Hello and thank you for considering donating my classroom! I teach middle school English Language Learners! My students come from all over the world, are often multilingual, and armed with varying levels of literacy and experience with English. The goal of my class is to help students gain proficiency in the English language and build academic skills necessary to succeed in mainstream English classrooms.
I love my job because I get to travel the world via my students & watch them grow confident in their language abilities.
My class is the last class they take before being deemed fully proficient in English. Currently I teach 30 intermediate level English Language Learners, in addition to coordinating testing, and monitoring 50 other ELLs at various other proficiency levels at my school.
It excites me to see how motivated and confident students can be with the help of a supportive environment and group of people. A learner’s willingness to try new things, and the amazing moment when students realize they can do hard things, thrills me!
My Project
The testing season is upon us and these snacks will give my students the boost they need to stay motivated and awake! As ELLs in Arizona, the testing schedule is INSANE starting in January, and doesn't end until April or May. You see my students have to take all the usual district required test, 1 in January & April/May, a National test in February, the state required AASA in April, but most important to them is probably the state required AZELLA in February.
Despite all the challenges that have accompanied teaching and learning during a pandemic, these kids have done their best to keep up!
Often kids need a little something to snack on to give them the energy to keep focus and "show what they know"! Unfortunately my department is not used to seeing groups as big as this. In years past our ELL counts had been max 48 students and it was not difficult for 3 teachers to come up with an easy breakfast for them.
This test, the AZELLA, determines whether they've met the proficiency requirements to exit our program, and allows them to enter General Ed ELA classrooms. For 8th grade students, this means they are on the right track to get their English for HS graduation. A lot rides on this test.
Regardless of the influx of students, I want still want to make sure we can provide a good breakfast, snacks and water for ALL our testers, regardless of proficiency level. In the past I usually try to finance this for just my small group of intermediates out of my own pocket, but due to the pandemic & growing class sizes, it's become a lot harder to cover.
Thank you for considering donating to our students!
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