invest in my 9th grade english class (mervo)

“Now I get why you wanted us to highlight and annotate so much, so we can have evidence for our essay.”

“I never thought I would like writing but that’s changed.”

“You’re the first teacher who doesn’t treat me like a problem to be solved.”

Teaching is very rewarding. It is also extremely difficult. And where I teach, the challenges often seem intractable. Many of those who entered teaching with me quit within that year. There’s a teacher shortage and a sub shortage, too. It is common for teachers to have second jobs.

Last year, my students got a better classroom because of you. You got them enough highlighters. You got them their own free-write journals, which they wrote in every week (“I forgot how calming this is,” read the beginning of a journal entry from one student who had skipped school for nearly a month prior…). You got them lined paper. You got the oil diffuser and so the class smells like bergamot all the time. The plants, the posters, the library of books, the fresh coats of paint, all you. You got what was for some of my students the first croissant they ever tasted (on a field trip to get library cards and see original Tupac poems he wrote as a 9th grader in Baltimore).

You gave 100 kids a better chance of liking school.

People assured me, during my first year as a teacher in this city, that I would be crying all the time. I didn’t. Well actually that’s not true: there were a lot of happy tears. And the first time that happened was when this GoFundMe worked out. Two grand alleviated so much last year. This year, I am asking for 15 bucks per kid for the entire year. Please give what you can.

Consider making your donation to honor a teacher who made a difference in your life for the better.