Past projects 9
Girls in Need of BOOKS!
Funded Sep 6, 2012Picture this: One Tuesday afternoon per month, s group of girls and women meet. Before they know it, they have devoured a package of desserts, a bottle of juice, a block of cheese, a box of crackers. Without realizing it, they have spend more than an hour immersed in talking about a book, their lives, the issues that impact teen girls and grown women alike. Love, loss, addiction, body image, relationships, it's all on the table.
There is just about nothing that I look forward to more than these book club meetings. I cannot image how I would connect with girls about the topics we cover without the books that lead us to these intense and real discussions. Thank you for allowing us to come together to talk about these issues. Without this time and these books, there would be no forum for girls in our school community to come together and talk about reading and real-life issues.
I know for sure that I am not alone in hoping that budgets and economics improve soon for our country. We have all had to sacrifice so much due to the current economic decline. Thankfully, with your help, we have had one more year of book club meetings for our girls. Hopefully, we will be able to continue as the years go on. Your support has been instrumental in keeping our little club alive.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deraps
Chicks In Need (Of Books!)
Funded Oct 13, 2010I cannot tell you how much this book club has meant to myself, the dozens of girls who have participated in it, and the adult women who have become mentors for our teen readers. Unfortunately, the future of this club has been in jeopardy for the past two school years because it costs far more to run than we could ever hope to raise in fundraisers. Because of your generous donation, we were able to read four months worth of books and only needed to raise money for the remaining three months of the school year.
I truly wish that you all could attend and participate in one of our meetings. There is an honesty and a candor among the women and the girls that is refreshing and real. We talk about all sorts of issues facing today's teens--from body image to dating to self-esteem. It is one of the most authentic and important groups I've ever had the pleasure of belonging to.
There is no way to thank you for allowing us to meet and talk and laugh and debate for another year. Please know that you have made a huge difference in the lives of twenty (or so) teens in our rural Maine community. Thank you for your support and encouragement. ”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deraps
Activists in Training Need Books!
Funded Dec 5, 2010Thank you so very much for your generosity in funding this project. The materials that I purchased with your funds have reached many more students than intended in the original project descriptor. Several teachers have borrowed these materials and have started campaigns within our local school community to increase understanding of basic human rights.
It is truly gratifying to watch students become immersed in learning, especially with in a topic so relevant and important in our current society. Never has there been a time when young people have such a voice and an opportunity to fight injustice on a global stage. Thank you for allowing me to introduce to my students some of the reasons why their voices are necessary. This is real-world learning and your generosity was instrumental in making this possible.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deraps
This classroom project was brought to life by Townsend Press and 3 other donors.Help Honor Holocaust Heroes
Funded Apr 25, 2010As a teacher, I often wonder what sort of contribution my students are going to make to the world when they leave my classroom. I worry that they don't understand the world in a global sense and that they don't have the skills necessary to "make it" in the world. A worry that I can cross off my list after this experience is whether or not they have the ability to have sympathy for the plight of other human beings.
I always let my junior students choose the theme or course of study for their senior year. The benefits of this choice are two-fold for them and for me. First, I know that they'll be interested in whatever they choose. The final reason that this works is that their investment in their topic often curse even the most serious case of senioritis.
Next year, these amazing and compassionate students decided that they wanted to study the Holocaust in more depth. I was shocked. Usually, students pick a creative writing topic, or even Shakespeare. I've never had a group of students choose the Holocaust.
I think that this choice by my students and your generous donation speak to the direction that our world is moving toward. We live in an increasingly globalized society and need to understand more about global history before we can learn from the mistakes and tragedies of the past. Unfortunately, genocide and cruelty have not disappeared in the years since WWII ended; but, with students interested in learning from the past and donors interested in providing materials to curious and sympathetic teens, we just might influence the future.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deraps
Help Struggling Readers Learn With Non-Fiction
Funded Dec 6, 2009I cannot thank you enough for the generous experiences, conversations, and writings your generous donation has afforded my students. I wanted to wait until we had finished reading this book to thank you because I knew that it would make my thanks all that much more sincere.
For this unit, I combined our study of this nonfiction sociological study with a popular, fictional novel. I wanted students to see the connections between characters who need to make tough choices and an average person trying to live off of a minimum wage job, with no real hope of advancement. In both texts, money and access to resources are limited due to training and education. We had many, many discussions and completed several projects where students were asked to make connections between real-life struggle and fictional struggles. In most cases, students made huge leaps in their thinking and have started to revise their vision about what "success" will look like for them.
As a result of this unit, I feel that students have a better grasp on nonfiction reading strategies and are more aware of the importance of continued education. Many of my students work in farms or in the forest, but few knew that there are technical programs in our state where they can further their understanding of the forestry, agricultural, and business management skills. Reading this book definitely has several students thinking and planning for post-secondary education. They do not want to end up earning a minimum wage for the rest of their lives!
