The Paw Print Newspaper: Woke Literacy

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$50

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By Chloe Brown

Mastery Charter Schools Foundation

Category: Education

Class Size: 800

Grade: 7th - 12th

The Description

Please support Mastery Charter Schools- Shoemaker Campus official student driven newspaper: The Paw Print! With the current social political climate, the threat of "Fake News" and the era of Woke-ness, it is imperative that the next generation is equipped to research, discuss, digest and disseminate qualitative new media.

As a Special Education teacher at Mastery Charter Schools- Shoemaker Campus, I serve lower income Black and Brown high school students in Philadelphia. Many of my students have learning, emotional and cognitive disabilities. These students are 2 to 4 grade levels behind their white peers in literacy. Additionally, they often struggle to recognize primary sources, reliable research, op-eds versus fact based information. Furthermore, in the age of social media and the effects that is have on the news landscape, it is the responsibility of educators to prepare students to navigate a world where constituents derive belief systems in a soundbite.

Your contributions will continue to fund the newspaper and broadcast journalism extra-curricular activities for the student body. Students will gain on-site training, participate in public speaking, engage in their communities all the while increasing the visibility of their student voices. Students will be taught how to research, interview and write articles for the paper. Additionally, students will learn computer literacy, Photoshop and In Design programs. Furthermore, students will utilize social media outlets to create an online presence for the school. All of these efforts will be in hopes of creating a space for students to becomes culturally and politically aware. Funds raised will go towards printing the newspaper, camera equipment, press passes, journalism notebooks, tape recorders and much more.

The statistics do not lie. Lower Income communities have less resources and less opportunities for the people who inhabit them. Zip codes should not define educational outcomes. The time could not be more crucial for students to become aware of and engage in the social political climate that creates real systemic barriers for people of color. Philadelphia is the bedrock of social change as it is the birthplace of of nation's creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." My students are eager to engage in the communities around them and it is my responsibility as their teacher to adhere to those needs and provide the tools. I am eager to see the world that they shape and I hope you are too.