The Race To Incarcerate, a Necessary and Powerful Project!
My students need access to the books and documentaries in this project. The previous dvd's of these films have long started to decay and the books fit our students needs!
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. O'Herlihy's classroom raised $656
This project is fully funded
My Students
Our classroom has to confront real world problems of security, sobriety and the school to prison pipeline. The recidivism rate in our system is one of the worst in our nation, we address the needs of our students and we hope to start the process for them to learn how to self advocate for themselves.
Many of our students have not been in school for a year or more.
In this situation the academics in our class become focused on the immediate consequences of their actions and how to take responsibility for those actions. Many of our students need to understand and further explore social skills and in doing so see the trajectory they may be on. With our older students we can afford to be brutally honest and concentrate on the realities they face. Conditions of poverty, gangs, addictions and repeatedly making bad choices.
My Project
With these books and films we have the desperately needed tools to confront the myriad issues that most of these kids have never faced with honesty and resolution, they often lack the ability to do so. With love, care, concern and strength we work to address restorative justice and the building of character. In order to do this we must address and face the realities of their lives. These few documentaries are the best tools I have ever worked with towards this goal. The honesty in these, without the crass glorification we so desperately must avoid, is unique and powerful in context and with the structure we provide in class. The books address the need to comprehensively focus on their needs in multiple ways and across learning styles.
The old home made DVD's of these films are now beginning to disintegrate and recently we found two of them, at the very time we needed them, no longer play.
Well, there goes that lesson.
But with this project we can begin anew and have supporting materials to fully flesh this subject matter out for our kids in a way they can fully engage with & inspired by that they self direct their learning, continuing the classwork on their own and they have so inspired me that I want to ensure it continues!
More than half 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 Mr. O'Herlihy and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.