Again, I could not have had these conversations or taught this unit of study without your generous donation. These conversations and revelations are priceless; who knows which student will be our next great leader in our local or national arena? Thank you for allowing these students an empowering reader and a wake-up call. Hopefully, they will answer this call by continuing their education and entering into our state's skilled workforce!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deraps
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and one other donor.Empower Girls With Great Books!
Funded Apr 4, 2010One of my toughest jobs as an educator is to help students develop a love for reading. Over the years, I have found that nothing promotes an authentic desire to read for pleasure more than being surround by exciting and interesting reading materials. This holds true for male and female readers, but female readers have an added advantage when they read books with inspiring and thoughtful messages.
At our school, many of our teen girls do not truly appreciate their worth and strength. I do not understand why they do not see how intelligent and beautiful they are, but I know that they need outside influences to reinforce the fact that staying in school and having attainable goals for the future will increase their independence and their happiness.
The books that you donated to our classroom are already being swallowed up by girls (and boys!) from my ninth and tenth grade classes. These books have already inspired some serious discussions and some important revelations in my teen students. I know of no better way to create life-long readers and learners then to provide these teens with excellent reading materials.
I cannot thank you enough for the positive messages that you have sent to my teen girls. I look forward to sharing these amazing books with my current and future students for years to come!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deraps
Books Boys Beg For!
Funded Dec 30, 2009It is hard to convince teen boys that there is as much action, excitement, and drama in books as in their favorite video games or television shows. Every day, my teens are expected to read silently for fifteen to twenty minutes. At the beginning of the year, the boys in my classes need to be pushed to keep reading. By the mid-point in the year, though, most of the boys I teach make a switch from being reluctant readers to being disappointed when I say that Silent Sustained Reading time is over.
I credit this change in attitude toward the amazing young adult novels that are written for today's teens. There are, of course, lots and lots of books that girls will read (you'll see pictures of girls included in this thank-you because they loved the books too!), but there are less choices for males. I read every book that ends up on the free reading shelves because I've found that most of of male students require more prompting to pick up and connect with a book. I need to say, "I think that this is a book you'd love" if I ever hope to get them to read.
Unfortunately, it takes a lot of money to keep my free reading shelves stocked with high-interest reads. This is because I cannot afford to purchase much with my severely limited budget, but it's also because my male students read through my best choices too quickly! This is a happy problem to have, and I cannot thank you enough for keeping my male (and some female) students reading happily into the end of the school year!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deraps
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and one other donor.Chicks Rule! (But Need Books To Keep Ruling!)
Funded Dec 19, 2009In 2006, our school librarian and I started The Chick Lit Book Club. At this time, we had been approached by a non-profit organization dedicated to raising the confidence and literacy rates of teen girls in our state. Since this time, our book club has met monthly to read and discuss current teen titles. Together, we've read almost thirty books and our membership included several staff members, a few local college students, and about twenty teen girls. Because of the recent financial crisis, this non-profit organization has lost funding and can no longer provide current titles. As their longest standing lender of books, we've read almost all of the books that they have to offer.
How I wish that you all could have been at our last two meetings! Our discussions over these two books were amazing. The issues raised in this book, teen pregnancy and eating disorders, are unfortunate realities for many teen girls. I have to hope that our passionate discussions and readings will help to either prevent our girls from these situations or at least give them a space to hear that there are adults who care about them and that they are not alone.
After receiving your generous donation, our girls decided that we needed to "pay it forward", so to speak, to our local community. They raised money and we purchased and donated several current teen titles to our local and school libraries. Simply put, they were moved by your kindness.
Thank you for donating materials that have allowed us to continue reading and discussing current teen literature. We are going to donate the books that you purchased to the non-profit organization (which lends books to dozens of clubs in our state). You have no idea how many lives you have touched with your donation!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deraps
Books Needed for Hungry Readers on Fire!
Funded Nov 9, 2009I have never looked forward to a last period class more than I do now. Thanks to you, I am greeted with a chorus of "can we please read today, Mrs. DeRaps" on a daily basis! And, this is coming from high school seniors! I would love to credit my exceptional teaching for this transformation in my senior class, but I know that it is all about the novel we're reading.
Right now, we've read a little over one hundred pages in the book that you so generously donated to our class, and students are literally begging to be able to bring their books home over Christmas break. Again, this is not a scenario I typically encounter when teaching seniors!
We are almost finished with our "thank you" photo montage and we will begin to write our thank you letters this week. I know that their letters will be filled with excitement and joy, but please know that you have given them more than just a few extra hours of enjoyment. Many of my students are in danger of dropping out of high school and have not had the best in terms of a home life. The hours spent reading this novel have allowed my students to feel excitement for learning, for being a part of a group of excited learners, and they are now looking forward to class rather than trying to escape it.
I am overcome with gratitude toward you both. I have been given an amazing experience with a group of students whom I've taught for four years. This is an incredible way for us to end our journey together. Happy Holidays and best wishes from all of us!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Deraps
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and one other donor.