My students need a class library of 40+ books that are not only at an appropriate lexile level, but also focused on relevant adolescent subject matters.
Jumpstart a class library for struggling teen readers in need of motivation and inspiration! Your donation can help my students, who are on the “last leg” of public education, to go out into the world better equipped to handle everyday textual challenges.
My students have been placed in my classroom for one (or more) of three reasons:
1) They are ESOL students, in the U.S.
in refugee visa status;
2) They have been identified for special education services with a documented reading/language deficit;
3) They may not have an IEP, but are still in great need of reading remediation.
Our high school is in a small urban district in Virginia, serving an exceptionally diverse student population. As a subset of the population, my students are uniformly impoverished and 95% are from a minority group (primarily African-American). All of my students have shown me, again and again, just how witty and sharp they are, and just how much they have to offer.
What is holding them back across the curriculum, however, is their serious struggle with foundational reading and literacy skills. So, I need to get them fully on board and going full-steam ahead. I seek to do so with an excellent class library for choice reading.
My Project
My teen students have long, painful histories of failure when it comes to reading. For a variety of reasons, they have arrived at the final stretch of secondary education without ever acquiring the fundamental reading skills, stamina, and appetite they will need in order to negotiate a world that is truly unforgiving when one does not have adequate literacy skills.
I am seeking to gather textual materials for a comprehensive, developmentally appropriate class library for my high school reading remediation classes, through which I can help my students to build a sense of themselves as readers. Once they have had a chance to see themselves as readers, they will be far more prepared to face their cell-phone bill, the DMV, or fiscal and political issues on their local ballots.
I am confident that I can get them there by integrating effective choice reading (SSR) activities into my instruction. These books will get the momentum going.
Every student should have the opportunity to forge a concept of herself or himself as someone who reads, someone who can approach the world with confidence and a critical eye.
This can be sparked, for students who have struggled for so long with the act of reading, with a few great experiences reading texts and stories of their choosing. Please help me build their library to give them a chance to encounter and motivate themselves on the written page, so that their choices can be inspired ones!
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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. Bauer and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.