Mather Zine - A magazine written by students for students II
The cost of this computer and computer workstation is $1385, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
I teach English as a Second Language (ESL) in a large Chicago inner-city high school. We serve children from all over the world (66 different countries at last count). With so much diversity, I was surprised that our students did not have an outlet that acknowledges the similarities that serve as a common bond for most young people, namely, their interest in popular culture, music and sports.
Since my job as a teacher is to foster academic development, having students write about issues that are of great interest to them is the key in motivating them to learn. That is how my students came up with the idea for the Mather Maga'Zine. Unlike the school newspaper, our magazine contains art, poetry, stories, some news, and general info they need to know about surviving in a U.S. high school. Future issues will have foreign language columns for students/parents who have been in the US for only a short time.
The maga'zine's ultimate goal is to build a greater understanding among students and to build on their self-confidence, aspirations, and character development. When students write and see their work published they feel a sense of accomplishment. Being careful to respect individual rights, cultural, religious, gender and ethnic differences, students aspire to be sensitive and fair in their columns.
One problem that we continuously encounter is that we do not have a computer that is exclusively designated for our magazine. Students have to be able to work somewhere. Since we do not have a computer in our classroom, students have to sacrifice their lunch time to type their stories in the computer lab, however, if a teacher needs the lab for a class, my students are asked to leave. When students come to club meetings, which are after school, the computer lab is closed and students have to share my personal and very old laptop which, for reasons unknown to me, often just shuts down in the middle of typing, losing all work. This is more than frustrating.
Despite all these obstacles, my students are publishing their first issue with 1000 copies this May. When they have a good idea in mind, they somehow figure out how to make it great. Since I can rely on my students, I feel they should be able to rely on a working computer where they know that their stories are safe and accessible.
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