The Author

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I am a high school English teacher, and mother of two charming little ones of my own. I teach in a high poverty urban charter school, while I live in a typical American suburb that has frequently been rated one of the safest cities in the country. It is a paradox I struggle with constantly, but it is my life.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

I need a benefactor who loves reading...

 So, here is what I am looking for...  a very wealthy person who thinks that reading is extremely important and will give money to back it up.  Anyone know of anyone?

So, here is the situation. Many of my students are way below reading level, and our school purchased an excellent program this year to get students reading and get them up to grade level. It has been very successful and there have been great successes. We'd really like to celebrate these successes to keep them on track and send the message that progress in reading is worth celebrating and a huge accomplishment. I am looking for some way to celebrate for them, and while I can do paper certificates or something like that, I would love for it to be something more for those students who deserve to be recognized.

Pizza hut has a cool program called BookIt, but it only goes up to 5th grade. Do they not think that teenagers need motivation too?

Here are some of my ideas, in order from simplest to most idealistic:
- An ice cream party at school ($200-$300?)
- A special luncheon for them, maybe here, maybe at a local restaurant ($500-$1000)
- A Chuck E. Cheese field trip for the students. I know that sounds funny for high school, but I still think they would like it. It is like $7 per student, but we would need money for a bus too, so it would be like $1000.
- An ice cream social, but give them all an awesome, significant gift, like a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card to get them started on books for next year. ($2000-$3000)

So... anyone know someone who would want to be my benefactor?

1 comment:

  1. I love to read but am not wealthy... Sounds like a great idea though. Good luck and I hope you find some help. I wish I had a teacher like you when I was in high school.

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