When you're a teacher, you count down with anticipation to the start of the new school year. Internally you speculate about the upcoming crop of kids you'll be dealing with. You reminisce in your mind about the 'best years' and the 'worst years', even aren't above praying you won't have one of those 'worst' ones this time around. Mentally, you think about the gaps in your supplies and begin to marshal resources. Now, that I'm retired, I know as sure as Labor Day rolls around and the country settles into another school year, Shannon Sansom, Librarian Extraordinaire, will post a Donor's Choose project for us to support.
This year we are buying biographies for her high poverty, rural area, elementary school library. And, no, the State of Texas does not provide enough funds for her school to buy very many new books. And, when a school is located in a high poverty area, there are very few bake sales and fund raisers run by the PTA as in high and middle income suburban schools to raise money for school library books.
This Donor's Choose Project started me thinking about biographies I've read. First, this is not my favorite genre, and I actually have only one period in my life when I read them almost non-stop. I was in elementary school and somehow got on a biography reading binge. The first bio I remember was one of Clara Barton. I suppose I was about ten years old, and while the idea of being a nurse didn't appeal at all, the idea a woman, a 'girl' in my terminology of the time, could achieve something so great as forming the Red Cross resonated with me. I quickly combed the school library for every other woman's bio I could find. Of course, in 1960 there weren't many, but there were enough to make me realize there could be other avenues in life than the one modeled by my housewife/part time working mother. Children today still need to receive that revelation: "There might be something different out there for me."
I dislike shilling for money, and I never use this blog to fund raise EXCEPT for this one donation I ask my readers for each year. As always my request is easy to ignore, but if you do, at least wince at little when you complain about your school taxes or how 'bad the public schools are' this coming year when YOU could have done something positive to make a difference. Your donation can be anonymous as well as tiny - $5 will do. More is graciously appreciated. So, click on the link already and check it out. Vetted, verified, and you can be certain your money goes where it says.
http://www.donorschoose.org/project/were-looking-for-a-hero/1652021/?utm_source=dc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=teacher_favorite_new_project&rf=email-system-2015-08-teacher_favorite_new_project_readmore&utm_content=project_read_more
