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The Inoculation Project 10/30/2022: Freedom Writers and Spike Prime [1]

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Date: 2022-10-30

Welp. As you know, from time to time we take up very ambitious projects here. There are many reasons for this, but one is, we’re stalling. We’re approaching some completed-projects milestone for which we want to do something special, but we can’t make that happen for a while yet. That’s what’s been going on here lately — nomandates and I agreed that we would celebrate our thousandth completed project the Sunday after the elections, so I was trying to slow down the pace at which we approached that mark.

But there is no slowing down the donors at DonorsChoose, certainly not our community here, but also the thousands of other people who go there to help teachers! So today, we have some new projects, and on Sunday, November 13, we’ll have a party, and in between that time, I guess we’ll be working on projects 1,001, 1,002, and so on! If I started saying thank you to all of you now, and kept it up for two weeks, it would get boring and still not be enough, so I’ll shut up now. But THANK YOU!

Here’s a never-before-funded Dallas high school teacher, who feels that the classic (and periodically-banned) book The Freedom Writers Diary can connect with her students and inspire them. We have the help of matching funds from Walmart, Inc: This donation will make a difference in the lives of the children in the Dallas, TX community. Walmart deeply cares about providing students with the resources they need to succeed and is proud to help teachers fulfill their classroom wishes.

PROJECT #1 Project: Freedom Writer's Unit Resources: Help me give my students a great learning experience by reading Freedom Writers. Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households. Location: L.G. Pinkston High School, Dallas, Texas Total: $647.19 (2x matching funds from Walmart Inc.) Still Needed: $ 647.19 $547.19 ($274 from us) Project description by Ms. Bonelli: Unfortunately, English is not a favorite subject amongst many students; therefore, it is a matter of selecting texts that are more modern and something that they can wholeheartedly relate to. The Freedom Writer's text is one of eminence for various reasons and one that my students can identify with, simply as individuals, connect with the culture of the characters, and input themselves into the environments. This text and unit will make students more engaged and enthused to learn, overall, improving and enhancing their writing and reading comprehension skills when testing. DONATE HERE Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference! The Freedom Writers Diary has passed its 20th anniversary, and the requested 20th-anniversary edition is expanded to tell about the lives of the former students who wrote the original diaries. x x YouTube Video This Tedx talk is by Erin Gruwell, the book’s author and the teacher who decided to try to change the lives of her failing students by getting them to read and write. It’s 18 minutes long but I think it’s worthwhile. (I note that The Diary of Anne Frank, the book the class first read, has also been banned in some school districts — they’re pretty predictable at this point, but no less dangerous.) x x YouTube Video

Here’s another very ambitious project, that is nonetheless do-able because of a matching funds grant we are awesome. These El Paso middle-school students will love working with Lego’s Spike Prime robotics kits. Matching funds from The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation: In celebration of Season 6 of Young Sheldon on CBS, The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation is thrilled to support STEM projects . (Overnight, the matching funds vanished, so this’ll be a bit of work!)

PROJECT #2 Project: Enhancing STEM Knowledge and Skills Resources: Help me give my students Lego Spike Prime robotics kits to enhance their STEM knowledge and skills. Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households. Location: Guillen Middle School, El Paso, Texas Total: $954.65 Still Needed: $ 954.65 $904.65 Project description by Dr. Morales: My students are lifelong learners and have an incredible amount of energy. They are very inquisitive and enjoy applying mathematics and science to real world examples. Robotics allows them to do so. The Lego Spike Prime robotics kits will allow my students to enhance their STEM knowledge and skills with an authentic example. The Spike Prime robotics kits would also put my students on a trajectory towards college and career readiness. My students will utilize the engineering design process to document their robotics experience. In addition, they will make presentations to our school community. The acquisition of these Lego Spike Prime robotics kits would be a win-win for our students and school community. DONATE HERE Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference! A brief overview of what’s in the requested Spike Prime kit made for classrooms. x x YouTube Video And a quick look at a sample small project. x x YouTube Video

Our projects from last week, projects 999 and 1,000, were completed! It’s worth noting that, as with many of the larger projects we pick, those had been sitting for weeks with little or no action and were approaching their deadlines. We may or may not donate every dollar to such projects, but we also create the activity on them that makes them visible to other donors. So, we done good! Project #1, STEM Resources to Support Our Future Inventors and Innovators (our 999th): Mrs. Moreno needed materials to allow her San Antonio 5th graders to do STEM projects. She writes: Thank you for your donations and choosing my project to support. My students deserve to have access to high levels of learning and the best resources. It is because of your generosity that I can use the resources to elevate my teaching and to push my students to be innovative.​ Project #2, Imagination Is Neverending (our 1,000th): Ms. Davis teaches 2nd grade at a North Dakota school whose students are primarily from the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa people. She wanted her class to work with 3D pens to bring their creative ideas into being. She writes: Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. My students will be elated to learn how to use the 3 Doodler. This project would not be possible without donors like you. I cannot express the thanks from Donors Choose and Donors like you. Thank you from the future scientists and engineers of Ms. Davis’ second grade class.

DonorsChoose has developed the designation Equity Focus Schools to describe some schools that submit projects. They meet two criteria: at least 50% of students are Black, Latinx, Native American, Pacific Islander, or multiracial, and at least 50% of students qualify for free or reduced price lunch, the standard measure for school economic need. You can read more at the link about their efforts to address the longstanding inequity in education.

Founded in 2009, The Inoculation Project combats the anti-science, anti-education push in conservative America by funding science, math, and literacy projects in red-state public school 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.

Every Sunday, we focus on helping to fund projects 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... 1,000!!! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.

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