Past projects 11
Reading is Good. Reading Awesome Books is Better!
Funded Feb 14, 2019THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I am so excited to be able to offer these amazing books to my students—and to provide a wide array of reading opportunities! Thank you so very much for your kindness and generosity! It means more than anything, in this climate we teach in today, to have the love and support from the community.”
With gratitude,
Ms. McFaul
Collaborative Competition: Oregon Battle of the Books
Funded Aug 23, 2018Reading is a huge part of my classroom. It is always my mission to find books that are out of the norm for a traditional English class, because I really want to instill in my students a passion for reading. The problem with modern, more relevant texts is that they aren't readily available, especially with the small budgets schools are allowed. I usually spend over $1000 a year for books to keep my classroom library relevant and exciting for my students, who become true readers by the end of the school year because of the books I match each student with.
Your generous gift has allowed me to add to the collection of amazing and relevant texts available to my students, and has created another way to collaborate and plan in a cross-curricular way with the freshmen Modern World History teacher. We will look closely at the both environmental and social justice within these texts. Partnering with my colleague will allow for students to have an even more well-rounded experiences, and this would not have been able to happen without your generous support.
All of my students are super excited to read Scythe, and one has refused to put down Burn, Baby Burn. A student who has already read Salt to the Sea told me how much they loved the book and can't wait to talk to her peers about it. And another student told me she had already read both books by Rene Watson and met her, and she will totally book talk and talk up Piecing me Together because she loved it.
Thank you so very much for giving my students such an awesome gift!”
With gratitude,
Ms. McFaul
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 40 other donors.Race, Class, and Environmental Justice
Funded Oct 19, 2017Reading is a huge part of my classroom. It is always my mission to find books that are out of the norm for a traditional English class, because I really want to instill in my students a passion for reading. The problem with modern, more relevant texts is that they aren't readily available, especially with the small budgets schools are allowed. I usually spend over $1000 a year for books to keep my classroom library relevant and exciting for my students, who become true readers by the end of the school year because of the books I match each student with.
Your generous gift has allowed me to add to the collection of amazing and relevant texts available to my students, and has created another way to collaborate and plan in a cross-curricular way with the freshmen Modern World History teacher. We will look closely at the both environmental and social justice within these texts. Partnering with my colleague will allow for students to have an even more well-rounded experiences, and this would not have been able to happen without your generous support.
We will begin our look at the impacts of Hurricane Katrina through the graphic novel Drowned City, which will lead us into Spike Lee's documentary, When the Levees Broke. The impacts of racism and socio-economic inequality will become even more human with a poetry study of Patricia Smith's Blood Dazzler where students will select poems that they will illustrate and analyze in relation to the environmental justice that they will study in Modern World History. I am really excited for this unit and all the learning that will take place!
Thank you so much for providing such an awesome opportunity for my students.”
With gratitude,
Ms. McFaul
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose.org Community and 23 other donors.Visual Literacy & Strong Storytelling
Funded Nov 8, 2016Thank you so much for your generosity in ensuring that my project was funded. This year, my students will be able to really explore director's choices in regards to elements of style in the films they create with the close study of Spielberg, which will then lead to an extension assignment where students will look at his influences on a popular series: Stranger Things.
Because of the documentaries that were also part of this project, students will explore media constructions of gender norms and look really closely at the world around them in a critical way in regards to bias and negative stereotypes. This will help students become more critical readers of the world around them, which will make them better communicators, consumers, and citizens. Thank you so much for your kindness and thoughtfulness.”
With gratitude,
Ms. McFaul
2016-2017: The Year of Awesome! Reading, Writing, and Reading!
Funded Nov 1, 2016Because of your generosity and thoughtfulness, my students have read nearly 100 books in one month (at least one per student, and many students read two!). In a high school classroom, this is something that English teachers dream of, and because the books I offered were high-interest, relevant, and meaningful to students because of your contributions to my project, the dream became a reality. This is even more exciting because I will be able to offer the same books for future classes with the same amazing results.
My students traveled with Caden in Challenger Deep, experienced racism alongside Malcolm X as a teenager in his granddaughter's articulating of his story, the Night Circus had students in awe and inspired by Magical Realism, and the students who read Winger could not stop laughing. The discussions I heard were inspiring, and the theme analysis my students did were elevated because of the interest they had in their reading.
This success and amazingness is because of you. So thank you truly from the bottom of my heart for allowing my project to be funded with such awesome titles to add to our school's lit circle library!”
With gratitude,
Ms. McFaul
"Hook" Book 2016
Funded May 24, 2016Dear generous donors,
Reading is a huge part of my classroom. It is always my mission to find books that are out of the norm for a traditional English class, because I really want to instill in my students a passion for reading. The problem with modern, more relevant texts is that they aren't readily available, especially with the small budgets schools are allowed. I usually spend over $1000 a year for books to keep my classroom library relevant and exciting for my students, who become true readers by the end of the school year because of the books I match each student with.
