Past projects 5
Books to Empower and Excite
Funded Oct 17, 2018Thank you so much for the kindness of your donation. Teaching English can be hard because we want to expose our students to new books and get them excited to read. However, money often prevents us from using the newest material, and we get stuck using the same old thing year after year. I am grateful that I have been able to get some new books over the last few years, and I continue to add to our school collection so that your donation helps more than just the students in my classroom. We use the March trilogy to teach the power of Civil Rights, and it really impacts students. The book Spare Parts will be a great resource for our English Language Learners who will be able to identify with the characters in the book. I hope that the book A Deadly Wandering will be a good tool to teach students about the dangers of texting and driving. In short, I hope all of these books impact lives, and I hope you understand how important your donation is in this process. Your books are received with love and gratitude and are appreciated more than you know both by me and by my students. Thank you again and again and again.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Mikesell
This classroom project was brought to life by Chevron Fuel Your School and one other donor.Literature to Empower and Inspire
Funded Oct 9, 2017To begin, I want to say THANK YOU for your generous donation to my classroom. I am so grateful that I am able to purchase new materials that my students will enjoy reading. As an English teacher, it's often hard to purchase the newest or latest novels; we are often stuck reading dusty, old copies of novels that our school has owned for decades. Certainly, I think there is always a space for the "classics" in any English classroom, but I also think it's important that students are exposed to a wide variety of literature. I love pairing classic literature with newer novels to get students excited about reading while helping them maintain an appreciation of classic literature. Donations like this make my goal possible.
Your donation helped me purchase the graphic novel March. This is a trilogy. Because of a previous grant, I was able to purchase books one and two last year. However, students were disappointed when they realized they would not be able to finish reading the trilogy. They loved this moving story, and it helped them internalize the Civil Rights Movement. I am grateful that I will now be able to give them the option of finishing this powerful story.
I am also grateful for the purchase of Station Eleven. This is a newer science fiction novel, but it has many connections to Shakespeare that will help students better appreciate his writing. We'll certainly read some of his writing, but this novel will hopefully allow students to make additional connections. Science fiction is a genre I am trying to push a little in my school so that students can be better exposed to a wide variety of literature rather than just one or two genres. There are many students who love science fiction, and this also helps them feel validated as well.
In closing, I want to reiterate my gratitude. Thank you so much for your support of education.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Mikesell
Science Fiction Books for Kids!
Funded Oct 7, 2016Thanks so much for your kind contribution to my classroom. I completely appreciate people who value education and reading, and I appreciate you making it possible for my students to have more books. It can be expensive to get the "latest and greatest" things, but it's important for students to have options and it's important to find books that students will enjoy reading. This will help accomplish both of those things!
These books will be used by approximately 100 students this year, but will be made available for many more to use and access as well. This is an important book that has been translated into many different languages. We will be able to do some cross-curricular work with this book, and really reach students on many levels.
Again, I thank you sincerely for your help and contributions. I wish you all the best!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Mikesell
Class Novel Set
Funded Oct 6, 2015I want to thank you so much for your donation to my classroom books. I think it's very important to stay up to date and rotate through books so that the students (and their teacher) can be exposed to a variety of new things and can see the world from different perspectives. Unfortunately, and as you know, school budgets just can't accommodate the need to constantly change books and provide students with a variety. I am grateful to those who see the importance of reading and donated to this book fund. I am especially grateful that you have seen the importance of a science fiction unit. Science fiction has often been seen as "lesser literature" and I want students to understand that it can convey powerful literary themes and, what's more, powerful human ideas. I also want to students to be aware of the variety of genres that exist, and I want them to struggle with the ideas and think through them. So, for all of that, THANK YOU. I appreciate your support of literature, of science fiction, and of education!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Mikesell
Chromebook to Help With Writing Skills
Funded Jul 18, 2013I have waited a little while to write this because I wanted to use the Chromebook in my class and really report on the impact that it has. Let me begin by saying that I truly appreciate your generous donation to my classroom. It's nice to know that there are people who care about public education and are willing to support me as a teacher. I'm grateful to have good friends and family members who care.
Having the Chromebook has actually had a much larger effect than I could have anticipated. I have been able to have students use it in class to make up assignments. We have a limited number of textbooks available for our English students, so much of what we read is online. It's becomes costly to print out copies for every student, so I make them available online. Students have come in after school and been able to use the Chromebook to complete these assignments. I have also been able to take it to the computer lab and use it as there are not enough computers in the lab for my entire class. Personally, I have benefited from it as I have been able to take it to our collaboration meetings and take notes as well as other meetings I have had to attend. I've also had students check it out and take it home so they can use free WiFi at the library or McDonald's to work on a paper. That has probably been the biggest impact and I'm grateful that I have something that can help these students out. Although you might think of Springville, Utah as a wealthy community, it's not totally the case. We have a high population of students from a low socio-economic level who do not have access to even the most basic technology.
My involvement in Donors Choose has also had an unintended consequence. I've talked to multiple teachers about my success with this project, and they have posted projects of their own that have been a benefit to their classroom. It's been nice to see my school and my teacher friends get much needed supplies for their classroom through this excellent website.
Again, I thank you for your generous support. I am in the process of taking pictures and accumulating other materials so I can finish my thank you letter. I appreciate you!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Mikesell