John Dewey once stated, "Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself." This is the philosophy which guides my students' English Language Arts project, "Ninging it for Life Long Learning. We are a public high school located in a high-need community.
“Ninging It For Life Long Learning is an on-going Literature based project that began as an experiment in my high school English classes last year. It involved utilizing a technological avenue – social networking – use frequently in their socialization with peers; and combining it with the concept of literature circles within the classroom. The hope was that by approaching reading and learning through a medium that kids were comfortable with, students would be more open to reading and writing as well as discussing literature with their peers.
The project was so successful and the students enjoyed it so much that they wanted to continue using the ning site and hold literature based discussions on their own. They also believed that future students could benefit from the project, but were worried that our current reading list at our school did not have enough in terms of choices. A second concern was that due to the poor economy, school supply and book budgets were cut drastically in our district, and we worried that we could never get the titles we wanted, and therefore the project would fall to the wayside. It was at this point that we posted our first Donor’s Choose wish list.
Students set up “NING” Circles for their groups and each day contributed to discussions, blogs and chat with students throughout our school, who were reading the same literature. Students were also required to meet three times in person in their groups to have literature circle discussions on their "reads." Their newly found enthusiasm for reading is something I have rarely seen happen with so many students at one time; and it is my hope to continue with the literature circles and community sites on-line, as well as incorporate global and US studies into their projects this year and in the future. Through this project students have learned and applied many new skills including collaboration and communication skills, writing skills – they are becoming more aware of eliminating the “text message” type postings they have become used to by incorporating appropriate language and grammar skills more effectively and the deeper thinking I have seen in their postings and responses to and with each other are amazing. Students are explicitly demonstrating their knowledge and connections in their learning on multiple levels to the world around them.
Obstacles my students face:
Budget cuts once again for purchasing books this year.
Grade appropriate novel sets and choices in literature are needed as the students advance from freshman to seniors.
Your help will ensure my students will have the opportunity to adventure into the 21st century skill of life long learning by enabling them to look beyond the school day and the school year to collaborate and communicate with peers and teachers on meaningful issues in literature relevant to global studies and ELA.
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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 Mrs. Anastasia and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.