Special Tools for Very Special Kids!

My Students

My students are bright, caring, and funny people, and they are always on-the-move! Several students have especially high sensory needs, and they struggle to sit, even for a few minutes, to listen to a read aloud story. I started this DC project to help them get the tools they need to do their best.

I teach in an amazing place-based school in inner-city Detroit.

My students come from a wide range of backgrounds. Some walk to school from the surrounding neighborhoods and some commute from the suburbs. They're a diverse mix of skin colors, income levels, religious affiliations, and incredible personalities. Our school's mission statement is to nurture creative critical thinkers who contribute to the well-being of their communities and we see our students contributing to our community every day. They garden in our raised beds and greenhouse, they take community walks and collect oral histories from our neighbors, and this spring, our students will even create a large permanent outdoor piece of installation art with the help of a local artist. Of course, they're also busy in the classrooms, becoming excellent readers, writers, mathematicians, scientists, and citizens!

My Project

"Sitting still is overrated. It makes sense for the opera or for meditating, but in most classrooms and child care centers, it's given far more honor than it deserves. Children need to move." ~Tom Hunter, NAEYC. Our school is deeply committed to creating a loving and welcoming environment for every child that walks through the door, and to building our instruction around what makes sense for each individual kid. I teach in a mixed age inclusion classroom of 6-10 year old students. As you can imagine, they have a wide range of skills, talents, and needs. This year especially, we welcome many students with special needs, who do their best learning when they can move a lot. In another school, they might be labeled "tough kids," "unfocused," or even "defiant." But here, we see their sometimes challenging behaviors as signs of an unmet need- And that's where you come in! Your donation will help us purchase the adaptive equipment my students need to reach their highest potential.

I've already begun to use some adaptive equipment (like weights and exercise balls) with my students and the results speak for themselves: decreased misbehavior, office referrals, and interpersonal conflict between students.

Additional tools to meet kids' needs and build their confidence in the classroom can have a lifelong effect. When their needs are met, kids can grow to love school- and they're far less likely to later drop out, and find themselves unemployed, struggling, even in the justice system.