This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
My students face substantial economic, social, and behavior challenges. Their families are poor. Many students roam the halls and invite them to do the same. Most students in the school either reject or have their doubts about how success in the classroom translates to success in life for them.
We are in one of the largest districts in NJ, with a huge student population.
Our school is a comprehensive one, located in the most economically disadvantaged part of the city, stripped of the highest achieving students who have applied and been accepted to ‘magnet’ schools. My class is composed of the highest-achieving math students who remain. They come to class, sit down, and do their work, even when there are disruptions in the halls. This is my second year with these kids, and we’ve been filling in the gaps in their math training. Now we are now studying Honors Precalculus in preparation for AP Calculus and AP Statistics next year. It will be the first time that anyone remembers our school offering AP math.
My Project
We are creating future engineers, scientists, and accountants here. Students must ‘Push the Pencil”, solving problem after problem with increasing complexity that emphasizes math methods. They must do this over and over again; they must be pressed to the limit of their skills and endurance. This will prepare them for improved SAT scores as well as set them up for success in AP Calculus and AP Statistics next year. The copy paper will be used to create student copies of problems they must begin to solve as they enter the room. I create the originals using kutasoftware or I invent the problems myself. Sharpened pencils are freely available to all students. I conduct a guided practice of all problems, one at a time, in a Socratic Method environment where I constantly question students, forcing them to think for themselves as they solve the current problem.
Your donation makes a huge difference, since our school provides me little or no paper, pencils, or markers.
I truly believe these students will go on to 4 year colleges and universities as the first one to do so in their family. They will become role models for others in their family and their community.
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