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Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Choose Donors Choose!

If you didn't already know, I taught in the Chicago Public Schools for three years before moving to St. Louis. And if you didn't already know, it's rough being a teacher in the CPS. Why? Well, I could create a long list of the reasons why, but I'll just tell you what I learned to do most.

I learned to advocate for my needs as a teacher in terms of resources. My first year of teaching, I received thirty-seven books ($324) to use as mentor texts in writing. My second year of teaching, I received a kidney table ($263) where I could instruct small groups in reading, writing, and math. My third year of teaching, I received an interactive whiteboard ($2,298) so that students could learn to use technology; I also received a grant that helped me purchase $500 worth of books for my classroom library; and I also received a $700 grant that would help pay for a field trip for my class.

Wow. That adds up to $4,085!

So when I moved to St. Louis, I wasn't about to give up on receiving free materials that would help my students succeed in the classroom! Have you heard about DonorsChoose.org? It's a website where public school teachers can post project requests which range from a writing utensil to technology and generous donors donate to these projects! It's where I received my thirty-seven mentor texts, my kidney table, and my interactive whiteboard! Some of my donors were anonymous, some were strangers, and some were family and friends! It doesn't matter if you know them or don't, because all of these donors have hearts of gold!

Well, my fifth year of teaching comes along and I thought I'd try asking again for a generous donation: I asked for twenty-five exercise balls to help students channel their innate need for movement on these ergonomic chairs! Since these balls require balance, students are constantly engaging their core muscles, and helps students focus at the task at hand! (Read more about my request here: http://www.donorschoose.org/mrs.gh) It has only been a couple of weeks, but we have already set up specific rules/norms on how to sit on the balls and when sitting on these balls might be more advantageous to our bodies.


We can't wait to reap the benefits from these wonderful resources in our classroom! And now I'm up to $4,547 in grant money! :)

1 comment:

  1. Hi Genie,
    The community you have built on your blog is so lovely. I wanted to reach out because I am the community manager for the USC Rossier School of Education. We are wrapping up a blogger link up contest about classroom supplies that ends this Monday. I see that you are raising funds for your classroom and I was wondering if you would be interested in submitting your post into our contest. We are looking for classrooms that have a genuine need for additional supplies, and I feel that your classroom is a fit for this contest. The reality is that the average teacher spends $485 out of pocket for classroom supplies each year. The #ClassroomProject gives a voice to educators who are spending money out of pocket. This is an exciting contest for K-12 teacher bloggers to win one of 30 prizes that total more than $3,000 to purchase classroom supplies You can click here for more information: http://rossieronline.usc.edu/the-classroom-project-classroom-supplies-for-teachers-contest/ or feel free to reach out to me directly at erika.phyall@usc.edu. Thank you so much for sharing about your classroom with us, and I hope you join The Classroom Project!

    Sincerely,

    Erika Phyall
    USC Campaign Manager
    erika.phyall@usc.edu

    ReplyDelete