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Mr. Bender's Classroom

  • Raoul Wallenberg Trad High School
  • San Francisco, CA
  • Half of students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

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Past projects 6

  • California History, Milking Goats and Making Lifelong Friendships

    Funded Dec 30, 2019

    As a special educator of more than 20 years, and more than 10 years with Donors Choose, my practice is once again dramatically enriched by a group of generous and caring others unknown to us! As our students return from their winter break, my partner teacher and I will be able to announce the good news that our project is fully funded, and we will be able to visit all of the fun sites available to us only if we have transportation. Without your support we would not have been able to visit either the goat farm or have our games day and picnic lunch in the county park. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and can't wait to share photos and thanks after the trip in late May.”

    With gratitude,

    Mr. Bender

    This classroom project was brought to life by An anonymous classroom supporter and 24 other donors.
  • Overnight Field Trip to Light House & Harley Goat Farm

    Funded Dec 29, 2018

    My faith in the inherent generosity of my fellow humans is once again validated, as I well knew it would be. My many years on Donors Choose have taught me that the world is full of generous people with open hearts who support students and schools, especially our beloved special ed students and their programs. Once again, my teaching is given another shot in the arm from the generosity of others unknown to me or my students.

    This project is especially gratifying to have funded, as it brought our students and staff together for an overnight field trip, which just brought us all even closer together. We went to the Harley Goat Farm, where students learned about milking goats and making cheese, as well as a day in the life of a milking goat. Students especially loved holding the baby goats, as our photos will attest, even if our boots got very dirty! (Something many of our city students had never experienced before!)

    After our picnic, games and hiking in San Pedro County Park, where an intermittent light drizzle did nothing to dampen our spirits, we went on to the Montara Light House youth hostel. After receiving our bed assignments and making our beds, staff and students reconvened to make our dinner of tacos, salad and homemade cookies. This was especially fun for the many students who had never helped make tacos or cookies before!

    Speaking of student firsts, for most of our students, this field trip is the first time they have spent a night away from families, which is a very profound experience in the life of a young adult. We teachers and para-professionals are so grateful that families trust us enough for this, and are likewise grateful to our donors for providing so much of the funding that allows this to happen. Please look for our page come September, as we will count on you yet again.”

    With gratitude,

    Mr. Bender

  • A Fun Way to Learn to Walk

    Funded Jan 4, 2018

    We are so happy to have our trike, even though it comes with challenges. The very first ride, taken by an 11th grader, involved a minor crash! The student was so excited he took a turn too tight and too fast and went over on his side while out on the blacktop! Thankfully our intrepid classroom staff was right by the student's side, and was able to mitigate the fall so that nobody was injured, not even a little bit.

    Of course this crash event was a learning experience for students and staff, and all of our rides since then have been safe, fun and crash-free. At least one student rides the trike every day, either during PE or to go shopping at the local Safeway, or just for a cruise around the blacktop basketball court. The trike is so maneuverable that we have also started to use it to run errands inside the school. Talk about raising the profile of my students within the school! Teachers, administrators and most importantly my students' general education peers give our cyclists high fives and a wide smiles as they come tooling down the hallways!

    Thanks, dear donors. It was a very gratifying experience as a special educator to have such a high-priced item funded. Now, onto that second trike. How can we have races with only one?”

    With gratitude,

    Mr. Bender

  • My Day, My Life

    Funded Jan 27, 2017

    With this new camera our students can independently take pictures and videos of their work at school rather than depending on others with smart phones to do their shooting for them. Our non-verbal students engage in a variety of activities in their classroom, throughout the school, and while out in the community working on their communication skills at local businesses. This technology will allow them to document their hard work and share their experiences in a way that is meaningful and fun to them, as well as making it easier for friends and families to understand what we do all day.

    This technology will help students to learn story editing, as it will allow students to tell the story of a day in their life with a beginning, a middle, and an ending. With help from our fantastic classroom staff, students will identify different elements of pictures and videos, and then write captions and dialog boxes that describe the activity pictured or represented in video. For example, students will keep photo albums throughout the school year, then fill out worksheets describing the Who What When and Where of the photo. In this way, students will create a chronological story of the work they do at school.

    One student named M. with spastic quadriplegia especially likes the new camera. The feature that has most engaged him is the fact that the camera has a remote shutter control that his occupational therapist can adapt in such a way M. will be able to use his gross motor arm movements and an adapted switch to shoot a picture when he wants. No more waiting around for help to take a picture!

    Thanks, dear donors, for your kindness. This old teacher is amazed anew by the goodness and generosity of our fellow citizens.”

    With gratitude,

    Mr. Bender

  • Special Olympics Awards Banquet

    Funded May 5, 2015

    Our Special Olympics Awards Banquet has been a tradition in my classroom for many years, and this year was one of the best ever, thanks to you. The feeling of excitement in the room was contagious as students returned in groups from the Track and Field event at Kezar Stadium, with the Clare's Deli sandwiches and Martinelli's Sparking Cider spread out on tablecloths, and pictures and videos from our training sessions over the years cycling across our big screen. Every student knows that they will be called up to receive their individual award, always to sincere and enthusiastic applause of fellow students and staff. Also, all that enticing food!

    If you don't eat in high school cafeterias often you may not understand the impact of being served something better than average, and how this delivers the message to students and staff that their efforts are valued by their school and community. It is also a memorable way of thanking our peer mobility partners who have been attending trainings with students all year. Students go from shy to proud when they are made to feel special after a joyous event like Special Olympics. After what is for many a physically grueling day, to be served delicious and plentiful sandwiches from Clare's Deli only enhances the sense of how special each of our students and staff members are.

    Thank you!”

    With gratitude,

    Mr. Bender

  • Conservatory of Flowers

    Funded Dec 27, 2014

    My students love field trips and hands on experiential learning. Even within our classroom, new material is always presented using multi modal, dynamic and interactive strategies. Having the opportunity to travel to a new environment to support a unit in plant biology provoked many comments from students: MC used his talker to say "I love it!" AG chose from a group of 4 messages to say, "My favorite part was the carnivorous plants room!" KA-E used her natural voice to say that "Rolling on the hill" was her favorite part. (Fortunately this was done outside the conservatory in Golden Gate Park!)

    This project continues to enhance student learning and nurture staff enthusiasm even weeks later. We dissected a pitcher from our own classroom pitcher plant, with students first having predicted what we'd find inside, and students knew what to expect, even weeks after our field trip. Having the luxury of riding a school bus rather than using public transit allowed teachers to arrive at the Conservatory fresh and focused on supporting student engagement with the curriculum. Lastly, the delicious picnic lunch made every student and teacher feel valued and special. Thanks so much, fabulous donors!”

    With gratitude,

    Mr. Bender

Thank you for helping the hardest working adult students in San Francisco Unified School District! In this Access and Transition class, students and teachers work every day to increase student independence, meet IEP goals, and to optimally integrate each student with the most appropriate community resources. Your support makes that journey more dynamic, successful and just plain fun! Thank You!

About my class

Thank you for helping the hardest working adult students in San Francisco Unified School District! In this Access and Transition class, students and teachers work every day to increase student independence, meet IEP goals, and to optimally integrate each student with the most appropriate community resources. Your support makes that journey more dynamic, successful and just plain fun! Thank You!

About my class

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