I need to attend the Teach Your Heart Out professional development conference to recharge my passion for teaching and to find new ways to infuse cultural diversity into my teaching.
$1,262 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.
This is my seventh year teaching, but my first year teaching middle school! In addition to being the advisor to a Homeroom, I am teaching ESL sixth grade social studies and writing in a Level 1 public school on the northwest side of Chicago. Approximately three-quarters of students at this Title I school come from low-income families, but that should not prevent my students from having equal access to resources and receiving a quality education to take them far in life.
My students are as varied as the lands we visit in our "travels" around the world in our social studies class.
Through our discussions of our backgrounds, we learn how we are connected to our ancestors like those of the ancient lands we study and we learn to embrace what makes us both the same and different. These conversations are important more than ever in a world needing understanding, acceptance, and love.
My Project
I have been teaching for seven years, but this is my first year teaching sixth grade social studies. Each time you change a grade, you have to acquaint yourself with a new curriculum so that you can teach it! By the end of this school year, I will have a solid grasp on the content and will be looking for ways to not only re-energize my heart and mind, but also to enhance the content for the 2019-2020 school year.
During the Teach Your Heart Out professional development conference aboard the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas, I will be participating in workshops with other educators from across the USA and traveling to the Bahamas to visit a primary school.
I try to make history come alive for my students. What better way to do this than by immersing myself in the culture of the Bahamas and bringing back photos, cultural artifacts, and firsthand experiences to share and spark teaching and learning opportunities. I will be a more knowledgeable teacher because of the conversations I have with other teachers, workshops in which I learn the latest innovations in the profession, my visit to a primary school in another country, and the landmarks, landscapes, culture and customs I experience along the way! The mission of Teach Your Heart Out is to "provide rigorous, meaningful, research-based strategies all while inspiring and rejuvenating educators," and surely this will all be achieved through this all-encompassing professional development experience.
My students always write postcards from all the places they visit in their "travels" through time to send back to their "Chicago selves." I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they get a postcard from their teacher and we set sail into learning all about the land and story behind it!
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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. Mamola and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
