Greetings Supporters!

I am now halfway done with my first year of teaching and wanted to share a long overdue update about the impact that your donation has had in my classroom.  

I teach Algebra to 25 9th grade students who are creative, unique, hilarious and intelligent.  They have all been placed in the Special Education program for one reason or another.  Several of my students are highly intelligent, but their emotional and behavioral problems prevent them from succeeding in a typical classroom environment.  Some of my students have more severe learning disabilities and need academic content to be presented in different ways or at a slower place.  The diverse learning needs of my students has been my greatest obstacle thus far as it has been difficult to present Algebra in a way that is accessible to such a broad spectrum of learners.

While every day has been a challenge, I have experienced many successes as well.  All of my students improved significantly on their mid-year benchmark exam for math and I even got to move one of my students to a General Education Algebra class based on his improvement!  

Before I entered my classroom for the first time, I was constantly hearing about how much teachers need to spend out of their own pockets to provide supplies for their classrooms, but actually setting up a functional classroom takes more than I could have imagined.  My school provided me with desks, a projector, and a laptop.  Everything else I had to supply myself- and I cannot express how much of an impact all of your donations made in that process.  I was able to buy individual white boards, white board markers, art supplies, name tags for desks, 25 notebooks, motivational posters, a giant number line, a timer, magnets to hang things on my white boards, HUNDREDS OF PENCILS (that were all gone within the first month), lined paper, graph paper, construction paper, printer paper, tape, a stapler, rulers, file folders, folders for student work, post it notes, two ball chairs for my ADHD kids, stress balls and other fidget toys.  All of these supplies has helped myself and my students immensely.  However, I want to elaborate on the impact of a few things that I would not have been able to provide without your help.

Individual White Boards:  These are expensive, and have been MONUMENTAL in engaging my students.  There's something about writing on a white boards with special markers and erasers that is way more appealing to students than doing work with paper and pencils.  We are able to use these in math games as well, where students can write their answers on the white boards and hold them up- this encourages everyone to participate by eliminating he fear of speaking the wrong answer aloud.

Art Supplies: My first month in the classroom was a STRUGGLE!  I came into my role with the expectation that I could treat my students like human beings and in turn, they would respect me.  Let's just say I was naive.  22 of my 25 students are male and it was like they could smell my naivety.  On top of that, most of them have behavior/emotional issues, attention issues, or both.  It was chaos.  Out of desperation, I began implementing meditation time for the first ten minutes of class.  I dimmed the lights, I turned on quiet music, and I passed out intricate "adult" coloring sheets to all of my students.  It was like a magic trick.   After focusing on something meditative like coloring for ten minutes, the dynamic in the room became so much calmer and students were ready to engage in the lesson. I was able to buy a large supply of markers and colored pencils and my students use them during meditation time every single day.  It has completely transformed my class!

Notebooks: Many of my students come from low income homes and have little parent involvement.  Through your donations, I was able to provide each of my students with their own notebook.  This eliminated stress for my students and their families- both financially, as well as the emotional burden of students having to explain why it's difficult for them to obtain materials.   I have also used these notebooks to build relationships with my students.  Every weekend, I write a letter to my students in their notebooks- providing feedback about their academic or behavioral performance, or just checking in on how they're doing outside of my class.  When they come to class on Monday, the first thing that they do is respond to my letter.  This has been instrumental in building rapport with my students and getting to know them on an individual level.

I have included several photos so you can actually see your donation in action in my classroom!  I can't thank you enough for your generous contributions!!!  It has truly made a difference for myself and my students.