Tallgrass For Colorado Students: A Look at Their State's History
My students need copies of Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas because as an 8th grade Language Arts team this is the book we are going to be reading as an entire grade level.
My students are learners and thinkers who push their education to the furthermost reaches of their ability. I let them learn and think and read and write as individual learners and thinkers. The books I am asking for will be taught to all classes and will create an opportunity to be shared across the curriculum with social studies.
It is an amazing feat to see students take to reading a novel and have it change the way that they think of the world, and how they see themselves in it.
This has always been a primary goal for me as a teacher, and I can say, with wholeheartedness, that I've seen my students be transformed from reading a novel, thinking and talking about it, and spending time with the subject matter. In addition to my students reading, their writing is paramount to their success as middle school students. With regard to most of the units that the students participate in, they will also write a paper that discusses the themes and nature of the characters of the novel, and connect those ideas to themselves. It's truly a wonderful process that is both inspiring and breathtaking to behold.
My Project
As a school, we have decided that Tallgrass would be a common novel that all 8th-grade students will be reading. We came to this decision based on the availability of resources (the internment camp that Tallgrass is based on is 90 miles south of our school and the author of the novel, Sandra Dallas, is a mere 15 miles north of school, both places and people that can be accessed to by our students), and also because it is a good reading step before 8th graders become high schoolers since the book resembles To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
The richness of Tallgrass is hard to deny as it takes readers to a town that may resemble their own towns and brings the history of their own state closer than ever before.
I relish the idea of teaching this novel and digging deep into the themes, characterization, and the conflicts within the novel. The notion of traveling back in time, visiting a place that clearly had some issues around tolerance and acceptance, and seeing a fairly ugly piece of American and Coloradan history will provide my students with an experience unlike any other. Reading this novel will allow for our students to access a part of their history that is not readily known, and allows them to really dig deep into their own thinking and processing about Colorado history and their own philosophy of life.
I'm excited to jump into this reading with my 8th graders. Thank you for your consideration in donating funds to make this happen. Thanks so much!
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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 Mr. L. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.