The cost of various collections of Nikki Giovanni's poetry from Barnes and Noble is $182, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
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.
Since I began teaching in Engelwood, on Chicago's South Side, I have had my car vandalized, my tires slashed, seen a teenager with a gun, and saw someone drive away after hitting a three legged stray dog.
Needless to say, I've become hardened quickly. The same can be said of my students. In attitude, dress, and demeanor, they are the "street smart" kids from afterschool specials. Slowly, though, I've discovered that even the toughest student has his/her soft spots. For many of my fifth graders, it is poetry. Specifically, the poetry of Nikki Giovanni.
We have dissected her words. We have scrambled them, mumbled them, shouted them, and come back to school believing that the theme is something else. I have seen my students more gentle with Nikki Giovanni's picture books than they are with their own siblings. A few of my students came with me to hear her read her children's poetry and I almost cried when one stood up and asked a question about her favorite adult poem. Ms. Giovanni recited it right there and blew us all away.
Not surprisingly, Nikki Giovanni's poetry is nowhere in our restrictive, scripted curriculum. My kids and I have been working out of my single anthology of poetry all year and we all know that if it were checked out overnight, it would never return to school. This grant is a request for more of the literature of our 'soft spots,' several volumes of Nikki Giovanni poetry for our classroom. Funding this grant would not only provide hours of ferocious reading but enhance one of the only safe spaces for my students to discuss feelings, emotion, and vulnerability.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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. Griffith and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.