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This teacher needs your help!

Mrs. McGillem from Oakland City, IN is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

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The Meaning of Generous? Let Me Look It Up...

My students need 30 copies ( a class set ) of the 'American Heritage Student Dictionary'.

  • $650 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

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Help Mrs. McGillem

On any given day when I send a student to the dictionary, my request is met with moans and groans, and then I spend 15 minutes explaining the meaning of the dictionary entry. I teach 7th grade language arts, reading, and remediation at a small rural school. This is my second year as a teacher, and I am doing all I can to make each learning experience as fun and meaningful as I possibly can while functioning on very limited resources.

I see a large part of my job to be preparing these 7th graders to be life-long learners. That means teaching them where and how to find information that they need, along with instilling within them the desire to find out. These students have, overall, a reading vocabulary and comprehension level that is much lower than the level at which my current dictionaries are written. I don't like to tell them everything, because I want to be able to empower them with the ability to find the answers to their questions. Unfortunately, however, what I end up doing the majority of the time is repairing their egos and trying to reignite their curiosity. A typical entry in the dictionary set that I have now overwhelms them with information, listing the most obscure definitions alongside the everyday meaning, breaks up the sentences with numerous added notes that disrupt the flow of the reading, and doesn't give clear examples, usages, synonyms, or antonyms. The cover of the dictionary boasts that it "includes words in today's news, current events discussions, and textbooks," but the copyright date is 1972. Nothing about it is current anymore!

I would love to have in my room at the students' disposal a classroom set (30) of the American Heritage Student Dictionary. This is the updated 2006 edition, with 65,000+ words, age-appropriate definitions with simple etymologies and sentences that show the words in context, and it also has more than 2,000 full-color photographs, drawing, and diagrams! I would venture a guess that most of my students have never laid eyes on a dictionary that is written for their age group, and can already envision the volunteers that I would have to look words up, rather than having to "appoint" someone each time. The moans and groans would change to calls to "Pick me!" and the frustration from lack of comprehension would disappear, leaving in its wake a feeling of empowerment at having taken an active role in learning new information.

Your generosity will help to ensure that my 7th graders have a chance to have accessible, attractive, current reference materials at their disposal for everyday learning. Please help me make a difference!

Mrs. McGillem Waldo J. Wood Memorial Middle School Grades 6-8

More about Mrs. McGillem

Oakland City, IN View local requests

More than half of students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

75 students impacted 3donors

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
AMERICAN HERITAGE STUDENT DICTIONARY -- American Heritage Student Dictionary • Quill Corporation $15.29 30 $458.70

Materials cost

$458.70

Vendor shipping charges

 $45.87

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$11.47

Fulfillment labor & materials

$17.00

Total project cost

$533.00

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$117.00

Total project goal

$650.00

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $650.00

2 Donors

-$553.00

Donations toward project cost

-$533.00

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$20.00

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$97.00

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

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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 Mrs. McGillem and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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