Past projects 39
New Technology for a New School of College-bound Students
Funded Sep 14, 2010It has now been two months since my classroom received the printer, cutting boards and mats, ink cartridges, paper, and more. I'm happy to let you know that all of these supplies are making a huge impact both on my classroom and in my entire school. Especially the printer has created a buzz amongst my students. It's amazing how something as simple as nice printer can make them feel like someone is watching out for them.
I regularly print out the high quality work my students make, and it serves as a motivating factor to be able to say: "if you demonstrate significant improvement or create an impressive project, I'll give you permission to print it out on the large format printer." They love it. From fine art pieces to recycling signs, to computer art, the printed results can be seen all around our campus. Recently a student even used it to print her posters for a professional play production.
Teachers also benefit from the supplies you donated. They regularly come to my classroom to make use of the cutting boards, paper cutters, and large format printer in order to print out student work, signs, posters, and charts that will enhance and celebrate student learning in their own classrooms.
The teachers and students at my school appreciate your dedication to supporting urban public school art and technology programs and we hope you will continue to serve as advocates in the future.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Key
Bring News Into My Classroom to Get Ready for College
Funded Aug 19, 2010Thank you so much for your generous contribution to the class set of Upfront magazines for our classes. We have already received six issues and the AP US History teacher uses Upfront at least once a week as the basis for discussions of current events and to broaden students' worldviews. Many of our students have never traveled outside our immediate area and both the international and domestic coverage in Upfront has helped broaden their perspectives to prepare them to create their own political art projects. Students' reactions to Upfront and general excitement about politics was one of the motivators behind a recent project in the AP US Government class in which students crafted their own campaign advertisements before the 2010 midterm election.
Our school, like many others right now, is currently struggling financially and there's no way we would have been able to afford these important resources without your help. We don't have enough textbooks for students in many core classes, so our students are used to reading from photocopied text. Because of your support, we have enough copies of Upfront that each student can have a color copy to work with during class time.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Key
Oil Painting and College Ready Art History Research
Funded Dec 17, 2009Thank you so much for your support. Your generous donation has made the art project my students are currently working on their favorite of the year. Let me update you on what we have been up to. I teamed up with the Spanish teacher, who was teaching a unit on the Mexican Muralists. Her essential questions were:
- How is art used to create social commentary/reform?
- How does art create culture and community?
I thought this overlapped perfectly with my desire to teach students about art history and oil painting techniques. First we visited murals by Diego Rivera in San Francisco and studied "Los Tres Grandes" of the Mexican Muralist movement. The juniors then worked in groups to plan, design, draw, and enlarge a mural telling the story of their founding year, using the style and symbolism of the Mexican Muralists.
Currently, students are writing artist statements in Spanish that explain the meaning of their mural and connect it to the research they have done about Rivera, Orozco, and Siquieros. In art, they are using the paints, brushes, and canvases Donors Choose purchased with your contribution to create a mural 9 feet tall and 16 feet long. It is made up of over 80 individual panels! The mural will be installed in the entrance of our permanent site this summer.
Because of your donation, students are engaged and excited to collaborate effectively, conduct research, write in a second language, and express themselves creatively. You are an integral part of them building important college-going skills and confidence. Thank you so much, and I hope you will continue to support Donors Choose projects in the the future.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Key
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and 12 other donors.Digital Photography Tells the Story of Our Path to College
Funded Sep 30, 2009The digital cameras are out of the boxes and into the hands of my students! Thank you so much for your contribution. Due to changes in our curriculum map, students haven't yet been able to take the cameras into their neighborhoods. However, they've been put to use in another worthy cause.
This fall, all of my juniors studied the American Dream and how it compares to the "American reality" by reading immigration novels, researching immigration law through US history, and developing their own mixed media artists books. One of my students wrote: "by studying this topic I realized that success is not given to everyone, and that even hard work and determination doesn't always get you the American Dream. But I do know that of all the people we interviewed, going to college can result in the biggest chance at a better life."
