Show 'Em the Words: A Doc Cam to Ignite The Writing Process
My students need text and lots of it. To inspire and inform their writing, I need to show them myriad sources of media, and the doc cam will make this quick and low cost!
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Lee's classroom raised $758
This project is fully funded
My Students
A stunning photograph, a piece from a current magazine, a sample of actual student writing, an excerpt from a treasured but out of print text - each of these will provide instruction and inspiration to my students. Our budget is tight, and making copies is financially and environmentally costly!
My students hail from the southwest corner of Atlanta.
Most face the many trials that accompany growing up with financial instability in a troubling community. They have heart and drive, and they also have wildly different levels of reading and writing ability. Meeting each of them at the nexus of their interests and abilities is a challenge to say the least but absolutely necessary in order to guide their progress towards greater written expression in my American Lit. course.
Our school is a Title I school, and over 88% of our students receive free or reduced lunch. Many people are familiar with the stereotypes of inner-city education, but behind the grit are students who are capable and caring, sometimes needing only opportunity and a little accountability to come into their own. By no fault of theirs, our district has faced incredible budget cuts, and access to quality print materials - in a variety of ability levels ranging from 2nd grade to college - is hard to come by.
My Project
I am requesting a document camera (doc cam) to revolutionize my students' writing. On the front end of the writing process, I'll be able to show them images, poems, lyrics, essays, newsbites, articles, small objects - anything! - in an easy, colorful, clear way via the doc cam projecting what it sees onto the board. I'll save money (lots), time (lots) and paper (lots and lots) by not having to duplicate these items on the copy machine in order to disseminate them in the classroom.
Once the pre-writing and drafting processes begin, students can use the doc cam themselves to model for one another their own writing in action. As a class, we can edit and revise student work - in addition to annotating and analyzing other forms of writing - in a way that's visible to the entire class at once. The doc cam will be used to cap off the writing process as a presentation tool for their polished, complete work. From start to finish, this equipment will energize and enrich the writing process.
Reading and writing are the keys to academic success no matter what the subject.
And more, being able to process text and then express yourself in writing is crucial to self-actualization and independent thinking. This project will expose my students to a wider variety of materials (in both interest and ability level) thus engaging my them more authentically in the acts of reading and writing. It will transform writing from something static and cumbersome to something interactive and relevant.
More than three‑quarters 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. Lee and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.