stories. The printer will allow us to have a student center for printing drafts and maps as we assemble our collections.
This project will show students how vast and varied our family histories are, and how they all are interwoven in the fabric of this diverse city we share.
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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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. Kight Witham and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
