{"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":true,"callToActionDisplayName":"Ellet Community Learning Center","outOfStateSupporters":25.9,"allowSchoolLevelGiving":true,"hasFundedProjects":true,"projectGratitudeData":[{"teacherId":8309880,"projectId":10141385,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for helping bring Punching the Air into our classroom! Your donation gave our students the opportunity to read a powerful story that connects literature, history, justice, and the lived experiences of young people in a way that feels especially meaningful for them.\r\n\r\nBefore receiving these books, one of the class had been reading Monster, which is a good book and gave students a lot to think about. But I wanted to give them another opportunity to explore the idea of being accused of something you did not do—and the lasting impact that experience can have on a young person. Punching the Air offered an especially powerful connection because the story is inspired by a real event, and one of the authors has a personal connection to that history. I thought this could resonate with my students, particularly because this is an all-boys class and several of them have struggled with behavior and with being judged based on their past actions. I wanted them to have the opportunity to see a young person represented in literature who is more than the assumptions others make about him.\r\n\r\nWhen we did our book tasting, several students used the same word to describe the cover: \"colorful.\" They noticed the artwork immediately. One student compared it to a work of art made with many different strokes of a paintbrush. I loved hearing that because it showed me that they were really looking at the book—not just judging it by the title or assuming it was another assignment.\r\n\r\nAt another time in the school library a speed-booking activity, I also discovered something I hadn't expected. Many of my students had never heard of the Exonerated Five. For them, this history seemed like something that happened a very long time ago. For those of us who remember when the case returned to national attention, that was a striking reminder of how quickly history can become distant to the next generation. We talked about what happened, the injustice involved, and the fact that these were young people whose lives were profoundly affected by what happened to them.\r\n\r\nAs students learned more about Punching the Air, their reactions were interesting and sometimes funny. They described the story as \"cool\" or \"interesting,\" even when the subject matter was difficult and tragic. Those conversations gave us an opportunity to talk about how we describe serious events, how we respond when someone's life has been changed by injustice, and how literature can help us understand experiences that may be very different from our own.\r\n\r\nThe books have only recently arrived and been opened this school year, so I am especially excited to see where they take us next. I can't wait to see the projects, writing, discussions, and assignments that grow out of these books. Your generosity has given my students more than a class set of novels—it has given them another doorway into history, empathy, critical thinking, and conversations about justice and the assumptions we make about other people.\r\n\r\nThank you for investing in our students and giving them the opportunity to encounter this story for themselves. I am looking forward to seeing what they do with it!","fullyFundedDate":1773891172548,"projectUrl":"project/books-that-speak-a-class-set-of-punchin/10141385/","projectTitle":"Books That Speak: A Class Set of Punching the Air","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Smith-Clemens","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp8309880_orig.jpg?crop=1980,1980,x316,y0&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1644595635588","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/elletlrc"}],"pageName":"schoolpage_85785","usesDonorsChoose":true,"infoPageType":"school","demographicsInfo":{"numStudents":796,"numTeachers":61,"percentFrplEligible":95,"percentAsian":1,"percentBlack":28,"percentWhite":53,"percentIndigenous":0,"percentLatinx":4,"showFreeAndReducedPriceLunchInfo":true,"showDemographicsInfo":true,"sourceTooltipString":"the National Center for Education Statistics","percentHawaiianImputed":0,"percentMultiracialImputed":12,"gradesServed":"9 - 12","studentTeacherRatio":"13.0:1","demographicsDataSource":"MDR School","equityFocus":true,"titleOne":false,"metroType":"URBAN","ncesMetroType":"CITY_MIDSIZE"},"inStateSupporters":74.1,"schoolId":85785,"financialInfo":null,"twitterShareText":"Learn more about Ellet Community Learning Center on @DonorsChoose:","schoolName":"Ellet Community Learning Center","canonicalPageUrl":"schools/ohio/akron-public-schools/ellet-high-school/85785"}