Past projects 26
Mic Check! More Talk for Our Multilingual Learners
Funded Nov 9, 2024Thank you for your support to get this professional audio recording gear for my classroom. My students were impressed at the range of equipment they had to experiment with. While there was a learning curve navigating the technology and figuring out how to make each piece of equipment work seamlessly with school computers, but it was a great learning project. They were excited to have tools - especially for them in their classroom - that would help them to record high-quality podcasts on topics of their choosing about their heritage. With this, their voices could be heard loud and clear and the passion for their culture evident. Your support is essential to help make creative, personal projects come to life for my students without delay. Thank you again!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Moffett
This classroom project was brought to life by Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation and 6 other donors.Seeing Ourselves and Others: Intersectional Multimedia
Funded Apr 5, 2021The full return to school buildings this fall has been quite an endeavor. But resuming in-person learning has also brought back exciting opportunities for collective inquiry and discovery. Particularly with the events of the last two years, many of our teachers have sought to update their curricula and ensure it is relevant to our current times. Having a diverse range of resources and materials is essential to help break away from more outdated lessons that do not include the most representative array of historical figures. And readings alone simply do not capture the interest of today's student. Videos do. PBS documentaries are quality films that are informative and also come in episodic format so that teachers can space out topics for students to learn. Now our video library can count of having documentary series such as Black in Latin America that tell a wide range of lesser known stories from the past. Thank you for your help to bring these necessary perspectives to my classroom and my colleague's classrooms for our students to learn from.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Moffett
This classroom project was brought to life by Booz Allen Hamilton and 3 other donors.Seeing Ourselves and Others: Intersectional Multimedia, Part 2
Funded Mar 25, 2021The full return to school buildings this fall has been quite an endeavor. But resuming in-person learning has also brought back exciting opportunities for collective inquiry and discovery. Particularly with the events of the last two years, many of our teachers have sought to update their curricula and ensure it is relevant to our current times. Having a diverse range of resources and materials is essential to help break away from more outdated lessons that do not include the most representative array of historical figures. A personal hero of mine is the late civil rights and labor activist Grace Lee Boggs and her story of activism intersects with famous causes such as the Black Power movement, feminism, and environmental justice. She is the kind of inspiring lesser-known historical figure who our students deserve to learn from and look up to. With award-winning documentaries like "American Revolutionary" and "And Then They Came For Us," we can now help tell the stories of Grace Lee Boggs and hundreds of incarcerated Japanese-Americans in their own words. Thank you for your help to bring these captivating stories to my classroom and my colleague's classrooms for our students to experience.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Moffett
Clean and Clear Air for Learning
Funded Aug 18, 2020This has been a whirlwind of a school year and the challenges are still far from over. Back in August, we simply did not know what we do now. We were blindly trying to prepare for a new school year start like one we could never have imagined before. And to do so without strong guidance nor leadership from those holding the purse strings. I am grateful that, as donors, you support teachers simply aiming to prepare themselves and their classrooms to welcome students as safely as possible under such difficult conditions. There's so little we can control, but we do our best within our small four walls. Your donation helped me and my colleagues to prepare as best as possible for the short-lived re-opening of high schools here. And though progress has been made in school-provided safety supplies as we now face the prospect of re-opening again, I'm more comforted knowing that I have additional supplies on hand to better ensure the safe conduct of at least my classroom and those in it. Thank you once more for your support in these unpredictable times; it means so much particularly now.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Moffett
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 8 other donors.Clase De EspañOl: Live and in Color!