One of my most challenging students wrote the following: "I really appreciate your donation of digital cameras because it gives us more of an advantage to not only do more fun things, but also gives us a different way to learn."
This spring, students will use the cameras to document their communities and create photographic combines that mix civil rights history with current movements. They couldn't do this without your support. Thank you so much for choosing to support arts education. It really makes a difference in the lives students and the teachers who teach them!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Key
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and 10 other donors.Fashion Design for Equal Access to a College Education
Funded May 14, 2009After all this time, I am writing this official thank you to let you know what a difference your donation made in my ability to offer this fashion design project to my students! The project was one of my students' favorite, and my students explored issues around equity and access to college. With help from the organization World Savvy, we expanded our scope to include stereotypes and immigration, since both of these heavy topics influence how teenagers see themselves as college ready graduates. They unpacked the complicated and rigorous content by writing, acting, and finally designing.
Their final t-shirt designs were a hit. A group of 20 students modeled them in a fashion show held at a major museum. The music to which my students walked was an original song recorded by other students at my school. We took powerful lines from "I am" poems the students wrote and edited them into a spoken word piece entitled "Am I a Walking Billboard?"
I hope you see how your donation helped this project balloon into a major event for my students which inspired many of them to realize that art can "be about something" and can "change people's minds." Thank you for supporting their learning. I hope you will remain an advocate for integrated arts education.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Key
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and 5 other donors.Professional Art Supplies to Inspire My Top Students
Funded Dec 6, 2008Wow, the notification that this project has been funded by you really made my day. I just woke up and checked my email, and there it was: "your proposal has been funded!"
The timing couldn't be better! I'll be taking the students I wrote about in my grant proposal to Pixar Studios for a tour in two weeks. They'll see how working artists are using the same professional markers that they'll get to start using. Thank you so much for your generous donation!
Sincerely,
Joe”
With gratitude,
Mr. Key
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and 5 other donors.Masks and Shakespeare Launch Us to College
Funded Mar 25, 2009Thank you so much for your support. The paint and brushes you donated added the final, vital, touch to the masks and enabled us to complete this project successfully. As you can probably tell from looking at the 6 photographs, our students loved it! Studying Shakespeare in high school always bored and confused me, but our students' reactions to Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, couldn't have been more positive. 100% of the students wrote character analysis essays, 100% made masks, and 100% performed on stage. That is over 250 students whose educational experience you have profoundly affected.
Our project culminated in a 2 hour "exhibition night," when more than 400 community members came to the school to hear and watch students present their masks, dramatic scenes, and essays. Parents said it was their favorite night of the year. They found it amazing that their children actually seemed to like Shakespeare, and felt completely at ease explaining it to them. To feel successful while reading some of the most important Western literature will stick with my students and empower them as they read more challenging texts in high school and in college.
I hope you will continue to support education and all the teachers, students, and families eventually affected by your support.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Key
This classroom project was brought to life by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and 4 other donors.Screen Printing Supplies
Funded Dec 19, 2007Thank you so much for donating the final amount to cover the screen printing supplies. We'll get right to printing after the holiday break.
Because DonorsChoose keeps your identity confidential, I can't thank you by name, but I would like to”
With gratitude,
Mr. Key
Beats In The Bronx
Funded Dec 5, 2007Thanks to your support we did it! It has been a year-long haul of concerts, fund raisers, emails, bake sales, and donations, but in the end the Bronx High School for the Visual Arts will be the proud recipient of a professional DJ and PA system.
I hope you realize just how vital your support will be in the education and quality-of-life for my students. The prospects of performing their original music in my music classes and at public dances and gatherings has already resulted in better participation and enthusiasm in my classes. Students have already started asking questions about when they can start learning how to use the turntables, microphones, mixer, lights, and speakers.
Thank you so much for your support. I hope you will continue supporting educators like myself who are in need of funds and partners!
Yours in education,
Joel K
Teacher, Bronx High School for the Visual Art”
With gratitude,
Mr. Key