We are a small rural school in Downeast Maine with limited resources. Yet, our students consistently rise to the occasion, making the most of their opportunities at our school. We are a close-knit school community where everybody knows everybody and we work together to be as successful as we can be. Our students are driven and work hard and our teachers work hard to provide the best education possible. Even with limited resources, our teachers find ways every day to be creative in the classroom while trying to reach out and learn about each student individually.
My Project
Over the last couple of years, I have been working toward my Master's degree in Educational Leadership. Many of my classes have discussed the importance of school climate and morale as well as collaboration and collegiality. Our school has been working on improving climate and morale especially through improving our building and making it more welcoming for students, staff and community members. We want to increase the pride and comfort level people have when they walk into our building as it is where they will be spending most of their day. I am working with our building's direct supervisor on a project to improve our teachers' room. We want to give them a comfortable place to eat lunch as well as an enjoyable place to work on lesson planning and grades or to meet with other teachers to collaborate. We plan to make changes to the seating arrangements and organization within the room to make it more inviting for teachers to work and collaborate in this space. Our school has a BARR team that evaluates freshmen performance academically and their transition into high school socially. Right now we meet in a room where it is hard to focus. Having a teacher room area to meet would be helpful. Also, our school is developing a brand new curriculum for next year. It would be helpful for teachers to have a place where they can go and work together to collaborate and align the new curriculum during preps. On a daily basis, our teachers collaborate on lesson plans and assessments. This is largely done in classrooms where it is hard to work and interruptions are frequent. Having a teachers' room with a better working environment would be more advantageous and would help staff develop a better education to provide for our students. This is why I'm requesting tables, chairs, and a couch.
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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 Ms. Griffin and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
