Photo Class Curates Exhibits for Administration & Public
My students need a digital photo frame to display student works that THEY have curated together.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Martin's classroom raised $213
This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
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.
I teach photography in a school of 3,400 students. It is one of the biggest high schools in Illinois. The population breaks down as half white, one fourth African -American, and one fourth Hispanic. Photo class enrollment has doubled from last year to this year.
In the last four years I have rebuilt the digital arts program, and it has become incredibly popular. The number of sections have almost doubled (new teachers had to be hired) and there is now an AP photo class. We work with digital and film cameras, but we have no darkroom facilities yet.
The more choices and responsibilities students own and take on, the more complex their ideas become. I want kids to make more choices themselves! Having an idea for a theme for a show, gathering submissions, and discussing with their peers which submissions best represent their theme is a very complex process.
A 'real' art show is a lot of work and requires a lot of expensive matting materials. But gathering and ordering digital submissions is something students already know how to do. Any student can come up with a theme, an idea, or define a group, and make their own call for submissions on our class bulletin board on Flickr! The portability of a digital picture frame may be sent to district offices, any of the 13 schools in the district, or set up at an existing art show with no problem.
No good deed goes unpunished! While class section numbers doubled, my budget did not. I have had a difficult year just trying to keep our technology up to last year's level and meet the high expectations students have of this class. It's not a situation where I can just pay for new ideas.
With this small donation, you would be giving many of my best students the opportunities for responsibility, complicated thinking and discussion that they would not even realize was educational, because it seems so fun.
Nearly all 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
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 Ms. Martin and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
