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The Inoculation Project 12/18/2022: Ending the Year with a Bang! [1]

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Date: 2022-12-18

YEAR-ENDS IN MIRROR MAY BE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR New Year’s Day is two weeks from today! As always, if you’re thinking you wish you’d made a few more charitable donations in this tax year, DonorsChoose can help. If you make a donation now, as an “account credit” [at this link], the donation counts in this year, but you need not scramble to figure out which projects to support. You have one year to use your credits to support teachers of your choice; any you don’t apply within a year, DonorsChoose will apply for you in support of urgent projects.

Well, Inoculation Project fam, next Sunday is Christmas, and the Sunday after that is New Year’s Day. I looked for the last time this happened — it was 2016, and we did a cooperative thing where nomandates prepared a diary and I hosted it in the morning while she did a family thing, then she came back and I went away. Anyhow, nomandates has other issues occupying her right now and can’t shoulder any of this. I think I will post a diary on Christmas at the usual time, but I may not be around to tend it at all times. I know you all know what to do without my help! I expect it will be a quiet day in any case. But I will wish happy holidays now to all readers who celebrate anything at this time of year!

And, I am doing an unusual thing here: I’m posting two projects, that I think are likely to hold us for a couple of weeks, but I am going to suggest you apply the whole amount you might otherwise split to Project #1 this week, and then Project #2 next week. Why? Project #1 has only this week left — it expires on Christmas. It still has a fairly large amount needed, but not, I think, an insurmountable one. If we create a good stir, as we did last week (see the thank-you box below!), I think there is a decent chance we can attract the rest of the money that cannot come from us. Anyway, it’s worth a shot.

This Florida middle school teacher has a story sadly familiar to us by now: Her diverse class would be more interested in reading if they had books with diverse characters, but plainly the school’s not paying for that!

PROJECT #1 Project: We Deserve Relevant Engaging Books Resources: Help me give my students my students engaging books that will motivate them to read. Economic need: An Equity Focus School; more than half of students from low‑income households. Location: John Hopkins Middle School, St. Petersburg, Florida Total: $733.75 Still Needed: $ 458.75 $388.75 Project description by Ms. E.: My middle school students are very resilient students. My school is located in a low income community. Many of my students come from homes struggling to make ends meet. With that, my students bring a lot of their experiences into the classroom. They are powerful, brave, and important. They love learning about issues that affect them, and they are very solution driven. I am requesting new books which are essential to engaging my students in the world of literacy. They have expressed that if they had interesting books, they would be more interested in reading! DONATE HERE Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference! A couple of the many books being requested. x x YouTube Video x x YouTube Video

This never-before-funded teacher has engineering students at a Mississippi vo-tech high school who need technical calculators to do their work.

PROJECT #2 Project: Calculators Needed in Engineering Classroom Resources: Help me give my students 13 calculators for problem solving in order to solve math related problems in Engineering class at the school. Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households. Location: Canton Career Center, Canton, Mississippi Total: $529.47 Still Needed: $ 319.47 $284.47 Project description by Dr. Osho: My students need calculators to facilitate their learning, in Engineering class we undertake subjects that require mathematical calculations. These calculations are not such that can be done without calculator, to complete the task, they wait on each other to use the only calculator in class, sometimes i allow them to use the calculators on their phone for those who have one. With calculators, each student will be able to undertake the mathematical calculations independently and build their interest to improve the calculator skills which will translate in high test scores. The calculators will also help nurture my student's interest in math problems which usually arise in Engineering, Physics, and Math related problems. DONATE HERE Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference! This is the calculator model needed. x x YouTube Video

Surprisingly, to me anyway, BOTH of our projects from last week were completed! Project #2, in particular, surprised me because it was quite substantial. We’d have finished it up in another couple of weeks, probably, but instead, that other thing happened — we created enough activity on the project that the DonorsChoose robot started showing it to other people who visited their site, because if all of US liked it, surely OTHER people would too! And they did! Project #1, A Microscopic Experiment: Mrs. Cotton wanted her Jackson, Mississippi middle school students to have a microscope and some basic lab supplies to help them do microscope lab projects. She writes: On behalf of my students and myself we say thank you, thank you, thank you! Because of your donations to us, we are now able to have a classroom science lab that is convenient, and most importantly, ours! We are very appreciative of your generosity and support for which you all have bestowed to us. Project #2, AP Reading Library: Ms. Roberts teaches high school AP English in Georgia, and she’s been trying to get her students a collection of distinguished literature by diverse authors. She writes: Thank you so much for your continued support. Your generosity allows us to continue to provide diverse opportunities for our students to engage in learning as they continue their educational journey. I can not wait to offer these amazing opportunities to my students when we return from break next semester.

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 1008! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/18/2142361/-The-Inoculation-Project-12-18-2022-Ending-the-Year-with-a-Bang

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