Hurray for Donors Choose!!

Donors Choose rocks!  For those in the know, DonorsChoose.org is an online charity that helps teachers fund projects and supplies from pencils to microscopes.  Donors can choose (hence the name)  which programs they wish to fund based on need, location, or inspiration.  No contribution is too small.  In return, teachers post photos of students using the materials, write impact letters, and encourage students to send handwritten thank you notes - a rare phenomenon these days!

I heard of Donors Choose from committed colleagues for years, but this was the first time I actually requested my own project.  I wanted my students to read Sandra Cisneros's House on Mango Street.  I knew they would love the book but needed a class set of thirty.  Like most school teachers who endlessly pay out of pocket for classroom essentials, I didn't have a spare $450.  In the past I would have abandoned the project and stuck to the mind numbing anthology textbook, but not this time!  I went to Donors Choose.  Within five weeks, my project was fully funded and I had my class set of House on Mango Street.

My students just finished the book and as predicted, they devoured it.  Esperanza Cordero, the young Latina protagonist, spoke to my students with the rite-of-passage vignettes and enduring themes of home is where the heart is.  The ultimate testimonial: "I hate to read but this book was kinda cool, Ms. Dana."  

Thank you, Donors Choose!  I'll be back...

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/house-on-mango-comes-to-m-middle-school/996071/?rf=page_siteshare_2014_02_teacherid_1826523