My school is located in a high-need, urban area of New York. Our school is community-based, serving low income and recent immigrant students with a college preparatory focus. My school also serves special education students through team-teaching classes. I team-teach Humanities, a combination of English and Social Studies to 10th graders. In 10th grade Humanities, the curriculum focuses on World History from the revolutions in Europe to present day with a focus on building solid reading and writing skills to prepare our students for college entrance and their future careers. Many of our students are the first in their families to graduate high school, and for a majority, the first to attend college.
Recently, the 10th grade Humanities team decided that we would like to begin the school year with a novel that would intrigue our students as well as ease them back into the routines of our class. Our desire is to have our students read a novel that is written from a non-traditional perspective that would increase their world view and understanding. However, our school does not have any funds to purchase new books for us.
After looking through the book "Sold" by Patricia McCormick, and reading excerpts, our team agreed that this book would definitely interest our students. Not only is it set in a non-Western area of the world, it is also told from a female point of view. Furthermore, the story tells of a girl sold into the world of sex slavery and would allow our students to make connections to our study of child labor, the novel "Iqbal", which we read last year in our 9th grade classes, and in the future, the Industrial Revolution unit. We need 85 copies of this book so that our 10th graders will have an interesting start to their school year.
With your help, we can open our school year in an interesting and thought-provoking way, providing our students with a text that will not only challenge their own understandings but also help to build skills that are necessary to succeed in both high school and beyond.
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
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. Schaefer and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.