Note: I did receive permission from the SDMB (twickster in particular) to start this thread.
As some of you may know, I teach at an urban charter school in Phoenix, Arizona. We don’t have a proper library, and as such the only “library” we have is contained on the shelves in our classrooms. I’m also one of only four teachers to have such bookshelves in a classroom, so our kids’ choices are pretty slim.
I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could help me out by donating some used books to my classroom library. I will take just about anything. However, if I were buying books myself (which I have, many times), I would focus on:
-Young Adult novels
-Novels by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and other authors of the horror/thriller genre
-Novels by Jodi Picoult
-Anything of the Steampunk genre
-High interest non-fiction (military stuff is great; chemistry textbooks aren’t!)
-Books about art (especially urban art)
-Graphic novels
At the suggestion of twickster, I am building an Amazon wishlist. It is going slowly, but I should have it up tomorrow.
If you can help me out, please respond to this thread. I’ll PM you our school’s address when you do.
Oh, sorry. I teach high school, so 14-19 year old students. We have a HUGE range of ability here. Some kids are at grade level, but most are about 3 grade levels behind. Young adult books really are the best level for them, but some need “high-interest/low-vocabulary” books to really be able to understand them.
We also have a HUGE Hispanic/Mexican population, so books that deal with those cultures and histories are great.
Will you post a link to your Amazon wishlist when it is up?
Please send me the school address. I’m assuming you can use any generic teacher ‘goodies’ such as pencils, reward stickers, post it notes, and the like.
I’ll go through the littlest Bluth’s shelves next weekend; he’s a freshman and has outgrown his YA. I’ll ask for the address once I’ve rounded stuff up.
This is a great thread; I hope you get a bunch of useful stuff
Dung Beetle, that is fine by me. Anything that is not pornographic works for my classes. I don’t believe in much censorship, so almost anything goes in my room!
I would take both graphic novels and just plain comic books. I just worry about comic books lasting through more than a couple of readings; after all, these are teenagers who are going to be handling them!
Please pm me your school address. I’m being riffed this year And I have a huge personal library that I just cannot take with me. I think I can manage to send you a decent-sized box or two.
On another note, if anyone has any second career ideas for an English teacher, feel free to offer them up. My current hope is to do something with animals of the furry variety as opposed to the high school variety.
Good luck, and enjoy the books I’m including a series of Bluford High- they are high interest/ low reading level, and boys tend to enjoy them.
I’d just like to say thank you to all of you who have responded to my thread so far. I appreciate everything that all of you are doing for me and my classroom, and this really helps me in a tough economy!
Hah! I’ll find room for whatever gets sent to me. I currently have two 3x6 bookcases and a 3x4 case that are only halfway filled, and I can steal more of those out of other rooms as needed.
My biggest issue next is getting library tracking software and a barcode scanner. I might be able to get my principal to spring for that using grant money, but it will take some sweet-talking!
And I have a huge personal library that I just cannot take with me. I think I can manage to send you a decent-sized box or two.