The Way They See It: 360 Cameras for Cross-Cultural Learning
Help me give my students an opportunity to show the world through their eyes using cutting edge, 360-degree digital cameras.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. Fairley-Pittman's classroom raised $848
This project is fully funded
My Students
My students come to school every day ready to show me, their peers, and the other adults in and around the school building just how great they are. As we live in the diverse city of Boston, we have students from families from all over the world. There are students in my class from Haiti, Nigeria, the Dominican Republic and Cape Verde to name a few places. There are a total of five languages spoken in my classroom, including English and Spanish. And while my students are from different corners of the world, they embody our school virtues--Curiosity, Collaboration, Empathy and Perseverance--everyday.
My students work diligently to understand the similarities and differences between themselves and their classmates through dialogue and love.
Listening to my students discuss a difficult math situation or debate a character's motivation in a text they've just read is like watching genius happen. Not only do students listen to one another and build on each other's ideas, but they also are able to balance and make sense of differing opinions even when they are diametrically opposed to their own.
My Project
Every day students come into class with different experiences. What home looks like, the food they eat, the music they listen to (or don't), and what their neighborhood looks like are some of the few things that influence a person's experience in a classroom. These experiences not only shape their academic perspective, but also influence how they engage with peers and the world outside of our classroom. With so many distractions, it's important for students to make connections to the humanity of their peers, so that as they grow they understand the power and complexity of unity in diversity. These cameras will engage students and help them make connections in an ever-polarizing world.
Using the 360-cameras, students will have an opportunity to create presentations for their classmates and the broader community and show the world as they see it.
They will have a chance to make connections with their classmates in ways they may not have otherwise been able to. Throughout the school year we will focus on making cross-cultural connections in our classroom through the integration of food, music, dance, and art as we experience it at home, in our neighborhoods and at school. These 360-cameras will be used to "capture culture", as best as possible, from the perspective of my students, with guidance from me and their families.
Students will create presentations about their own culture, as well as our school culture to be shared within our school and beyond to other schools nationally and internationally. Furthermore, students will be challenged to think critically about what they observe in the videos and presentations their classmates create. These 360-cameras, and resulting presentations, will not only engage students in a meaningful way, but will also teach them, as Margaret Mead suggested, "how to think, not what to think".
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. Fairley-Pittman and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
