My project needs 25 copies of the book of poems by Tupac Shakur titled The Rose That Grew From Concrete.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. M.'s classroom raised $647
This project is fully funded
"The poetry in our book doesn't relate to us. It's all flowery stuff by dead guys."
I teach "at-risk" 9th grade English students who are held accountable to the same End of Course State exam standards as those of the on-level and honors students. All of my students come from lower-income families and face physical, mental, and emotional challenges daily.
At the beginning of the year each teacher had to have his/her picture taken holding his/her favorite book. You probably guessed right. Most titles were the ole Wuthering Heights, Beowulf, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc. My book of choice was Tupac Shakur's book of poems titled The Rose that Grew from Concrete.
The librarian called me a couple of weeks after school had started and wanted to know why so many students were coming in and wanting to check out the book. She said there were only five in stock and that she had a waiting list of about 50 students. Since then the list has grown. None of these kids were aware that such a "cool" "rapper" wrote poetry- especially poetry about his "feelings"- and all without any profanity.
My students are checking daily to see how far they are on "the list" to check out the book. I have never heard such a "buzz" about a book of poems! Male, female, black, and white- they all want to get their hands on it.
Your help will ensure that my students understand that poetry is more than writings by "dead guys". One of my students, during my instruction of a "dead guy" poem, said, "Ms.Teacher, I don't understand this poem because there ain't no bird's nests in the projects." It was then that I realized that I needed to pursue a different route, to help my students understand that they, just like Tupac, have poetry in their hearts. My students should understand that they, because of their own unique experiences, can read, write, and relate to poetry.
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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