It's not a secret that I love what I do, and being in a classroom surrounded by fun-loving Harlem children gives me life! This year, I want to do so much more for them. This year, I want to open their world to infinite possibilities. Our classroom has a speaker, a computer, a tablet, and my personal cell phone.

I’m hoping to raise some funds to:

1) pick up a go pro camera to start “a day in the life of a student” mini-documentaries. Students will be able to walk all over the building and record a full day as a student. We would use Luma Fusion to chop and edit the videos.

2) I’d also love to pick up a tiny drone to film aerial shots of our class for our Word Duels competitions and for our Grammar Raps sessions. This year, Grammar rappers can earn an entourage and backup dancers. These ideas have taken on a life of their own, and students own and control these games I created when I first started teaching.

3) I’m also interested in picking up baby robots that we can code to build small robot cities for STEM mixed with social-emotional learning. These tiny robots are about 175 USD each. Maybe 3 or 4 of these guys, and we can share them in groups. Just like the “take home an egg and treat it like a baby” project you remember as a kid, only this time we use robots.

4)I’m also interested in picking up a 3D printer to print out our avatars that we can use to make our own personalized chess sets. It would be cool to have a Mr. Robles “Knight” piece, along with pieces made in the image of our classmates! I like the idea of students seeing their progress in subject areas by watching their 3D-printed avatars moving across the entire classroom.

Mainly, I want technology in the hands and hearts of our black and brown children. I want them to use tech to explore their limitless and boundless creativity and imagination. I want to show them that there is no limit to what they can accomplish with the time we have left together in the fifth grade.

I’m a massive fan of Afrofuturism. Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, philosophy of science and philosophy of history that explores the developing intersection of African diaspora culture with technology. We don’t even know how amazing our planet can be until our black and brown children get involved, and for that, they need access to the basic building blocks of the future.

We appreciate any contributions you can make! 1000 was the suggested ask, but we’re teachers. We can do SO much with WAY LESS! One dollar per friend can cover the costs of upgrading our class in fantastic ways!