Past projects 5
No More Chalk!
Funded Mar 9, 2016The new MacBook air has prove to be an invaluable tool for us in the classroom. It is connected to an overhead projector with speakers, which allows us to use films and/or film clips in class. We also use it everyday for PowerPoint presentations. Students ask me excellent questions all the time which I cannot answer, and so often in the middle of a discussion we will use the computer to look up the answers. It has changed everything about the way we operate!
We have done several big projects in Global Studies this year; the laptop was instrumental in all of them. In the Fall, students were studying the Protestant Reformation, so they used the laptop to project and present the comic strips they had drawn on-line representing scenes from the Reformation. We also worked on WWII projects, where students used the laptop to find images to use as part of their presentations on various war topics.
As the teacher, I use the laptop every day to gather resources, review student data, enter grades, plan lessons, and communicate with school administrators and my colleagues. It is an essential tool for the classroom and we are very grateful to have it. I am not sure how I ever lived without it before??!!!
So thank you once again!!!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Goldsmith
Print Rich - Continued
Funded Aug 12, 2014I am writing to thank you - albeit quite belatedly - for the classroom printer, which has changed the way we do business in our classroom! It allows me the freedom to print whatever we need in class to follow our learning as it is directed by students. No longer do I have to wish that I could provide the students with the resources that we need in order to engage in certain lessons - I always have at my fingertips the ability to print and hand out whatever materials will help engage the students best.
It has been an incredible time saver for me as well, since I no longer have to wait on line to use the printer in the teacher's room, or hunt for copiers that are working (which around here is harder than it sounds). Time that I used to spend trying to produce resources and handouts now goes into planning better lessons and giving students more feedback on their work. In short, the printer has been a game changer. I don't think I could ever go back to teaching without it!
And it has had an intangible impact on everything we do - because when the teacher and the students feel like they don't have the basic tools they need to learn, it takes away from the classroom experience no matter how hard we try not to let it affect us. But when we feel we have the resources that we need, it boosts our spirits and our motivation to do more - students and teacher alike. So thank you!!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Goldsmith
Print Rich!!
Funded Mar 25, 2014I am writing this letter to thank you for your generous donation to our classroom. Our amazing new printer allows us to engage in a myriad of interesting endeavors that we would otherwise have limited or no access to. Quite simply, we can print whatever we need for our classroom - documents, cartoons, student work, etc. without worrying about how to find copies in a school where 40+ teachers share one old copier that sometimes works and often does not. Your donation has re-energized my teaching as well, as it is a big boost for me not to have to waste energy searching for copies, or altering the assignments I give based not on the needs of my students, but on the logistics of producing the necessary paperwork. It has given me the freedom to teach what I believe the students need - and that is an invaluable gift. Moreover, it has cut down on waste as well, as I can print documents right in class instead of trying to estimate how many I will need. We cannot thank you enough!!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Goldsmith
This classroom project was brought to life by AT&T Foundation and one other donor.The Dustbin Of History
Funded Dec 14, 2012I write this to thank you for providing the laptop for my classroom - it has made an enormous contribution to the courses that I teach in the few months that I've had it. I use it every single day in all of my classes, and already can't imagine trying to do my job without it. It is an invaluable tool.
I use it for power points, projecting photographs and cartoons and other classroom activities, playing feature length films, showing short film clips downloaded from U-tube, grading, test scoring, work emails and so much more.
The students benefit because my teaching is better. I can SHOW things and not just abstractly talk about them, etc. But it's more than that even - the students benefit because the laptop has reinvigorated my teaching. I'm excited about the material because I have the chance to present it in new ways. I'm learning again and that has made my job even more gratifying. I can't thank you enough - for my students and for myself.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Goldsmith
In Living Color
Funded May 26, 2009I write this letter to thank you for your generous donation to our classroom. The LCD projector you have provided us with has already made an important impact on our learning environment.
First, having such a prized piece of technology in our classroom sends the message to our students that their education is important and that they are worthy of a very noticeable financial investment from the outside world. Most classrooms - even in schools that are financially better off than ours - do not boast such an impressive piece of technology. Our students know this and take pride in it.
Second, the projector gets integrated into our everyday lessons, adding a visual element to the work that we do that would be impossible to achieve in any other way. Readings and notes are constantly supplemented with images from the Internet, maps, pictures, etc. which help to make the material more presentable and appealing to our students.
Third, the projector enables us to use feature films to enhance our curriculum and to provide the students with a theater type experience that they could not get from watching movies on a small and outdated school television. After a marking period of hard work our students look forward to diving in to a movie which deals with the materials we have been studying in a unique and interesting way (we just finished watching "The Pianist" in Government class).
We so appreciate your generosity, which has made all of these improvements to our learning environment possible.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Goldsmith
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and 2 other donors.