Help me give my students a monitor for distance learning, and a conference cam, speakers, surge protectors, and cable guards for when we return to the classroom!
My school is in the top 5% most diverse schools in California and includes students with a wide range of skills, backgrounds, and needs. Unfortunately, distance learning disproportionately affects BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) more than other students, and my biggest fear is that they won't have the necessary supports to help them through distance learning.
Despite sometimes lacking technology or support, my students were resilient and flexible as their teachers transitioned to a new teaching model.
However, our students will often miss class when they feel like the content is too difficult or because the class is boring and irrelevant. This leads to students falling behind on classroom content. Our students need to be engaged so that they *want* to be in class, and hands-on activities that are separate from lectures, readings, and notes are important for this engagement.
They are curious and passionate about how school can be applicable to their lives, real-world problems, and their future as working adults. They have nothing but big dreams and endless questions on how to get there. Many go on to give back to the neighborhood, improving their own hometown as leaders.
My Project
Since my school site is 100% distance learning for the foreseeable future (and then most likely moving to a hybrid model after), these tech tools would allow for me to be the more engaging with my students on Zoom. Hosting Zoom classes on just my district laptop with my 40+ students to look at while screen sharing at the same time leaves me with little space to be able to see my students' faces, take notes on a separate area, or create things on the spot when flexibility is called for. Especially for science online, it is important that I have the capability to model ideas, show videos and simulations, and host interactive presentations.
A second monitor, wireless keyboard, and laptop riser will help me engage my students while modeling on my computer during distance learning - a huge improvement to squinting at a small laptop screen.
The conference cam, surge protectors, cable floor guards, and speakers will allow me to teach students both in the class and at home when we move to a hybrid model of distance learning/in the classroom. I also can't wait to bring in scientists from all over the world via Skype to conference with my students; this technology will make that possible!
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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. Nguyen and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
