This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
It is difficult to imagine having never left the town you grew up in, even to visit a local park or shopping center. Yet this is the reality of so many students growing up in poverty. Hearing about exotic animals and distant lands and seeing them vividly on screen are two very different experiences.
My students come from an area in Southern California where shootings are more common than two parent households.
Our school is made up of 250 Elementary school students who come from an area with an astonishing poverty rate. With an ethnic makeup of 99% African American, our Charter school's mission is to close the achievement gap and provide a high quality education to students in high minority, high poverty neighborhoods in the Inland Empire.
As the Ed. Specialist, I serve a group of students that are labeled "at-risk" or disabled. My students have disabilities ranging from Autism to Learning Disabilities; however, all of them have a thirst for knowledge and a level of determination that is inspiring. They are a group of the most well-natured, kind individuals that I have ever had the pleasure of teaching and I am honored to be in a position to help the achieve their academic goals.
My Project
Because my students come from households that are underprivileged, they often miss out on opportunities and experiences that their more affluent peers have. My students are economically disadvantaged, I do not want the to be academically disadvantaged as well. Being a new Charter school, we have limited funding to provide our students with the technological resources that make a huge difference in the classroom. I lack resources such as student computers and projectors. Although I have been able to provide my students with a wide range of educational experiences, I have yet to have the opportunity to include technology into my daily lessons. Having a projector would allow me the ability to use PowerPoints, to display educational videos about a given topic and to show pictures of the things we are learning about. In this way, my students will be exposed to visual images of the things we learn about each day rather than just hearing about them.
Support of this project would mean that my students would receive exposure to the world outside o their small town.
My students are already economically disadvantaged and lack life experience, I would be honored to be able to provide them with the resources that they need to transcend their current circumstances.
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 Ms. M. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.