Adopt Angela's Classroom

My sister Angela, for those of you who don't know her, teaches 7th grade at John Burroughs Middle School in Los Angeles. JB is a public school and as such, doesn't have a lot of money. And while Ang teaches in the magnet program, which means her kids are classified as gifted and talented, most of her kids don't live in the neighborhood around the school. Most of them are dropped off by carpools or by the city bus. Some of these kids ride the city bus for hours each day just to get to a "good" school. And JB is a good school. It's full of teachers who care, kids who are funny and smart, and people who want it to be the best educational experience possible for everyone who walks through the doors.

But just because they want to be a good school and are doing their best doesn't mean they can without money, plain and simple. Already this year Angela has spent way more money than she can afford to create the best learning environment for her kids, and it's a lot less than we spent over the past three years in Yuma. For example - we have created this great unit around the novel Al Capone Does My Shirts. I bought a classroom set of the books two years ago - thirty novels. But this year Ang had to go out and buy ten more novels because her class sizes are huge. She could have just had the kids share books or skipped the unit all together, hey, it wasn't in the state curriculum anyway, but she chose not to because she wants her kids to enjoy reading, to know what it's like to hold a book and experience a story with their eyes and their ears.

So why am I telling you all this? Because Ang has signed up with a website that will allow you to adopt her classroom. You can donate a dollar or a hundred or more. And every penny that's donated goes straight to her. Better yet, every penny that's donated will be matched by a corporate sponsor. She's chosen a proxima (a fancy projector that will allow her to create PowerPoint presentations out of her lesson plans) for her donation project, she wants her kids to be able to experience lessons with the best technology available. Technology these kids would never see in most of L.A.'s schools. But in her classroom, with your help, maybe they can.

Go to Adopt-A-Classroom for more information and to help me in adopting her classroom!