Mrs. Lyons' Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 6

• Bringing Culturally Diverse Texts to AP Lit

  Funded Dec 21, 2021

  Thank you so much for these amazing texts! Through reading Things Fall Apart, my students were able to deeply explore the concept of a tragic hero. We were able to have rich discussions about the ways that authors can create characters that are both frustrating and deeply compelling. Students were able to engage with the complexity of the themes of the text while getting a sense of a college reading pace. They were challenged to read quickly and deeply. The text provided ample opportunities to analyze both smaller sections of the text through close reading and full-text complexity through themes, plot, and characters.

  The students greatly enjoyed reading A Raisin in the Sun. We worked on analyzing the ways in which authors structure drama in both similar and different ways from novels and short stories. Students enjoyed creating their own interpretations of the characters through in-class reading and performance. The study of this text provided a great deal of engagement at the end of a stressful year!

  Overall, these texts provided students with a means of engaging with course materials in a way that both reflected their experiences while providing windows into cultures and settings that were different from their own. The complexity of the texts and the themes allowed for rich discussion and writing that helped prepare my students for both the AP exam and for future post-secondary courses. Thank you so much for your contribution to developing the analytical skills of my English students!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Lyons

• Working Together While Apart

  Funded Jan 18, 2021

  Your generous donations really expanded the ways that we were able to interact and learn this past year while we remained virtual and will continue to be useful into the coming year. One of my favorite ways to help students learn new content when we are in person is through jigsaw readings where groups of students read part of a text or a whole text related to a topic, analyze it, and share out their analysis with a larger group. This has been difficult in the virtual world both to organize and implement. However, with Padlet, we could complete jigsaw readings with ease and the students then had access to the content long after the lesson in ways that the did not during in-person learning.

  Another activity that I typically enjoy in person is the use of collaborative posters where groups put together information about a reading or a topic and then individual students comment on those readings using post-its. Padlet allowed this to occur in the virtual world and even lended some anonymity and new ways to interact with the "posters" that the groups were making. Gimkit brought competition back into the classroom through some fun review games. It also allowed me to gauge students prior knowledge in a way that did not feel onerous or like it was a test.

  Overall, your donations allowed my students to not only access tools that made groupwork and text interaction more engaging and fun in the virtual world, it has also allowed me to rethink the ways I will do things when we are back in the classroom! The students enjoyed working on group projects with this new form of interaction and they found it easier to engage with others in the class with some anonymity. It also allowed us to send wonderfully heartfelt goodbye messages to my student teacher. Thank you so much for making my students feel more like they were back in school while still virtual!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Lyons

  This classroom project was brought to life by Townsend Press and one other donor.

• Just Keep Reading

  Funded May 5, 2020

  Thank you for your amazing support of learning in our distanced classrooms. The students loved receiving the books and it provided an excellent opportunity to see their masked faces. At a time when they were feeling particularly alone, it was wonderful to connect and show that there were people who cared for them.

  Over the spring, we used the books to create reading groups that allowed me to break up the class into smaller groups and have discussions about the themes in the text. We kept up our analysis skills by developing reading journals and pulling out strong examples of author's voice throughout both texts. The themes in these texts were particularly relevant. We had a number of excellent discussions and reflections about the racial turmoil that students were witnessing & experiencing and the nature of government structures in a crisis through lens provided by The Hate U Give and World War Z.

  Thank you again for your generous donations! These books kept us busy and reading throughout the end of the year and into the summer. They provided a great mode of student choice when it came to reading during quarantine and a welcome escape from a computer screen for completing assignments.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Lyons

  This classroom project was brought to life by SONIC Drive-In and 20 other donors.

• Bringing Short Stories to Life

  Funded Nov 9, 2019

  Thank you so much for your generous support of this project. My students loved seeing the stories that we have read in class performed on stage! We traveled to Penn's campus giving them an opportunity to check out a college campus as well. The students loved the performances and had a great time exploring the area.

  For some of our students, this was one of the first times they'd seen a play performed. It was great seeing them engage in the theater and many of them came out of the performance wanting to see more. An unexpected benefit is that my students are now increasingly interested in striving towards a Penn acceptance!

  Since coming back to the classroom, my students have asked to see more performances and they are interested in turning other texts into dramatic performances. This has provided my students with the inspiration necessary for tackling complex texts. Thank you!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Lyons

• From Page to Stage

  Funded Nov 25, 2019

  Thank you all so much for helping fund this project! My students are so excited to see this play after reading Othello! It will go a long way towards motivating them to invest in the reading. We don't have many opportunities like this and I am sure the students will remember this long after the experience. Thank you again for your generosity and kindness.”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Lyons

• Extra! Extra! Read All About...Journalism and Small-Group Learning

  Funded Dec 31, 2017

  Thank you so much for your generous donations! The technology that has been donated to our school has made a significant impact on student learning over the course of this year. Many of our students have limited access to computers outside of school which makes it difficult to assign coursework and write news articles in a timely manner. Having access to computers in the room has allowed us to accomplish much more than we would have been able to and in a much more timely manner. Small group learning has become extensively more accessible to students. We have been able to develop a blog for our newspaper in addition to our regular print edition. The students regularly remark on how much quicker and easier it is to use the Chromebooks as opposed to our older computers.

  The cameras have been a huge benefit to not only our newspaper club but also the creation of our yearbook and several other student activities including the ASPEN challenge which we participated in for the first time this year. The gorgeous photos seen on this project were taken by students. Many students are more motivated to get involved in our club simply to develop their photography skills with the use of the cameras. The students are excited by the ease with which they can use the camera and the quality of the photos they are taking. In particular, I have one student who frequently finds me for any school event begging to take pictures. Another student has taken photography courses outside of school, but rarely has access to cameras. She has been overjoyed to use these amazing cameras.

  Now that we have added this new technology, it is hard to imagine not having access to such wonderful tools for learning. Our classroom and our newspaper program have been thoroughly enriched by these excellent resources. Thank you again for your thoughtful donations!”

  With gratitude,

  Mrs. Lyons