Help me give my students books to help express their inner voices and create a shared experience to allow them to feel comfortable with sometimes difficult conversations of race, socioeconomic status, and gender expression.
$414 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
Our school is located near downtown Indianapolis and focuses on STEM and World Languages. Our magnet option allows us to have students from all over the Indianapolis area. My students are 12-15 years old 8th graders in the Indianapolis Public School system. Our school is fairly diverse with Hispanic students making up 54% of our population, followed by African American students making up around 29% of the population, 12% Caucasian, and 5% multi or bi-racial. Our school is 93% free and reduced lunch.
While our school's magnet is STEM and World Languages, our staff and students focus on cultivating excellence in scholars to make them prepared for the years beyond middle school.
We encourage our students to cultivate excellence through the lens of four values: respect, accountability, empathy, and motivation. One way to help develop these values is through learning about culutural diversity.
My students come to me with a varying set of literacy skills and as a science teacher, it is still my job to ensure they are able to academically compete on the same level as other students. Literacy is of great importance and literacy in science is even more vital with the current job market.
My Project
My project is geared towards my choice advisory class. In my group I have 16/18 students that are on grade level for their reading level. This means that literacy is a huge key to their success and they have a deficiency in some area. My goal this year has been to find books that speak to them on their level and that encourage them to want to read more or find the joy in reading.
"We let people say stuff, and they say it so much that it becomes okay to them and normal for us.
Whats the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?" My students have a voice and I don't want literacy to be the factors that silences their actions. I want to make literacy something that they feel comfortable enough with to empower them to be better.
This novel has so many key pieces that they struggle with each day. My hope is to not only find something they can relate with, but to allow them to feel comfortable and empowered to share those struggles to empower each other. Ultimately I would love to learn from them. Much of the book was difficult for me to fully understand or empathize with because I have not had any similar experiences and I like that disconnects me from my students. I want to learn from them about if they have had similar experiences, what could teachers do (or have done) to help guide them through these struggles in a positive manor.
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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. Perkins and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.