This week, we're helping to provide hands-on materials for a high school chemistry lab in Webb, Mississippi and a classroom set of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me for an Oklahoma City High School. We hope that readers who support quality public school education will help by sharing or supporting our featured projects.
The Inoculation Project is an ongoing, volunteer effort to crowdfund science and math projects for red-state public schools in low-income neighborhoods. As always, our conduit is DonorsChoose, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation that facilitates tax-deductible donations to specific, vetted projects in public schools.
Our new main project was recommended by our friend Eastern Bluebird. This never-before-funded teacher is requesting supplies for a high school chemistry lab. According to the Great Schools site, 99% of this Mississippi high school’s students are Black and eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
MAIN PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students the hands-on learning they deserve for Chemistry and the ability to apply what they learn in class into a real world setting.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: West Tallahatchie High School, Webb, Mississippi
Total: $392.76
Still Needed: $285.41 Completed, thank you! See you next Sunday!
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Pekari:
My Students: I teach high school students who are eager learners and are wanting to break the cycle of working for the family business. A lot of them are gifted in their learning while some are further at the back, needing more attention and focus to master the content. No matter where they fall on the scale, they all put their heart and soul into their work and try their hardest in my class everyday.
Most of my students are wanting to attend a college or junior college once they graduate.
Some are just looking forward to entering the workforce to help support their family. Either way, the skills they are learning are to better help them in the years to follow high school.
My Project: This proposal is for Laboratory equipment for high school chemistry. Labs demonstrate to students how interconnected the concepts that they learn are. Labs are necessary for students to apply what they are learning in class and help solve real-world problems and situations. Without the proper materials to implement a lab, science classes are slightly boring and students do not get the hands-on learning they should have. The objective of laboratory teaching is so students are exposed to first-hand experience in observation and manipulation of the materials of science is superior to other methods of developing understanding and appreciation. Laboratory training is also frequently used to develop skills necessary for more advanced study or research. I want to include these labs into the curriculum so that students are aware of all the things that Chemistry relates to and how problem solving in the lab can help them with problem solving in real life.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
We’ve already made lots of progress on last week’s long-term project! Here’s belinda ridgewood’s introduction: “This Oklahoma City high school (full name: Classen School of Advanced Studies) is a public magnet school that offers both an International Baccalaureate program and a Visual and Performing Arts program. I imagine many readers will join me in agreeing with Mrs. Barmann that the book she’s requesting would benefit her students of any background.”
LONG-TERM PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students diverse new texts to read. Between the World and Me is book that will get kids thinking and see the world from a more diverse perspective.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Classen SAS High School at Northeast, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Total: $611.54
Still Needed: $199.05 Completed, thank you!
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Barmann:
My Students: I teach at an inner city college preparatory and performing arts school. My students are high achieving global minded citizens. They are open to new experience and are engaged in their course work. They are driven by a will to succeed. They love learning and come from a variety of backgrounds. They are deeply committed to their education and to each other. They are part of the International Baccalaureate program. This means they take the most rigorous course available. They spend a great deal of time studying different texts and different cultures.
My Project: As a literacy teacher I am continually looking for engaging texts. Between the World and Me novel will get kids talking and seeing current issues in a new way. This text intertwines nonfiction with a literary approach, and is important in our understanding of different perspectives. The personal and frank perspective of Coates will help the students see the challenges of being Black in America. My students prefer to have hard copies of books and hopefully this book will be used for several years. Students will be reading in class and at home. We write and discuss what we read always connecting texts to global issues for greater understanding.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
A 2015 interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of Between the World and Me.
Last week’s main project — ”Energized” Learning — was completed with assistance from TIP’s readers. During the summer months, there is frequently a delay between funding a project and the teacher receiving notification, as appears to be the case here. We’ll post her thank you note after she gets the good news.
Founded in 2009, The Inoculation Project combats the anti-science push in conservative America by funding science and math projects in traditionally red-state classrooms and libraries. Our conduit is DonorsChoose, a crowdfunding charity founded in 2000 and highly rated by both Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau, among others.
Every Sunday, we focus on helping to fund science or math projects, preferably in neighborhood public schools where the overwhelming majority of students come from low-income households. We welcome everyone who supports public school education — no money is required!
Finally, here’s our list of successfully funded projects — our series total is 907! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.