As a middle school English and Spanish teacher, I work every day to make reading and writing engaging, accessible, and empowering for my students. Without textbooks or technology, my students and I work to make significant academic gains with old fashioned paper and pen.
Recently, my 6th grade class began with a journaling prompt--a quote about courage as the foundation of integrity. I crouched next to my favorite little guy, (anticipating misunderstanding) and asked if he knew what "courage" meant. He scrunched up his face as he so sweetly does and ventured, "...like, brave??" I said "yes" and asked if he could write about a time he was brave. He nodded, pencil already flying, and gave me this:
"When I was in the house my mother ceep on messing with some dangeres man. Then the man was drunk and he start to chase my mother and I had to do was get the police to lock him up but our phone didn't have minites we had to go up stairs to get the hospitle and the police. Then when we seen her she was with stiches in her face and her arm. Then that was it when I where had the courage."
Moments like that one happen every day in my classroom, and it is a constant struggle to provide the resources necessary to get him and his classmates on track academically. My students face enormous social, economic, and academic odds, and they deserve every possible advantage when they enter the classroom.
My request is for an LCD projector that will open up all the possibilities we don't currently have-- to see plays, to watch videos, to hear authors talk and see pictures of the places in our stories. I want my students to be able to write in different mediums, share presentations with their classmates, learn Spanish through seeing and hearing native speakers, and even learn to dance and cook and play through interacting with the world online.
Right now, I can't give them everything they need, but with this technology the sky is the limit.
This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.
Nearly all 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 Ms. D. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.