Ms. Hawkins' Classroom Edit display name

Past projects 2

• Class Research

  Funded Feb 8, 2023

  Thank you for the help in getting my class more laptops to further assist them in researching for projects, as well as helping them create posters. Having laptops gives my students a chance to do research, which is very important for economics, but also school in general. My students have the amazing opportunity to attend a high school that also offers them free college at the same time, so learning how to do research can help them succeed in both high school and college at the same time.

  Students were able to use this laptop as well as others to look into different ways to get money to help pay for college. This is important because even though their high school offers them an opportunity for a free two year degree, many of them dream of attending four year schools afterward. Doing this research gave them the chance to look into ways they might be able to get money for college and avoid taking out risky student loans.

  Many of the students were exposed to ways to get money for college they were unaware of, like work-study jobs. They also got a chance to dig deeper and gain better understandings for things they were already aware of, like financial aid and scholarships. There were some students who started looking up different scholarships and grants they might be eligible for, so this technology took them a long way.

  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping to provide my students with an educational, gratifying, and helpful experience.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Hawkins

  This classroom project was brought to life by Black History Month Partners and 4 other donors.

• Life Lessons

  Funded Sep 21, 2022

  Having laptops allows the students to research information on their own rather than relying on me to provide them with every bit of information, not just with this particular project, but in general. This helps them learn how to build arguments or make informed decisions on their own, which will serve them well in life. This also helps prepare them for courses in college, if they plan to go. Learning how to research and practicing doing their own research also allows them to discover information that is more personal and therefore more important to them, so they are more likely to use it or remember it. For example, for this project, students were able to research careers they would like to pursue in the future and find out the salaries for their own personal career choices to help them create budgets. They were also able to look up the living expenses to help prepare them for adulthood.

  The students were excited to be able to look up information that would be important to them rather than answering generic questions about what career they wanted in the future. They liked being able to find out things they did not know about the careers they wished to pursue. They enjoyed being able to find out about things that they desired, like the prices of cars they wanted and how much a car note might be for that car. They were also shocked and amazed at how much certain things would cost them for the month and they enjoyed the realistic glimpse into adult life, even though they were a little upset at how much everything would cost them.

  There were some students who used this project and the access to technology as a chance to really look into things they wanted for the future. Some researched the colleges they wanted to go to and wanted to figure out how to pay the tuition for the school to fit the tuition payments into their budgets. Others wanted houses and looked up actual houses that fit their desires. They then tried to work out how they would pay the mortgage for such a house and how it would factor into their monthly budgets. Having the technology really allowed some students to dig deeper into their futures and they used it as best they could with the time they had to work with it.

  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping to provide my students with an educational, gratifying, and helpful experience.”

  With gratitude,

  Ms. Hawkins

  This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 8 other donors.