Raffi and DonorsChoose.org

(In case you don't know Raffi - not possible, or need some listening tunes while you read)

My sincerest apologies for the length of this post.
It's longer than most.
If you're not a fellow teacher, donor, or Raffi - you probably want to go visit some other site now.
Heck, if you are a teacher, you probably have your own "why".

I've had this post rattling around in my brain for some time now.
I've put off writing for several reasons.
Mostly, because, it's summer.
And I'm trying desperately to have a teacher summer.

One where I actually stop working on school stuff for a while and use summer as a verb.
I'm playing Matron Mama Morton in Chicago.
And traveling.
And moving.
And applying for doctoral work.

So you know, I'm keeping busy. ;)

But my gratitude for DonorsChoose.org runs deep - and with a special passion project being fully funded recently, I felt like sharing why:

To start, I'll have to take you back.
Way back.
WAY, way back,
All the way back.
To 5th grade.
I was 10.
Changing schools for the third time.
Not to mention being the only student of color in my entire k-6 school.
With two moms.
Being adopted.
Let's just say - 10 was a lot.

So when my letter arrived from my new teacher - I was surer than sure that she was old.
With a name like Mrs. Willard, she had to be right?
Imagine my surprise, when a young first year teacher picked us up outside.
And of course, as most teacher stories go - changed my life.

Karen, was, and remains to this day, the greatest teacher I will ever know.
How she wrangled 32 fifth graders,
From a variety of backgrounds and managed to make us all feel important, and smart, is beyond me.
#goals

I digress.
I have been, and continue to be, an avid book nerd.
It was my sanctuary from a very terrible third grade teacher.
My connection to an incredible fourth grade teacher.
And, with Mrs. Willard, of course, reading continued to be wonderful.
I met Matilda.
And was gripped to my seat during Wait 'Til Helen Comes.

However, it was in the back of our little blue room, on some built in book shelves tucked away enough that no one but me noticed, a little black cassette player lived.

Shh! I'm not that old!
It wasn't a Victrola!

This was 1995.

There was a white tape, well loved, filled with Raffi songs.
I know 10 is probably a little old for Raffi.

But, I was a hot mess that year, remember?
I needed the calm and the songs.
And I lived for that cassette player.
I remember asking, no, begging Mrs. Willard if I could have some time on the cassette, to which she'd lend me some foam covered head phones and let me listen, instead of going out to recess or after school.

Music and literature were my salvation even as the red pick up truck rolled out of my driveway in the spring of 5th grade carrying my mother and all of her belongings.

Really, my salvation included that cassette player, Raffi, and Mrs. Willard, of course.
Okay - keep that cassette player, Raffi, and Mrs. Willard in the back of your mind.
Because we're jumping.
Jumping forward 12 years later, I sat in my first classroom.

I had to buy tables and chairs, paper, pencils, easels, desks, YOU name it, we needed it. 
The kids needed it.  After two years, I left teaching and about $5000 worth of materials in that inner city school.

10 years after that, I'd make my triumphant return to teaching after a few years in higher education, a year on a reality weight loss show, and generally figuring out what I wanted to be when I grew up.

As I headed back into a new district with a tremendously high homeless population, I started thinking about how we'd get the things they need to learn.  
It was then someone recommended looking into DonorsChoose.org

It's a site where educators at public schools can create projects for resources, supplies, books, and technology for their classrooms and "donors" from around the world can choose projects to fund. 
I saw infographics like the one below and thought...worth a try.  

My music teacher friend had written one for more saxophones (I know, you and I both wish it was more cowbell) and a former colleague of mine, in Barcelona, Spain saw it, was inspired as her children grew up in our district and played instruments and donated.

That kind of ripple in the water still blows my mind!

In my "inside my head" thoughts, I thought, "Cassette players and Raffi tapes for EVERYONE!"
Because, dream big, right?  LOL.

Our actual first project had to do with art materials for my class and our buddies in 2nd grade to collab on a printing project for Dia De Los Muertos.

When the materials arrived, I'm not going to lie, it was a little like Raffi walking in in his red shirt and guitar playing Baby Beluga.  Excitement was at an all time HIGH.

Our next project stretched the limits of what I thought possible - a yoga mat and water bottle for everyone.  
Yes, EVERYONE.

We do yoga every day after lunch and the kids relish their own spaces and having water throughout the day.  What I relish, more than the books or the mats, or even the socks - dream projects - is what I quantify as being seen.

You see, back up there, at the top of this post, 10 year old me, felt alone and unseen - a lot.

A brown little kid in a world that I just couldn't seem to fit into.

Where no one looked like me.

It's what was so special about that cassette player, Raffi, and Mrs. Willard - they stopped to see me.
I could press rewind and be seen over and over if I wanted.

Mrs. Willard saw to me, well beyond her class, attending every musical performance I was in through HS and even attending my Sweet 16 and HS graduation.

She saw me through some of the most difficult bits of being a little kid.
She saw me when I knew no one else could.

I do not take being seen for granted.
I do not take seeing my students for granted either.

They are dreamers.
Doers.
Joke makers.
Epic gas passers.
Writers.
Jumpers.
Story tellers.
TALL tale spinners.
Huggers.
Mathematicians.
Readers.
Like READER readers.
And Thinkers.

To REALLY KNOW them, one can not help but dream for them, too.
Always has been and will be, what makes DonorsChoose.org, so amazing.


Because you see, dear donors, if you've made it this far, when you pick a project for our class - you see them.  
Their needs.
Their gifts.
Their quirks.

In that moment, YOU decide:
They are SEEN.

You glimpse them for a moment.
NOTICE them.
Which is kind of like being IMPORTANT.
And worthy.

And I can assure you, without hesitation and with much conviction that being seen as important and worthy is quite simply: priceless.

When they say things like, "I love this yoga mat!"
They mean YOU.
When they say things like, "I don't know why they choose us?"
They really mean, why are we worthy?
When they ask what makes someone pick us?

I can often be found taking their cheeks in my hands and pressing my face close to answer,
"Because you are seen, little bit, you are important and you matter, and you are seen." They'll turn their cheek away and blush.

But it's in those moments, that I know what DonorsChoose.org truly is:

A little black cassette player and Raffi Cassette, "donated" to our class by the best teacher I will ever know, Mrs. Willard.

It is with deepest gratitude that I thank all our summer donors who have brought six projects to life for the start of our 4th grade year!  You see us.  And for that, I can only swallow back tears, and whisper a thank you.

And to Raffi for the music, Mrs. Willard for the love, and that little black cassette player for being so 90's it hurts, thanks for seeing me.

*DonorsChoose.org will take you right to a page to search for thousands of projects helping teachers across the US!