Mr. Sixta's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 14

• Making School More Awesome

  Funded Aug 24, 2014

  Thank you so much for your support of my classroom this school year. As my students came back to school this fall they were shocked by all of the classroom supplies and resources. Through your generous support I was able to purchase classroom sets of the graphic novels Persepolis volumes I & II and Maus volumes I & II. I also purchased a classroom set of 'Eats, Shoots, and Leaves' and a number of books about local history. I purchased over twenty DVDs that I have already started showing in class such as 'Street Fight' and 'A Perfect Candidate.' We now have a reading corner in my classroom that is one of the few spaces in school where students are able to hang out before school, during lunch, and after school. The red chairs are extremely comfortable and students are able to sit and read in comfort during my class period and at other times during the day. An extremely popular item has been the Buddha Board, which is used by students at all times of the days as the express themselves on this self-erasing board.

  The purchasing of art supplies is having a huge impact on my students' learning. I am working hard to better design my lessons to take advantage of the sketch bags, paint, easels, and cartooning supplies. We have taken the sketch bags with us on our field trips to the local Natural Resource Center and students are excited about expressing themselves and improving their drawing outdoors.

  I have also started using individual student whiteboards in my classroom. Students have been using these boards as they doodle responses to classroom questions, videos, or portray information visually. Students have often struggled in my classroom with drawing their ideas on paper and although some kids love to use the sketching pencils and pens to create art, others have been reluctant. With whiteboards at every seat, students are drawing and writing constantly to prompts and it is really exciting to see.

  This school improvement project was one of two which I used to purchase back to school supplies to make my room more awesome. We are now about a quarter of the way through the year and I can say with confidence that this major investment in classroom materials has made my classroom a better place for students to learn.

  Thank you so much for your support.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Sixta

  This classroom project was brought to life by Gates Foundation Back To School and 2 other donors.

• Comics in the Classroom

  Funded Mar 11, 2014

  Thank you all so much for your support of my classroom with this project. 'Comics in the Classroom' has turned out to be a huge hit. The manga pens are extremely popular with students who are using these materials for assignments in my classroom and in other classes. Students love using the different sized felt tip pens to make their work look really high in quality. The books about how to draw comics have been really popular with my seventh and eight grade students many of whom are using the books during study hall to improve their drawing skills. I have used the manga paper for two different projects since it arrived last Spring. One was for a project specifically focused on the narrative of a story and used the comics as the format for telling a story. My students are in grades 7-12 and I teach not only all the social studies courses but also middle school language arts; I really celebrate having so many materials for students to use when sharing their ideas and knowledge. These comics materials are giving students the tools to create high quality work. As we create more comics over the coming year I will display them in the classroom and if I receive permission I hope to post them on our classroom website as well.

  Thank you all so much for helping to make this project a reality. My students and I really appreciate all of your generous support.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Sixta

  This classroom project was brought to life by AT&T Foundation and 10 other donors.

• Engaging Our World: Current Events

  Funded Nov 18, 2013

  My students and the school staff have been confused by all mail that Mr. Sixta has begun to receive. Our school does not have a real library and the town's library is only open eight hours per week, so most of my students only see magazines at the check aisle of the grocery store. When I initially proposed this project my plan had been for students to read magazines on a weekly basis and then summarize current events. Although this has not worked out quite as seamlessly as I had predicted the regular arrival of magazines has had a positive impact on many aspects of my classroom.

  To begin with I have started skimming the magazines for articles that I think are most appropriate and useful for my students. I have taken excerpts from the Economist to use for my 8th Grade US History class and my 12th Grade Economics class. My homeroom class has at least one period a week where we read and the magazines have been a huge hit with reluctant readers who have both text and images to look at and learn from. I have also taken articles from the New York Review of Books and Harper's for the Speech and Debate class to understand current event discussions. While some of the magazines I selected have been at a reading level that is above where most of my students are, I have been intentional to read these periodicals and select articles for my students.

  The biggest surprise we have encountered since receiving magazines is due to National Geographic. When walking the dog around town a few weeks ago I was stopped by a person who had heard that the new social studies teacher liked magazines and offered boxes of National Geographic from the 1950s-1980s. She also had a number of old Life magazines that I could have if I was interested.

  Funding for this project has impacted my students in two key areas. The first is that it is providing them materials to read. The town general store does not sell magazines and access to books and magazines is limited to the few hours the library is open a week. It has also been very helpful to follow current events that aren't limited to trending stories on the Internet. The other, more subtle, impact has been the constant arrival of mail. My students and colleagues are reminded multiple times a week that resources can come to our school and community and that we are not without access to a larger world. The regular arrival of mail sends a message to my kids almost everyday that exciting things are going on in the world and it can come to their classroom and community.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Sixta

• Learning through Games

  Funded Dec 4, 2013

  'Learning through Games' has been a huge hit in our classroom! As soon as packages began to arrive students were curious about what Mr. Sixta was receiving. Opening up the packages they were really excited about some of the games like Risk, which they had heard of, and intrigued by other games such as Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan.

  The games had arrived less than a week before a few of the games began to to be played during lunch or before school. So I capitalized on this excitement and immediately modified my curriculum so we played Carcassonne to learn about geography and with a few "house rules" it also served as a great launching pad to discuss colonization and development. We have since played Risk when studying the alliances that influenced World War I, Settlers of Catan when learning about 'comparative advantage', and many are looking forward to playing Axis and Allies during an up coming history unit on World War II.

  I asked for these games because I thought that they would be really beneficial for my classroom and help students learn key concepts. However, it has been some of the unintended consequences from having these games that have been most rewarding. Students learned the basics of a game in class and now come in weeks later to play with each other during their lunch or study hall periods. The board games have become so popular that we are starting an afterschool board game club to broaden social interaction among our students. The Special Education Teacher and I are looking into starting a chess team for students in our elementary and high school grades.

  I think the greatest impact of having so many exciting games to use in class has been the interest in students to play history themed games during class. My students do not ask me if we will watch a movie soon, instead they collectively ask to play games. This is an important shift in students' attitude toward learning. Instead of requesting to passively learn from a video they are asking to actively learn, problem solve, and develop logical thinking skills. The games have also inspired me to begin developing my own card game to use in economics to teach about the local natural resource industry.

  Thank you so much for your contributions to my students and classroom. Funding for this project has positively impacted me and my students as we realize that school and learning are about more than just reading, writing, and arithmetic but can be so much more dynamic and fun.”

  With gratitude,

  Mr. Sixta