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.
My Students
My classroom is a traditional space where we do innovative things! Unfortunately, our furniture is bulky, heavy and hard to move. Our desks and chairs impede learning instead of enhancing it. I'd love movable, comfortable furniture students can easily arrange and rearrange as they work together.
I work in a lower to middle socioeconomic community.
My district has been budget-strapped for the last 8 years, so teachers have little to no funding for technology, supplies, or other resources. As a result, many classrooms have not changed much in the last 20 years.
My students are AWESOME and constantly surprise me with their curiosity and creativity! They are up for anything. I am constantly challenging them with unconventional assignments that require them to be creative and work collaboratively to accomplish tasks. I love how inventive they can be when given the autonomy to drive their own learning. My school groups teachers in "cores" so I work closely with a history and science teacher. We share the same population and work collaboratively to design multidisciplinary units and projects.
Even though my district is budget strapped, I see so many opportunities to rethink teaching and learning to better prepare students for life beyond high school!
My Project
Most classrooms are not set up to encourage movement, collaboration, personalization, or creation. By stark contrast, classroom furniture is usually uniform following a one-size-fits-all mentality. Instead of selecting furniture suited to a particular subject area and/or learning objectives, it is ordered in mass for every classroom to save money. However, furniture and the way it is arranged in a classroom sends a very clear message to students on the first day of school.
I'll use the colorful movable stools, floor cushions, vinyl soft seating, and personal whiteboards to send the message that our classroom is a creative, flexible space where they can move around to work individually and collaboratively depending on the activity or lesson. Because my classroom is project based, this movement and easy collaboration is a natural extension of the work students will do.
I'm excited to reimagine my classroom and the way it is set up to encourage curiosity, collaboration, and creation.
The classroom should be a comfortable place where students are encouraged to drive the learning.
Sitting quietly for 90 minutes listening to a teacher talk is not the most effective way to learn. Students should be encouraged collaborate and create with their peers. I want to create a space where all students can be successful. In order to do this, students must want to be in my classroom. It needs to be "user-friendly." Flexible furniture and whiteboards can help me achieve this!
More than half of 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
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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. Tucker and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
