Funded Nov 18, 2009I was so excited the day I saw that you chose to support my students that I could hardly wait until the materials arrived to announce your generosity to them. All year, my students have been working and pushing to achieve two years of reading growth in just one year. When we started the year, each of my three classes averaged right around the fifth grade reading level, and these are seventh graders, so we knew we had our work cut out for us. Half-way through the year, each class had reached at least the sixth grade level. Still, there were a few individuals who were just stuck. They weren't finding books they wanted to read and they were having a really hard time focusing on their reading in class. Then, when the CD players and books with CDs that you purchased arrived, I had a real option for these students. You really put smiles not only on my face, but also on those of many precious middle-schoolers.
The first day I used the listening center materials, I gave four students from each class special passes to come to my room during lunch. I chose students who had struggled to improve their reading scores and who I noticed often preferred to read with a partner or aloud to themselves rather than reading independently. I explained that they were now a special part of my listening team, and we spent some minutes looking at the brand-new CD players, books, and CDs you provided to us. They asked me if they could get started reading their books right then, and of course I said yes! From then on, we've had a rotating group of three students in each class who are able to spend 15 minutes per day enjoying reading in a way they never have before. It has been a pleasure to watch how such a kind gesture on your part has led to such motivation on the part of my students.
As you will see in the students' thank-you notes, these students are some of my most literacy-challenged students, not because they refuse to read, but because they did not have chances to thrive in reading and writing over the past eleven or twelve years of their lives. Now, they have that chance. These students love reading the books you gave. Recently, I had to miss a class for another meeting, and one of the young women who has been using the CD players and reading Linda Sue Park's A Single Shard came up to me first thing the next morning to tell me the substitute let her listen to her book the whole hour. She was so thrilled to tell me all about the characters' antics and how much she enjoyed reading along as she listened to the story. Thanks to you, she and many others are developing a true passion for reading in a new, pertinent and meaningful light. ”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Carlson