This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
It's easy to tell a teenager to make something of themselves. It's another to be able to show them someone who already did it, and came from their same challenged circumstances.
My 10th graders, like Wes Moore, are stuck in a culture of poverty.
They attend a persistently dangerous, inner-city high school made up of 99% African-Americans. Less than 60% of their freshman class will graduate in 2013. Many of them receive free and reduced lunch, and live with foster parents or other guardians. However, despite these challenges, my students are relentless in pursuing their educations as a ticket to a better life.
If it's raining, they wait an hour for the city bus and come to school wet. If they don't have a computer at home, they schedule time to use the teacher's resources. The ask for independent reading suggestions, or help with job applications. Despite incredible challenges, both financially and emotionally, they are striving to finish school and pursue college degrees.
My Project
In an environment where reading is undervalued and often ignored in school curriculum, this book will offer students a high-engagement but challenging text that relates to their day-to-day experiences. Most of my students read at least 3 years BEHIND grade level, and need significant reading interventions.
Wes Moore is a story about choices. One Wes, the author, is a Rhodes Scholar, Afghanistan veteran, White House Fellow, and successful businessman. The other Wes Moore, a young man with the same name, is serving a life sentence for murdering a police officer. Both men grew up in similar neighborhoods in the west side of Baltimore City. Both come from single-parent households, and encountered drug culture, violence, and the effects of poverty on the opportunities allowed them. However, through this book, Wes Moore describes the choices and opportunities he takes in order to change his life path from one of prison to one of opportunity.
As 10th graders, my students are at a crossroads.
They are starting to see more appealing options on the streets rather than in school, and this is a crucial time to reinvest them in reading, and in making positive choices that could permanently alter their life paths.
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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. Bacon and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.