Novels and Notebooks for Ninety!

My name is Ms. D and my intention is to raise money for composition notebooks and novels for the ninety students that I teach.

 The Middle School at which I am currently a first-year, 8th grade Literature and Writing teacher is classified as a D letter-grade institution by the Louisiana Department of Education. I am a product of the school district that I currently serve, and therefore I am deeply invested in the advancement of low-income, minority public education in this city. As a first-year teacher, I have experienced the abundant joys of delivering complex, thought-provoking lessons and cultivating meaningful relationships with my students.

It distresses me to note, however, that the foremost obstacle that I face in my classroom is a lack of resources with which to teach. The majority of my students lack the financial means and parental support to purchase notebooks and pens for each class that they take. Also as a literature teacher my current state of inaccessibility to a sufficient number of novels to comprise a class set (thirty-five) impedes my ability to study a text with my entire class. Accordingly, I feel that it is my responsibility to provide my students with these critical resources by my own means, and hopefully with a bit of help from you. 

Our class wish list is short and sweet:

-90 marble composition notebooks
-90 folders
-90 blue, green, and red pens
-35 David Copperfield novels by Charles Dickens
-35 Hatchet novels by Gary Paulsen
-15 Fahrenheit 451 novels by Ray Bradbury

The majority of my students read and write on 3rd to 5th grade levels, despite their placement in the 8th grade. It is my philosophy that my students will progress the most rapidly if they are constantly prompted to read stimulating texts and to respond daily in a formal, written context. Your contributions will directly promote the development of adolescent minds!

Thank-you.
-Ms. D