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This teacher needs your help!

Ms. Ata from Chicago, IL is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Ms. Ata is requesting

Writing to Find Ourselves

My students need personal writing journals to express and find themselves.

FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Ata's classroom raised $955

This project is fully funded

My Students

Every day, my students find different ways to show me how wonderful they are as human beings. Together, we go on a journey learning about each other and ourselves. Our classroom is a space to explore what we already know and what we have yet to learn.

Literature and language are our gateways into worlds unknown; our tools for figuring life out.

We've explored the devastation of the American soldier experience in The Things They Carried, questioned our identities while reading The Woman Warrior, and catechized the norms of society while reading The White Tiger. We've found truths about the world and ourselves through poetry, analysis, and creative writing.

My students travel anywhere from ten minutes to two hours to get to their school, which is located in one of the roughest and least-resourced neighborhoods in Chicago. They go on this trek every day in order to learn and to better themselves, and they bring along with them all that they embody - their families, hardships, beliefs, and hearts. At one of the most academically challenging schools in our city, our students epitomize success and will be the pillars of this generation's success.

My Project

This project is inspired by my students who have shown me their most vulnerable and admirable selves through writing. Throughout their academic careers, students are asked to write in many different forms: rhetoric, analysis, persuasion, criticism, etc. We constantly ask our students to be themselves, but seldom give them opportunities to truly find themselves. Students are asked to write well, answering prompts and using correct MLA formatting, but I have found that we do not give enough opportunities for students to express themselves creatively.

With their own personal writing journal, my students will each get the chance to not only express themselves but to find themselves through the use of creative and journal writing.

Our classroom will become a safe space and a judgement-free zone in which students can pour their troubles and emotions onto paper, rather than build up and repress these feelings.

Ms. Ata Lindblom Math Science Academy Grades 9-12

Celebrate Black teachers and kids! This project supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of students are Black.

Equity Focus

This project directly supports students at a historically underfunded school. Learn more about our Equity Focus.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Chicago, IL View local requests

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

131 students impacted 9donors

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Expand the "Where your donation goes" section below to see exactly what Ms. Ata is requesting.

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TEACHERS, FEELING INSPIRED?

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Dream Lead Fight Think Write Build Speak Educate Believe Challenge: Journals & Notebooks (Composition Book Journal) (8.5 X 11 Large)(110 Pages) • Amazon Business $4.99 20 $99.80
You Are Braver Than You Believe and Stronger Than You Seem and Smarter Than You Think - A. A. Milne: Notebook (Composition Book Journal) (8.5 x 11 Large) • Amazon Business $4.93 15 $73.95
Journal Your Life's Journey: Tree Vector Journal, Lined Journal, 6 x 9, 100 Pages • Amazon Business $6.99 10 $69.90
She Believed She Could So She Did: Pink Notebook (Composition Book Journal) (8.5 x 11 Large) • Amazon Business $4.49 15 $67.35
She Believed She Could So She Did Journal (Diary, Notebook): XL 8.5 x 11 (Journals For Women To Write In) • Amazon Business $5.99 10 $59.90
Notebook: Marshmallow Cream Notebook (Journal, Composition Book), Letter Size (8.5 x 11 Large), Ruled, Soft Cover • Amazon Business $4.99 9 $44.91
Lila Unruled Blank Notebook, 100 pages, Marble, Large (8.5 x 11 inches) • Amazon Business $4.25 10 $42.50
Simple Black Journal: Soft Cover Lined 100 Page Writing Notebook Diary (Simple Coloured Journals) (Volume 2) • Amazon Business $3.97 10 $39.70
Simple Dark Red Journal: Soft Cover Lined 100 Page Writing Notebook Diary (Simple Coloured Journals) (Volume 5) • Amazon Business $3.90 10 $39.00
Journal Your Life's Journey: Water Color Paint Journal, Lined Journal, 6 x 9, 100 Pages • Amazon Business $6.99 5 $34.95
Journal Your Life's Journey: Colorful Fractal, Lined Journal, 6 x 9, 100 Pages • Amazon Business $6.99 5 $34.95
Notebook: Unlined Unruled Big Blank Large 100 Pages 8.5 x 11 Tan Leather Look Notebook For Drawing, Sketching, Journaling & Writing (Notebooks) (Volume 1) • Amazon Business $5.75 5 $28.75
I Can and I Will: 100 Pages Ruled - Notebook, Journal, Diary (Large, 8.5 x 11) (Daily Notebook) • Amazon Business $5.17 5 $25.85
Notebook: Bimumonji, inside my head - Minimal Design Unlined Notebook - Large (8.5 x 11 inches) - 110 Pages (notebooks and journals 8.5 x 11, ... (Minimal Design Notebooks) (Volume 8) • Amazon Business $4.99 5 $24.95
Notebook: Windy Girl - Minimal Design Unlined Notebook - Large (8.5 x 11 inches) - 110 Pages (notebooks and journals 8.5 x 11, notebooks for ... (Minimal Design Notebooks) (Volume 6) • Amazon Business $4.99 5 $24.95
Dusky Meadow Journal (Diary, Notebook) (Journals) • Amazon Business $4.49 5 $22.45
Twilight Garden Journal (Diary, Notebook) (Small Format Journal) • Amazon Business $4.49 5 $22.45
Mead Composition Notebook, Wide Ruled, 100 Sheets, 6 Pack (09910) • Amazon Business $13.72 1 $13.72

Materials cost

$770.03

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$11.55

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$811.58

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$143.22

Total project goal

$954.80

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $954.80

8 Donors

-$477.40

Donations toward project cost

-$405.79

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$71.61

match offer

-$477.40

Match offer toward project cost

-$405.79

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$71.61

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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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. Ata and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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