My Students

I teach middle school ELD in a high poverty, underserved community with a college graduation rate of 6% as compared to the California average of 31%. Over three quarters of my students are socio-economically disadvantaged and learning English as a new language. Many are refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Others have families from Mexico and Central America, who moved here for economic and educational opportunities.  In spite of the adversities they face, my students come to school resilient, determined, and motivated to learn. I encourage my students to set their goals high and to see college as the expectation, not the exception. I believe an excellent education makes the difference between a life spent in captivity or a life of freedom. Literacy is the gateway to all learning. Therefore my primary goal is to educate and empower students so they have a sense of self-determination and a voice. They can then use their voice to transform their communities and the world. I believe that with the support of a school and a community, my students will soar and defy the expectations their neighborhoods and society often set for them.

My Project

The PUERTA (Pursuing University Education through Reading, Tenacity, and Aspiration) Program creates a vital home-school literacy link by providing home reading materials to children who do not have appropriate books available at home and allows the family and community to become an integral part of their children’s reading education. In addition, the program links literacy to the pursuit of higher education.

Project Objectives:

• The student will establish a habit of nightly reading and increase amount of time reading outside school.
• The student will increase reading vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.
• The student will read with parents and siblings, getting families excited and involved in their child’s literacy development.
• The community will have the opportunity to serve as reading tutors to increase students’ reading achievement.

The concept of PUERTA is that reading is the “gateway” to college. Travel totes will be provided as “travel bags” containing three books of interest as well as related activities. These bags will be tailored specifically to English Language Learners in grades 7-8. Students will check out the bags and take the books home to read, with students telling parents about the book when they complete it. Parents will use a “retelling scoring guide” to help themdetermine how well students told them about the book. Students can retell either in English or their primary language. When students have completed the entire book bag, they complete a PUERTA form. The kick-off to the PUERTA Program will be a parent night in which details of the program are explained and the retelling of books modeled. Upon returning the bag to school each student will get a hole punched in his/her “Frequent Reader Card”.  Short and long term incentives will be provided to encourage students to practice good reading habits. These will include free books as well as trips to local universities. These funds will fund transportation to Fresno State for a tour of the university upon completion of the program.

Back Up Plan