Reading and Writing for Community Justice and Social Change!
My students need a class set of I Am Malala so they can be inspired by the incredible words of a youth activist, and art supplies to create art for community activism!
$610 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! 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.
At the beginning of each week we stand in community circle and reflect on our classroom values - To take care of ourselves, take care of each other, take care of our space, and learn to take care of the world. We are building a space where we strive to empower ourselves and be Upstanders for others!
My students are 6th graders in one of Illinois' largest public schools.
Our school is located in a predominantly Latino community of first and second generation working class immigrants. Many of my students speak English as a second language and are vibrant members of many extracurricular activities and sports. I want my students to become empathetic leaders in their community who have a strong sense of social justice and intellectual purpose. Already at the beginning of the year we have built a community in which we feel safe pondering big questions and debating with one another. My students are constantly expressing gestures of care for their classmates, and are consistently encouraging one another to succeed. We love sharing the stories of our lives and the passions we have for changing our world!
My Project
We are currently working on a unit centered on understanding the assets of our community as well as the challenges that our community faces. We will begin reading I Am Malala so that my students can know the voice of a young person who has persevered in order to enact positive social change. This text will become a mentor text for us as we continue writing both memoirs and argumentative pieces that will help us clarify our values and express our opinions on the local as well as global issues. In Social Studies, we plan to use our art to share the beauty we have within our community. Students will create a mural "mosaic" of images from our community, as well as study the work of Mexican printmakers who used their art to raise consciousness and fight for social justice. The students will create their own prints as a community organizing tool before they carry out an inquiry-into-action project to address a local issue, like gun violence, immigrant rights, or environmental racism.
This project will enable my students to experience a greater sense of self-efficacy, and will help them to see themselves as change agents.
It will bring awareness to the beautiful tapestry of stories that come from our school community, and build my students' activist identities through their art, their reading, and their writing!
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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 Ms. Gluckman and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
