Ms. Cloyd's Book Love Project
Donation protected
Friends, family, classmates, fellow book lovers, I am putting this out there and humbly asking for your help as I work on taking my students on a journey this year and for years to come. While I wait for my DonorsChoose.org project to be approved and posted, I wanted to go ahead and start my pleading now.
I am steering my students in a new direction this year, trying to get back to the lost art of reading. After interacting with a few fellow educators and reading a few books this summer (namely, “Book Love” by Penny Kittle, and “Readicide” by Kelly Gallagher), I have become determined to create a new environment in my English classroom this year. An environment that allows kids to read their choice of books and pushes them to grow and read books that will not only satisfy them, but will challenge them and encourage them. I know for sure that the year they spend reading in my class will have drastic effects on their futures.
“Approximately 50 percent of the nation's unemployed youth age 16-21 are functional illiterate, with virtually no prospects of obtaining good jobs.” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
“Out-of-school reading habits of students has shown that even 15 minutes a day of independent reading can expose students to more than a million words of text in a year.” (Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1988)
“To participate fully in society and the workplace in 2020, citizens will need powerful literacy abilities that until now have been achieved by only a small percentage of the population.” (National Council on Teachers of English Standards for the English Language Arts)
I am asking for help in any way that you can. You can donate books, you can donate money, you can order books and have them sent to me, and/or you can donate your time by coming to give a book talk to my students about one of your favorite books.
If you donate to my GoFundMe account, you can do that here and I will purchase the books that I feel are most needed first. Anything after that I will save for student requests.
If you want to donate books that you already have, you can drop them off (if you’re local) to the front office at Magnolia High School (I will leave a box with the receptionist), or you can mail them to the school if you are not local.
If you want to wait, I have a DonorsChoose.org project opening soon, in which donors can choose what to donate and for what purchases. I will share that link as soon as it is live.
You can find lots of recommendations for Young Adult books on Amazon, Good Reads, The New York Times Best-Sellers list, and more. I am looking for novels, memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, graphic novels, and more. They can be any genre, any length, and any subject. Think of what books you like now or would have liked to read as a 14-16 year old. Keep in mind, some students are below level, some are above, so I like to have an abundance of choices. The books do not have to be "Young Adult" books. Many YA books are below 9th grade level, and many students just aren't interested. In my experience, students are interested in any and all kinds of subjects - the same kind you are! They are into war, romance, fantasy, history, civil rights, vampires, zombies, dystopia, family struggles, rich people, poor people, immigrants, world changers, and so so much more.
What’s in it for you? Well besides giving the gift of knowledge, my students will write you a personalized letter when they finish a book, thanking you and giving you their reflection of the book they read. How cool will that be? You might even get a book buddy out of it!
If you donate your own books or purchase books to donate, I would love for you to include a personal message to my students telling them what you loved about the book, or about reading in general. This will also help me when inviting students to read certain books, especially if I haven’t read it!
Thank you for your help! I am so excited to start this adventure with my students this year.
I am steering my students in a new direction this year, trying to get back to the lost art of reading. After interacting with a few fellow educators and reading a few books this summer (namely, “Book Love” by Penny Kittle, and “Readicide” by Kelly Gallagher), I have become determined to create a new environment in my English classroom this year. An environment that allows kids to read their choice of books and pushes them to grow and read books that will not only satisfy them, but will challenge them and encourage them. I know for sure that the year they spend reading in my class will have drastic effects on their futures.
“Approximately 50 percent of the nation's unemployed youth age 16-21 are functional illiterate, with virtually no prospects of obtaining good jobs.” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
“Out-of-school reading habits of students has shown that even 15 minutes a day of independent reading can expose students to more than a million words of text in a year.” (Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1988)
“To participate fully in society and the workplace in 2020, citizens will need powerful literacy abilities that until now have been achieved by only a small percentage of the population.” (National Council on Teachers of English Standards for the English Language Arts)
I am asking for help in any way that you can. You can donate books, you can donate money, you can order books and have them sent to me, and/or you can donate your time by coming to give a book talk to my students about one of your favorite books.
If you donate to my GoFundMe account, you can do that here and I will purchase the books that I feel are most needed first. Anything after that I will save for student requests.
If you want to donate books that you already have, you can drop them off (if you’re local) to the front office at Magnolia High School (I will leave a box with the receptionist), or you can mail them to the school if you are not local.
If you want to wait, I have a DonorsChoose.org project opening soon, in which donors can choose what to donate and for what purchases. I will share that link as soon as it is live.
You can find lots of recommendations for Young Adult books on Amazon, Good Reads, The New York Times Best-Sellers list, and more. I am looking for novels, memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, graphic novels, and more. They can be any genre, any length, and any subject. Think of what books you like now or would have liked to read as a 14-16 year old. Keep in mind, some students are below level, some are above, so I like to have an abundance of choices. The books do not have to be "Young Adult" books. Many YA books are below 9th grade level, and many students just aren't interested. In my experience, students are interested in any and all kinds of subjects - the same kind you are! They are into war, romance, fantasy, history, civil rights, vampires, zombies, dystopia, family struggles, rich people, poor people, immigrants, world changers, and so so much more.
What’s in it for you? Well besides giving the gift of knowledge, my students will write you a personalized letter when they finish a book, thanking you and giving you their reflection of the book they read. How cool will that be? You might even get a book buddy out of it!
If you donate your own books or purchase books to donate, I would love for you to include a personal message to my students telling them what you loved about the book, or about reading in general. This will also help me when inviting students to read certain books, especially if I haven’t read it!
Thank you for your help! I am so excited to start this adventure with my students this year.
Organizer
Caitlin Cloyd
Organizer
Magnolia, TX