Past projects 3
Inspire Teenagers to Read With an Opportunity of a Lifetime!
Funded Jun 7, 2024I cannot tell you what a powerful day yesterday was, and how grateful I am for your support of our first ever all high school Community Read. I hope you can see your impact in the photos and in these words from my students.
Here are some of their letters to the author, Don P. Hooper, after his visit yesterday:
"It was a pleasure meeting you and witnessing the passion and inspiration behind your book 'True True.' Your book 'True True' was very interesting to me because it highlighted the significance of standing up for yourself and for others. Which is very important because you can make a positive change in the environment you are around and make your own mark forever. I acknowledged the passion of your childhood past that impacted the way you wanted to reveal the voice, community and Caribbean heritage of Brooklyn, especially when you were always surrounded by the light of the negative aspects in Brooklyn, 'Breaking news.' Overall, something very memorable I took from your speech was during the writing process you always thought about the people that influenced you to do better or that had impacted your life for the better."
"I am writing because I wanted to express my gratitude for you being able to talk to my school, and sign my artwork. You signing my artwork really made my day. I enjoyed the book 'True True' a lot, and you signing my artwork based off of the book made me feel a lot of joy, and made me also enjoy reading more. I also love how your book was able to reflect on your culture, interest, and passions. The way you took your personal experiences and made a book off of it is truly inspiring and makes your book even more impactful. Thank you again for sharing your time and talents with my school and I look forward to reading more of your books."
Never before has our entire high school connected around an academic and inspirational experience like this. I have no doubt we will feel the impact throughout the school year.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Haines
Deep Thinking through Book Clubs
Funded Oct 1, 2018I began the year with a group of 11th graders, many of whom had never written a complete literary analysis essay. My challenge was to get them to all write a comparative literary essay on two novel. I knew the first step was to get them to read a full novel. I reached out to friends and family through Donors Choose in order to allow them to choose a text to read on the topic of immigration and adolescents, hoping they would be engaged in reading it. I got them into book clubs based on their choices, and soon, thanks to your support, they were reading and discussing these novels, and then writing essays on them.
It is because of that crucial step that they took in November, that I can now report that they are writing fantastic graduation-level performance tasks on two novels.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Haines
Wow! Reading Does Not Have to be Boring!
Funded Sep 19, 2018Despite having 20 years of teaching experience, I began this year with a lot of trepidation because I knew I had a challenge ahead of me. I received a class of 11th grade students who told me they did not read, and who had very low reading scores. I was determined to get them to enjoy reading, and I reached out to friends and family through Donor's Choose to help me. I am so grateful for your help!
Now, my students are working on their graduation-level performance task, which is a long essay on two novels. Without your help in getting them hooked on reading, I don't think they would be writing the awesome essays they are now. It is an incredible joy to hear them talking about parts of the text with each other and making connections between texts. They have made huge strides this year and are therefore on their way to graduation and higher education!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Haines