Past projects 4
"When We Fight We Win" Class Set!
Funded Jun 28, 2016The books you gave to my class were used in a variety of ways. They were teaching tools, but also more importantly inspiration tools. The social movements they learned from sparked the students to create their own designs for the school shirts, to do research projects on social movements, to want to visit colleges were the student-activists in the books attended and much more.
The photos provided are a small glimpse into the year I had with these students and the brilliance that was unfolding thanks to the use of these books. The imagery, stories of human victories, and the actual tangible tools students could use to create movements for social change provided a constant feedback loop for me to go to. The students remained inspired by the books through out the year.
THANK YOU.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Fowler
Social Activism Starter Kit
Funded Mar 9, 2016I cannot express enough how big of an impact this project had on my students and their classroom. The tools given allowed students to open their ideas into physical items that could change peoples minds! The students connected with a local youth organization called San Jose R.A.D which can be found at Facebook.com/sanjoserad and they started learning about their community organizing efforts.
Students then began educating themselves on the issues this group was tackling in their community, oppression, racism, inequality, corruption, and decriminalization. They had several workshops with the group and they asked the group what buttons or art they would want to enhance their cause.
The students then set out on creating buttons for major efforts, one was to educate people about different cultural and ethnic heroes from America and beyond. These buttons were used as talking pieces by the youth, who then gave them out for free at the multicultural week!
Another set of buttons were made to help support Rad's messages for Mayday also known as international workers day. Here in San Jose its a large peaceful march that these students were able to learn more about in a more authentic way due to these buttons.
Contributing to a social movement gave the students space to realize their own potential and desires! if it wasn't for this project many of these kids would have felt powerless! thank you for supporting their growth and youth and future change makers!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Fowler
Fully Stocked Ethnic Studies Classroom!
Funded Dec 30, 2015Your classroom donations changed my classroom culture completely!! I went from having limited resources and almost no tangible reading material to point students to that reflected their lives, cultures, diversities, and experiences to having books i could lend to ALL MY STUDENTS!
When doing research for several projects including, impact of colonization poster projects, zines about gender oppression, reflecting on the cycle of violence projects,and even just personal narrative essays about students histories the students used the resources given to create amazing work!
The classroom became a virtual lending library with students helping each other to texts that they needed to research unsung hero's from their culture, create zines with classmates, and much more. I was even able to allow students to borrow books for extended periods of time. Some students even said the "Stay Solid" book was the first book they read all the way through and by themselves!!
you have made a huge impact on my students and my classroom!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Fowler
Critical Curriculum Resources
Funded Dec 8, 2015These books were instrumental in the creation of group projects related to my student's identities. The students started first with an analysis of indigenous people's struggles, using texts by native scholars students analyzed the long term impact of colonization on populations.
Then students looked at the long term impacts of colonization and connected it to their current communities. The long term impacts analyzed in these large presentations and projects were internal violence, assimilation, identity crisis, abandoning traditional territory, and individualism. Students looked at the texts provided and conducted research within their communities using questionnaires, interviews, and analyzing multiple forms of media.
The culminating projects completely shifted the classroom, and made students start to see connections amongst their cultures and struggles.
The books provided gave students insights into dealing with their research and creating their presentations so they were interactive and informative for all students.
The text were used as guides for students to see how to create a lesson/activity that was thought provoking and caused critical thought.
The after effects of these projects created an atmosphere of mutual respect and recognition across cultural and gender barriers. Students formed relationships that continue to be beneficial to my classroom and build on their prior knowledge to make for critical discussion, projects, and critical thought.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Fowler