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
The beautiful tones of black, brown and tan skin stare back at me eagerly as I begin to introduce a new topic. Their hands are raised as they share their background knowledge and challenge themselves to build upon previously acquired information.
I teach in a classroom of 23 urban students who want to be more than what society believes them to be; they have the passion and desire to be scholars.
While many of my scholars come from low-income families, they are determined to be the best versions of themselves. Homelessness, poverty and transiency are circumstances that they deal with that is beyond their control, but does not deter from their character. Some of my students are monolingual, while about 30% of the classroom is composed of students who are English Language Learners (ELLs).
At our school there are about 700 students, with not enough funds to provide each student with the materials they need to be successful. I believe that all my students can and will learn this year, as long as they receive instruction supplemented with the appropriate resources.
My Project
Did you know, that by age 4, the average child from a white-collar family hears approximately 30 million words, a working class family 26 million and a family on welfare 17 million words? That is more than a 10 million word difference between a white-collar family and a family on welfare. With this disparity in simply hearing words, imagine the difference in the amount of words heard by first grade, with the average scholar being 6 years old.
This project will serve to decrease the alarming difference between the amount of vocabulary heard and acquired during the academic year and give access to both quality and multicultural books.
A study by the University of Wisconsin School of Education in 2015 found that 73.3% of children's books depicted White characters, 12.5% depicted animals and trucks, 7.6% depicted African/African Americans and Asian Pacifics/Asian Pacific American, Latino and American Indians were depicted at 3.3%, 2.4% and 0.9% respectively. It is not only important that my scholars are hearing vocabulary, but also have access to quality books with characters that represent themselves. Thus leading to more engagement and a love of reading.
By contributing to my project, you will ensure that the scholars in my classroom have access to various print materials that will aid in their reading development including multicultural book sets, book baggies which will allow them to practice reading at home, and literacy centers aimed to increase both phonological and decoding skills which are necessary to build reading skills and success.
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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. Jean and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.