Your generous gift has allowed me to add to my collection of amazing and relevant texts, and has created another way to collaborate and plan in a cross-curricular way with the freshmen Biology teacher, because of the topics and links to science in this book. Partnering with my colleague will allow for students to have an even more well-rounded experiences, and this would not have been able to happen without your generous support.
Thank you so very much for your kindness, thoughtfulness, and your generosity. My students are so appreciative and so astounded that strangers care enough to provide them with such amazing books. THANK YOU!”
With gratitude,
Ms. McFaul
Printing With Ease
Funded Mar 13, 2016I won't lie, your generosity has already given my students over three additional hours of instructional time. If a student needs to print, rather than getting a pass, walking 1/2 way across the school (about a 2 minute walk), logging in to the library computers (about 5 minutes), printing, having the librarians' staff get the printed document (about 2-5 minutes), logging off and returning back to class (more than 2 minutes--freshmen like to dawdle!)--this is at least an 11 minutes process where students are out of my room. Now, if they need to print, they just log on to the central teacher workstation and print--3 minutes tops. Multiply this daily, and the fact that we have already gone through a toner cartridge because of the frequent use, and your gift has been unbelievably beneficial. I am lucky to have chromebooks for my students, so we do a lot of online work and collaboration, but there are times when printing out a hard copy is beneficial. Just recently, my students beta-read for an author, offered her online feedback, but then typed her a formal letter to thank her. Each of my students printed out their letters, signed them, and they will be sent--a skill that is similar to an email, yet a different kind of skill that is beneficial for future citizens to have. The gift of time is one of the greatest gifts one can offer a classroom, and you gave it to my students and myself.”
With gratitude,
Ms. McFaul
This classroom project was brought to life by #BestSchoolDay and 5 other donors.Diverse, Relevant, Amazing Books!
Funded Sep 25, 2015Thank you so much for supporting my students and contributing to add diversity and relevance to my library! My students LOVED reading these books—and the analysis they did while reading a book they enjoyed was incredible, was the main goal that they hit out of the park. For the first time, every single one of my students that read their books, enjoyed them.
Gabi, A Girl in Pieces had my girls talking about body image and friendships because they loved the "realness" of Quintero's story. My Everyday readers LOVED the genderless narrator, and had great discussions about race and class and how "A" might not be the only one. How it Went Down made my students sad and angry and they questioned what they could do to improve racism they encounter on a daily basis. When I was the Greatest sparked some incredible deep analysis of how a writer can start with the climax/resolution, yet weave a story together that the reader cares deeply about.
Throughout this assignment with these books, I didn't have one student say, "I hate this book" or "I hate reading." Not. One. Rather, they talked about the books they wanted to read next based on what their peers were reading. It has been amazing, and the biggest win.
Because of your generosity, kindness, and thoughtfulness, I got to experience some amazing connections, conversations, and literary analysis. The generosity of strangers has added a beautiful dimension to my class because I can show my students they aren't alone, that there are positive forces in the universe that can light up some of the negativity they are bombarded with on a regular basis. So for all of these things, I am, and will be, eternally grateful to your contribution.
Thank you.”
With gratitude,
Ms. McFaul
Lifelong Learners Created through the Love of Literature
Funded Dec 12, 2012I can not express how deeply moved I am by your thoughtful gift to my classroom. My students were astonished, thrilled, and flabbergasted at your generosity, and devoured the books you provided.
We read through Speak in four weeks, and they wrote incredible essays about the main character's changing attitude and the strength she garnered from her experiences. Ender's Game has allowed some lower-level students to really enjoy the hero's journey, and Copper Sun linked beautifully to To Kill A Mockingbird.
The quality and breadth of texts that you provided my students is invaluable, and I could never thank you enough. Rather than dread reading in class daily, my students got right down to work, following along and eagerly awaiting the next conflict that awaited the protagonists.
Thank you truly from the bottom of my heart for providing such a memorable and meaningful opportunity for my students. Thank you!!!!!!!”
With gratitude,
Ms. McFaul
Exuberant, Exceptional, Explication of Texts
Funded Oct 6, 2009There really aren't words enough to thank you for your generous donations. These class sets of texts are extremely beneficial, not just for MY students, but also for other students in this building—I am all about sharing the knowledge, and already over 150 students have been impacted by your generosity. This may not seem like many, but these students would not have been exposed to such high-quality academic literature without these books, and I really appreciate that I have these texts to share with them. I strive for excellence every day—even in this world where education isn't the most important item on the agenda—and want my students to do the same. Your thoughtful donation has inspired my students and shown them that there are still people in the world who care about their futures and their academic pursuits. This to me is a priceless gift. With these textbooks, students are able to learn about society around them and how easily it is to be manipulated if one is not educated. Students have read about other cultures, and are able to be just a little more aware of what is around them—and not just in their tiny social circles in their high school—but rather, more of a global perspective. Our school is going to go through severe teacher cuts in the next two years which will increase class sizes tremendously and limit our already limited resources even further. I really and truly value your contribution and cannot thank you enough. It really does mean the world to me that you have helped my students. Thank you. ”
With gratitude,
Ms. McFaul
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and 11 other donors.