Funded Dec 7, 2019It has been an eventful few months, and I apologize that this thank you is overdue. Your support allowed my world language classroom to live in color, as it deserves. I was able to print many a classroom handout, table reference sheet, and student project with vivid, real-life colors. It was particularly essential to have color ink available for our project where students created a magazine article about a famous Latinx person and Spanish speakers in school. This project also had a focus on graphic design components as part of showing how visual communication goes hand in hand with written communication, in any language. Without color ink, these magazine articles would have been far duller and not be able to match the level of creative expression my students could produce. Included are photos from one project in particular that stood out because of its amazing design and that the student could easily show off to peers during our project presentation & exchange event because it could be printed and held like a real magazine page. Although our teaching is all virtual now, I can't wait for the opportunity to help students be able to show off their hard work with pride in person again. Thank you for your support of classrooms like mine before and now as we adapt to these new remote learning realities.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Moffett
New Air For Our Classroom Learning
Funded Dec 28, 2017Thank you so much for your part in contributing to this project to refresh my teacher technology. Truly, it has helped the last few months of lessons fly by so much more seamlessly. The old computer I used lagged with every click, which meant potentially losing the already short attention spans of today's fickle teenager. Connecting to projectors to screen material on the board or printers and scanners to create handout after handout for students are both tasks that I don't have to wonder anymore whether they will be the last straw for an aging computer. Most importantly, the fresh battery in the new laptop allows me to stay easily mobile around the classroom and school without needing to remain next to an outlet or carry a power adapter to the many rooms I teach in. Now, I'm able to continue to be wherever my students need me and can quickly demonstrate useful learning resources or translate something for ease of communication without delay. Thank you for your generous support of my work!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Moffett
Picture Dictionaries to Unlock Academic Success for ELLs, 2
Funded May 18, 2017Thank you for your help in bringing colorful, easy to use content vocabulary building materials to my students. These picture dictionaries and workbooks go so much further than your standard bilingual dictionary. While naturally, the bilingual dictionary has more individual words, these content area-based picture dictionaries provide specialized vocabulary organized thematically and by subject area. And the topics actually match our curricula! That almost never happens! :)
In short, this series is my favorite resource in quite some time, and I'm still figuring out plenty of ways to incorporate it into my teaching. I finally have get difficult conceptual vocabulary to stick with them!
Thank you again for your generous support of my classroom and students' learning.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Moffett
All The Better To See You, Ms. M!
Funded Mar 30, 2017It was wonderful to be able to help bring my students the gift of improved vision through this special project. I wasn't sure what to expect hosting the event, but you'll be surprised how little is needed to set up a mini eye doctor's office in a classroom! My students were rather tickled at the whole process, particularly meeting the doctor, seeing the eye equipment, and trying on frames. And, as middle schoolers do, they enjoyed comparing each other's terrible vision abilities and make jokes while waiting for their turn.
The vision professionals who came, though, were wise to the antics of middle schoolers. And even better, the optometrist had some Spanish language proficiency. This was particularly heartwarming to me because she could communicate with my very limited English proficient students of Latino heritage to make them feel comfortable during the exam and ensure the exam would yield accurate results.
Even now, months later, it brings a smile to my face to see them during class taking out their glasses from the lovely carrying case that came along with the delivery from Warby Parker in order to better see the board. They are proud to sport these stylish glasses, and I'm happy that they can be proud glasses wearers like me!
Thank you so much for your support of this initiative and special project!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Moffett
This classroom project was brought to life by Warby Parker and 5 other donors.Picture Dictionaries to Unlock Academic Success for ELLs
Funded Apr 5, 2017Timing would have it that this letter is arriving during the giving season. However, you've already prove that the spirit of giving is all year long, and I'm grateful that my classroom and students were the recipients of your generosity. There is no magic recipe to teaching nor helping my students decipher the English language. Each year I find myself searching for new approaches when the old ones don't seem to be as effective for the new kind of child who walks into my classroom every September. These content picture dictionaries have proved to be one successful new approach that I believe my students can benefit from for many years to come. It's a simple concept, but sadly a resource that's not a given or guarantee in every school building. And so, I am grateful for you once more to step in, helping a teacher like myself procure materials ahead of the curve when it comes to find effective new methods for my students.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Moffett
This classroom project was brought to life by Aspect Ventures and 6 other donors.Keep Our Classroom Printer Toned and Fit!
Funded Dec 11, 2016My classroom printers are humming along and lesson materials can be produced without interruption. As a traveling teacher this school year, I've had to re-produce anchor charts and reference materials for multiple classrooms. With a fresh supply of paper and toner, I can have handouts and copies available for my students whenever they need them. Color paper makes differentiating materials that much simpler, especially when communication gaps are a factor. If publishing essays for display, it's that much easier to include all my students' work. This reduces anxiety for students without access to such technology at home, but who equally want to show off their work. The ability to print work also eliminates the struggle of grading papers written in messy, hard-to-read kid handwriting, too! (Now if only we could get those keyboard typing skills up to par!) But again, a working printer and paper stock is by far the most important tool for a teacher, and your generosity has helped to ensure this supply is maintained. Thank you!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Moffett
This classroom project was brought to life by Quill.com and 8 other donors.