Past projects 42
What's Eating Oscar Wao?
Funded Sep 9, 2015Thank you so much for your contribution to my classroom. With your help in acquiring the books that are necessary to teach this unit, I am able to begin discussing with my students the complexities and nuances of the Dominican immigration experience, as well as the struggles of growing up as a teenager. This book will serve as a preview for the kinds of books my students will read in college, due to its heavy content, rich figurative language, and intriguing subtexts.
It is with your support that my students are able to develop their critical thinking skills so that they may put them to good use in the years ahead. Thank you.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Okamura
From Swimming in the City to Surfing the Pacific Ocean
Funded Mar 23, 2015Thank you so much for your contribution to the From Swimming in the City to Surfing the Pacific Ocean project. With your help in renting the pool needed to train my students how to swim, we were able to get them to surf the waves of the Pacific Ocean.
The students were incredibly happy to have the opportunity to learn how to swim and understand the basics of water safety. As a result, many of them would become confident surfers during our trip to Santa Cruz, CA.
It is with your support that my students are able to expand their horizons and see the possibilities of life outside of what they normally see on a daily basis.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Okamura
Breathing Life Into The Struggles Of Oscar Wao
Funded Aug 19, 2014Thank you so much for your contribution to my classroom. With your help in acquiring the books that are necessary to teach this unit, I am able to begin discussing with my students the complexities and nuances of the Dominican immigration experience, as well as the struggles of growing up as a teenager. This book will serve as a preview for the kinds of books my students will read in college, due to its heavy content, rich figurative language, and intriguing subtexts.
It is with your support that my students are able to develop their critical thinking skills so that they may put them to good use in the years ahead. Thank you.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Okamura
From Swimming in the City to Surfing by the Shore
Funded Mar 15, 2014Thank you so much for your contribution to the From Swimming in the City to Surfing by the Shore project. With your help in renting the pool needed to train my students how to swim, we are one step away from getting them to surf the waves of the Pacific Ocean.
The students were incredibly happy to have the opportunity to learn how to swim and understand the basics of water safety. Hopefully, many of them will become confident surfers during our trip to Santa Cruz, CA.
It is with your support that my students are able to expand their horizons and see the possibilities of life outside of what they normally see on a daily basis.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Okamura
This classroom project was brought to life by AT&T Foundation and 9 other donors.Unpacking Bioethical Dilemmas
Funded Dec 5, 2013Thank you so much for your contribution to my classroom. With your help in acquiring the books that are necessary to teach this unit, I am able to begin discussing with my students the complexities and nuances of the bioethical issues in medicine today. This book will serve as a preview for the kinds of books my students will read in college, due to its heavy content and academic language.
By employing the use of a medical dilemma as described by Anne Fadiman's "The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down," I plan on giving my students the opportunity to think deeply about the clash between language, culture, and medicine.
It is with your support that my students are able to develop their critical thinking skills so that they may put them to good use in the years ahead. Thank you.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Okamura
Let's Talk About Race!
Funded Aug 13, 2013Thank you so much for your contribution to my classroom. With your help in acquiring the books that are necessary to teach this unit, I am able to begin discussing with my students the complexities and nuances of racial discourse in America. This book will serve as a preview for the kinds of books my students will read in college, due to its heavy content and academic language.
The main ideas in Beverly Tatum's "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" will serve as an intellectual frame for students to contextualize their own experiences as adolescents growing up in a society that judges them based on how they look. This unit will segue to the next unit, where I will teach "Native Son," by Richard Wright, a seminal book in African-American literature that indirectly touches upon many of the issues Tatum's book.
It is with your support that my students are able to develop their critical thinking skills so that they may put them to good use in the years ahead. Thank you.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Okamura
From the City to the Shore
Funded Apr 4, 2013Thank you so much for your contribution to the City to the Shore project. With your help in renting the materials needed to make this surf trip possible, my students were able to experience the ocean in a way that they have never before experienced.
The students were incredibly happy to be equipped with surfboards, boogie boards, and wetsuits to ride waves. Many of them were able to stand up on their surfboards throughout the day's surf session in Santa Cruz, CA. Some of them wanted to come back the next day and surf some more!
It is with your support that my students are able to expand their horizons and see the possibilities of life outside of what they normally see on a daily basis.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Okamura
Completing the Non-Fiction Book Club
Funded Feb 12, 2013Thank you so much for your contribution to my classroom. With your help in completing this Non-Fiction Book Circle unit, I was able to assign books appropriate to each student's interests and needs. The students are eager to begin reading books that have been chosen for them in genres they may not have read before.
The students will be assessed through an in-class essay with a prompt unique to each book that they have been assigned. This assessment will measure how well they can apply the author's main argument in the book on a problem relevant to their own lives and that of their communities. Throughout the next few weeks, I will be teaching the students strategies that will help them understand, organize, and apply the author's analytical lens toward issues outside of the text. In any case, I am sure they will enjoy the books that you have purchased for them.
It is with your support that my students are able to develop their critical thinking skills so that they may put them to good use in the years ahead.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Okamura
Completing the Circle - Literature Book Circles for Juniors
Funded Jan 21, 2013Thank you so much for your contribution to my classroom. With your help in completing this Book Circle unit for my 11th grade Humanities class, I was able to assign books appropriate to each student's interests and needs. The students are eager to begin reading books that have been chosen for them in genres they may not have read before.
The students will be assessed on a book review that they will write which analyzes the author's purpose, plot structure, characters, and the author's prose. We will begin working developing the skills necessary to write a compelling review over the next few weeks.
It is with your support that my students are able to develop their critical thinking skills so that they may put them to good use in the years ahead.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Okamura
Learning About The Horrors Of War Through Heaven And Earth
Funded Nov 25, 2012Thank you so much for your contribution to my classroom. With your help in completing the classroom set of "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places," I was able to kick off the second semester of the year with a heartbreaking memoir of a woman who survived the Vietnam War.
Throughout this 6 week unit, the students will explore the complex history of the Vietnam War and its effects on everyone caught up in the war. In addition to learning the historical context of the novel, they will be exploring the various complex themes of the novel. At the end of the unit, having read the book in its entirety, the students will be assessed on structured 30-minute literary discussions in small groups.
It is with your support that my students are able to develop their critical thinking skills so that they may put them to good use in the years ahead.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Okamura