Maloney Teacher Works to Get Technology for Her Students

Teaching with only a textbook can be challenging, especially in these times of advanced technology.

But as school budget get increasingly stretched, the money isn't there for anything beyond the absolute essentials.

One teacher at Maloney High School is thinking outside the box to try to bring her students a better educational experience by harnessing the power of a fundraising website to get the funds to the technology that will help her students.

Daisy Torres, the chairperson of the World Language and Bilingual Department at Maloney, has posted a request on the website donorschoose.org outlining her desire to purchase a document camera for the classroom.

"This document camera can provide my students with the ability to share their work so that the whole class can see, comment, discuss, praise, and analyze drawing, writing, group work tasks, documents, articles, pictures, etc. to make the classroom come to life," she writes in her request. "This camera also enhances my teaching so that I can utilize not only the text, but technology as 21st century skill."

The project has only 18 more days to raise the money for the camera. The cost is $895.22, and $100 has already been pledged toward that amount.

The purchase of the camera could also save money in copying costs, she said.

"With the high cost of ink and limited resources, the teacher doesn't have to focus on getting everyone copies or searching for chart paper for 5 different classes to make the lesson engaging and motivating," she said.

"My students are more likely to participate, engage, produce work, work with other students, and interact with the curriculum as a result of this addition to our classroom," she said. "The possibilities are endless when I think about the uses of this camera to enhance my teaching and create an even more student focused environment in the high school setting, where our students need resources just as much as elementary or middle school students."

Donations toward the project are accepted through Sept. 5. To donate, visit http://www.donorschoose.org/project/capturing-a-taste-of-the-world-through-l/998283/?verify=53436150