Donors Choose Drive 2016

Seeing as how it is Columbus day and all, I was struck by a thought. Why not focus this years’ efforts on schools which serve significant numbers of Native American children?

So I went searching and apparently this is not easy to find on Donors Choose’s site. [UPDATE: Use ‘reservation’ in their search box and you can find quite a number.]

But I also recently saw a quote attributed to Saint Mother Teresa that said “If you can’t feed a hundred, feed one.” Kind of meaning, if you can’t do it all, this is no reason to fail to act.

New Mexico[UPDATE 10/10: Fully funded! Strong work everybody! Page down for more projects.]: I would like to invite you to contribute, in any way you can, to the classroom of Mrs. Lucero. She teaches 6-8 graders at Native American Community Academy in Albuquerque New Mexico, a high poverty school.

Excited, energetic and brilliant kids walk into the room each day eager to engage and share in the lesson. Working with a group of students who represent multiple Native American tribes is refreshing and fulfilling. Our students enrich our classroom as they weave knowledge of their culture and pride into the work and projects they produce in class.

Working in a school that not only provides 100% free lunch, but the opportunity to grow in their sense of identity is truly amazing.

Though many of our students may struggle with balancing a challenging home life with school life, they have high ambitions and we want to help them achieve!

Mrs. Lucero is asking for support to purchase measurement tools: Triple beam balances, compact scales, thermometers, meter sticks….. Oi.

As you know folks, these are the sorts of materials that were just…..available….in many of our schools growing up. If you are like me, reading over these requests lists is painful to see how our communities are refusing to support what we feel are the basics of education in the public schooling systems.

Please consider a donation, no matter how large or small. Every little bit counts and gets this project closer to completion.

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Arizona: Ms. Gover’s classroom serves 5th grade students in a highest poverty school in Indian Wells, AZ. She is looking to expose her students to a wider range of literature.

My students are excellent scholars. They have all grown up on a Native American reservation. For some of them, the reservation is all they have known. Each student travels no less than 15 miles to get to school every day. Some students travel down dirt roads to reach their bus stop.

For my students, literature is the best way to not only explore their imagination, but places around the world.

These books will expand their horizons and take them places they would never think was possible.

I was a big reader as a child and was lucky to have a household that was filled with books. Although the biggest disappointment I have as a parent is that my kids aren’t even remotely as big of readers as I was, our household is able to provide them with just about anything they would care to read, one way or another. Can you help give this high poverty classroom a few more books?

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Wisconsin [UPDATE 10/10: Fully funded!]: Mrs. Dillon teaches 6-8th graders in the high poverty Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa School in Hayward, WI. Her special education students need a large table to do their projects on.

My students live on the reservation. The reservation has a school that receives students from K-12. My students are in special education. I have students in 6-8th grade. We inclusion these students into the regular education classroom, giving them support with a special education teacher.

My students live in low income housing.

They see crime being committed almost every day in their neighborhoods. They are needy, looking for attention in every way. They appreciate anything you do for them. Some students do not get full meals at home, so the students get free breakfast and lunch at school.

A table, my friends.

I have students in and out of my classroom on a daily basis. We have group many times during the week. I have a very small table to work with these students. Their papers and projects overlap each other. This makes it very difficult for special education students to focus on their work. I am asking for a longer and wider table for the student to work on. With this table, they will be able to work in an organized fashion.

In an America that is great, teachers would not have to solicit funds for a basic piece of furniture. But here we are. Can you help, just a little, to move this project to completion? There is a Best Buy donation match on this project so your donation counts twice.

How do you respond to not being cited where appropriate?

Have you ever been reading a scientific paper and thought “Gee, they really should have cited us here”?

Never, right?