Race. Religion. Language. Money. Being in a minority is never simple. It is easy to become discouraged when you feel disadvantaged, but my students face their challenges with a ferocity to overcome and break down barriers and stereotypes.
The majority of my students are low to mid-level ELLs (English Language Learners) from East African countries such as Somalia and Kenya.
They range from new refugees with little to no prior schooling to second or third generation Americans who maintain close ties to their cultural heritage.
Many of my students have faced significant hardships in their lives, ranging from homelessness to violence, that significantly affect their success in school. Yet despite the many challenges they face, all of them join our community with big dreams of going to college and becoming doctors, lawyers, teachers and more. They have a relentless desire to improve the world around them.
My Project
The last project funded was so successful I now have a dedicated group of readers in my class and through the school! Unfortunately, they have run through many of the books in my library, and are chomping at the bit to get new materials.
My students are drawn to stories about real issues that high school experience, and the books in this collection not only reflect the challenges they may face in their own lives but also are accessible at their literacy levels.
I have been slowly building my library collection and have seen how quickly attitudes change once the student is paired with the right book. With just a handful of hi-lo (high interest/low readability) books in my classroom I have had some of my most reluctant readers ask me to find them more material.
The books in this collection reflect specific requests from my students. Some are books requested specifically ("Sense Thieves" series), some were requests to expand on newly discovered genres (steampunk is so new and exciting!) and others were more generic requests for strong female leads, protagonists of color, and Muslim stories. It is clear that my students are starting to develop a sense of what will engage their interests, and I wish to maintain their engagement by finding the right books to meet their needs.
Your generous donation helps me do just that - find my students a greater breadth of materials to continue and encourage their transition from thinking reading is boring to realizing that reading is fun.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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 Mrs. Stokes and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.