My students need seven graffiti and hip hop culture-based books, including Decoded, Wall and Piece and The History of American Graffiti, to enrich their study of subtext and textual analysis.
$236 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
If my students are going to read the world around them, they need to know that their worlds matter. These graffiti and hip hop books will both empower student experiences and make the skills learned in class more relevant.
My students are insightful, passionate young thinkers.
They are 8th graders who attend a charter school in inner-city Los Angeles. They generally come from low-income communities and cover a diverse range of cultural and family backgrounds.
My students are eager to learn about the world around them and, even more importantly, they are determined to make it a better place. Every story of injustice or inequality inevitably leads them to ask the same question -- What can we do to help?
My Project
My students need seven graffiti and hip hop culture-based books, including Decoded, Wall and Piece and The History of American Graffiti, to enrich their study of subtext and textual analysis.
"You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war" is William Randolph Hearst's infamous quote regarding the power of images to shape and manipulate public consciousnesses. In my class, when we analyze text, we don't just look at written word; songs, art, and pop culture are just as important.
Textual analysis is a regular and important part of my Humanities class. We aim to read the world by interpreting and analyzing subtext in media, pop culture, and art.
Our subtext analysis is primarily grounded in street art and hip hop culture -- songs, images, and styles with strong political and social statements.
I will use these books in my classroom to continue engaging in analysis and, equally importantly, transfer students' love for graffiti or rap into a love for books.
Though they will be a regular part of class instruction, these are also books I know my students will pick up on their own time. They will encourage students to read and continue learning on their own time.
Donating to this project will help make my classroom a more dynamic, vibrant, and engaging place.
These books will help engage otherwise reluctant readers and push all of my students to apply a critical and thoughtful lens to everything around them. By studying the subtexts inherent to street art and hip hop, we are both validating the dominant medium in their lives and demonstrating the depth of meaning inherent to all forms of expression.
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 Mr. Thalkar and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
