My students need a large, magnetic whiteboard so that they can see all the information on the board, which will assist in building their English proficiency.
Imagine it's your first day of school in a new country, where you don't understand what anyone around you is saying and you can't read the alphabet on the board. For many of my students, this is exactly what happens.
I service approximately 80 English language learners from kindergarten through 4th grade.
They come from all over the world and speak many different languages. Sometimes they will come to school and not speak a single word to anyone for weeks, and sometimes they are so desperate to communicate that they will try anyway they can think of to make me understand what they want to say.
My Project
Something as simple as a magnetic whiteboard will make a huge difference in the lives of my students and their experience in my class. Since many of these students come to school with very limited English, I rely heavily on different visual aids to make my lessons comprehensible. I am currently using a small, non-magnetic easel to do all of my teaching. There is not enough space for me to write so that all the students can see while including all the information and visuals the students will need to understand the lesson. This often results in me holding the visuals in my hands while dragging the easel around the room, and using an elaborate system of arrows to continue my writing on different areas of the easel. By having a large, magnetic whiteboard, the students will be able to more easily see all the information at once and better understand what I am communicating in the lesson.
This magnetic whiteboard will allow my students to be able to see all the material on the board and build their English proficiency so that eventually they will be achieving at the same level as their native English-speaking peers.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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. G. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.