Ms. Masterson's Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 2

• Gaining Perspective in Maus

  Funded Apr 16, 2024

  First, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for the generous donation you made to my classroom. My students and I sincerely appreciate your support. In my class, we are currently in a Unit focused on personal narrative accounts of the Holocaust. Within this unit, the students are discussing and finding answers to questions like: What role did propaganda have in the German Holocaust?, What steps did Hilter take to inspire the large-scale murder of the Jewish people?, as well as How do first-hand accounts add to our understanding of the past? To have a clearer picture of Hilter's progression of power during the timeframe of 1938-1945, it would be remiss of me to exclude examining text from the survivors from Poland, the country whose invasion sparked World War II. Thus, the text Maus by Art Spiegelman is a key piece of this unit for my students.

  In our classroom, reading often is a group or shared effort. This effort usually looks like reading as a whole class and partner reading. All of which are practices that help with comprehension and fluency. Being able to read a narrative that is also a graphic novel adds a new layer of comprehension to our various reading strategies. Students are more able to engage in the action on the page in a new way other than simply reading it off the page.

  Some particular students who benefit the most from this donation are the readers who either don't like to read in their free time or the ones who have a tough time reading a huge wall of text. They appreciate that the pictures make the story more accessible to them. They also have made comments that they can more easily find places in the text they can relate to. It doesn't seem as much of a chore to analyze as well.

  Thank you again for your generosity and commitment to allowing my students access non-fiction in a less intimidating way.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Masterson

  This classroom project was brought to life by Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation and one other donor.

• Building a Better Classroom Experience Through Organization

  Funded Aug 9, 2022

  I wanted to reach out and take this opportunity to thank you all for everything you were able to provide me. As you may know, I am a first-year teacher, so I started with very little to fill up my classroom. Your generous donations have seriously impacted how my classroom runs, as well as the overall look of my class. I use the broom, little drawer container, and bookholders on a daily basis. I love to take some time during my planning to change out which books I feature on top of my bookshelves. My favorite moment with these holders was when it was Banned Book Week, and I used all of my holders to present different books from my shelves that were on the Banned Book list. Quite a few of my students got a kick out of reading something that may have been or is still controversial. It, also, brought about wonderful discussions about why those books might have made it onto the list and whether or not they should continue to stay.

  The little drawer container that was donated to me is currently being used in a space I've set up that is solely for the students to use that contains any materials they might need throughout a lesson. Within the drawer container, I keep glue sticks, highlighters, pencil sharpeners, erasers, and other odds and ends that I've heard students ask for frequently. They love having their own area that is theirs to keep organized and the fact that they can access this whenever they need to in a lesson. It helps me teach them accountability and stops some interruptions to the lesson from happening before they happen.

  Currently, within the classroom, my students are working their way through the graphic novel version of Frankenstein. The materials you have provided me have been used many times throughout our exploration of the novel's first and second volumes. The students frequently use the drawers to access highlighters and love to use the materials within the other drawers to help keep their annotations in shape. I am thinking of using the book holders as a way to showcase books and novels that we will be examining a little closer after our Christmas break. After the break, we are heading into our Civil Rights Unit starting with the autobiography of Frederick Douglas.

  Thank you again for all that you have done for me and my students. We sincerely appreciate it and hope you feel your donation was put to good use.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Masterson

  This classroom project was brought to life by Bill Gates and one other donor.