My students, boys and girls, have a high intellectual potential and they do strive to succeed, academically. They take my Advanced Placement (AP) calculus classes, which is not an easy class.
They also come from very diverse backgrounds, ethnically, and socio-economically.
30% of my students receive free or reduced-price lunch and many more families are close to qualifying.
My students put a lot of effort in their math classes and are genuinely eager to learn. They truly are focused on college.
I also coach sailing and have a team of 15 sailors.
My Project
If anything, the coronavirus episode taught us many, many lessons about shortages.
As I am confined at home teaching my students miles away from them, I realize that the 4 extra calculators that I keep in class are not enough to support my students' learning as they too, are stuck at home.
Many families do not have the means to provide their kids a $140 ticket item and it falls on us, teachers, to find creative solutions.
I have about 10 students at home without a calculator. When the time comes for Advanced Placement exams, my students will not have the much needed graphing calculator.
What do my students learn with the calculators? In our Precalculus course, we graph polar equations and explore how changing parameters changes the graph. The equations are complex and are nearly impossible to graph by hand. The interesting and beautiful designs resulting from graphing polar equations with a graphing calculator can spark my students’ imagination, and can lead to questions and discussions about the intersection of nature and mathematics. In addition, as students explore the curved nature of polar equations, we investigate the motion of robots and robotic machines and the computer programming that allows these robots to move with fluid circular motion.
Thank you for helping me get these. I will find a way to pass them out to students who need to borrow them. I will get them back at the end of the school year or during the summer for other students next year.
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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. Schneidau and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
