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.
Science fiction literature cemented my love of reading when I was in the 7th grade. I can distinctly remember returning to the library every other week and begging the librarian to show me different books to satisfy my new found craving for books. As a 7th grade English teacher in a public charter school in inner-city Atlanta, I now want to share this experience with my own students and hopefully create another generation of science fiction lovers.
In the past five years as a public school school teacher in Atlanta, I've often been forced to give my students whatever books are available from the district shelves, while this has included many classic and popular titles, rarely have administrators seen the benefit in purchasing science fiction literature. This year, however, a number of my students, both male and female, have expressed a specific interest in exploring the genre of science fiction. They have gotten excited by the cinematic rebirth of Star Wars and really want to see what else the genre has in store. Finally, these students also have rather different reading levels which makes picking one book for the entire class difficult.
So I have compiled a list of popular science fiction that is geared towards adolescent readers. I have picked five books, each at a different reading level, which will allow me to group the students into small book clubs and provide them with a novel that will increase their enjoyment because it is written at a comprehension level appropriate to their ability. Through this unit, I believe that I will not only widen the expanse of my curriculum (which currently contains To Kill a Mockingbird, Monster, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Romeo and Juliet) but also give yet another entrance for my students to further develop their love of reading.
With your generous support, I will be able to make this lofty goal a reality for my students. Your purchase of these books will encourage the reading development of my students by giving them ability-specific texts. Also, it will open them up to an entirely new genre of literature which might, as it did for me so many years ago, create an undying love of reading among a new generation of students in my classroom.
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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 Mr. Howland and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.