My students need books that open their eyes to new perspectives and challenge their literary skills in engaging ways.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. D.'s classroom raised $552
This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
My Students
I work at a small public charter school in Silicon Valley, with a diverse group of students ranging 9th-12th grade. My students are highly energetic and enthusiastic youths, living in a poverty-stricken community, where education is not a priority. The students I work with struggle daily to live the school's motto and "create change", by first finishing high school and changing their personal odds of going to college. Several of the students have dropped out and re-enrolled, while others are working hard at their fifth year to get their desired high school diploma.
My students are familiar with failure, and the goal is to change that.
Many of them have external issues - family, health, financial, and more - that are brought onto campus and hinder/deter their academic success. Furthermore, the role models they see outside of school are often ones who do not place value in education, mostly because they themselves were caught in the loop and were unable to find success in school. It is this group of kids that I work with.
My Project
While literacy skills are essential in almost every academic subject, as well as multiple aspects of the real world, it is not the strength of the majority of my students. With the emphasis of social media and the increased use of informal texting as the main form of communication, many students in my community are struggling now more than ever to read and write on par with their grade level. Statistically, many of my students are able to comfortably access books that are 2.5 or more grade levels below their academic grade. The trending mismatch between grade level and reading level has been found to be due to our students disconnect from appropriate texts.
When asked about the last book they couldn't put down or last time they enjoyed reading, many students recalled the positive association to happen at the end of elementary school or beginning of middle school.
In order to bring back an engagement to texts, my school has begun a Millionaire's Club in which students log completed books and track how many words they read (all students who reach a million words by the end of the year are put in a drawing for one of five kindles). In support of this, this project will expand my classroom library to include new and more modern books that are both engaging, empowering, and/or educational for my students.
This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.
More than a third of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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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. D. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
