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This teacher needs your help!

Ms. Nicastro from Holden, MA is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Ms. Nicastro is requesting

Reading America

Help me give my students diverse books to serve as windows and mirrors.

  • $976 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Keep the momentum going! Make a donation to Ms. Nicastro for her next project!

Help Ms. Nicastro

Keep the momentum going! Make a donation to Ms. Nicastro for her next project!

My Students

I teach at a large suburban regional high school. Our students span the range from college bound to students already running their own businesses to students hoping for a career in the military.

Each of my students brings his/her/their story to the classroom with them every day, and I hope to honor those stories while exposing our students to the stories of others whose lives are so different from theirs, so they can better understand themselves and their world.

For most of their school years, my students have read whole class novels written by and about white men (occasionally they are exposed to a writer of color or a woman). My students yearn for a more diverse educational experience, one that helps them to understand more about themselves and the world around them. They also seek more choices in what to read. Book groups have been great success, but I have been largely funding these myself and/or borrowing furiously from the inter-library loan. This project will help me to offer more choice and also offer cutting edge;, contemporary works that have real relevance to my students' lives.

My Project

Students need to read widely in order to see themselves and others in the world. Traditional texts rarely offer a view into the world through the eyes of writers and characters from diverse backgrounds. Only giving students access to books written by and about the dominate culture limits their understanding of the world.

These books will offer my students the windows and mirrors that Dr.Rudine Sim Bishop cited as crucial for development.

These books are all critically acclaimed, and they are challenging reads. My students will have opportunities for choice in reading material, book groups, discussion, writing and research.

In class so far this year, we've been studying and discussing our country's founding documents. My students fervently believe in the promise that "all men are created equal..." but the texts we read in the classroom contradict that point, because so many stories are left out. Students feel cheated and limited in what they know about the world and about lives that are different from theirs. My students of color rarely have an opportunity to read a book in class that features people who look like them, whose lives and/or histories might resonate, or even writers who look like them. My white students rarely have a chance to read about people other than those who look them and they are cheated as well, because they are not able to experience the richness of American literature and thought. My students are growing up in an increasingly diverse world and our reading in class should reflect that.

Ms. Nicastro Wachusett Regional High School Grades 9-12

More about Ms. Nicastro

Holden, MA View local requests 100 students impacted 1donor

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Expand the "Where your donation goes" section below to see exactly what Ms. Nicastro is requesting.

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
The Nickel Boys: A Novel • Amazon Business $11.25 30 $337.50
There There • Amazon Business $7.16 30 $214.80
The Astonishing Color of After • Amazon Business $8.95 15 $134.25
Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults): A True Story of the Fight for Justice • Amazon Business $8.43 12 $101.16

Materials cost

$787.71

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$11.82

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$829.53

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$146.39

Total project goal

$975.92

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $975.92

1 Donor

-$829.53

Donations toward project cost

-$829.53

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$0.00

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$146.39

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Nicastro and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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