Story by Belle Wurmser
The Book Love Foundation was founded by Penny Kittle to pioneer choice reading in classrooms. According to Kittle’s website, “The Book Love Foundation supports teachers who demonstrate a commitment and passion for promoting reading for all students by donating independent reading libraries of a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction books proven to engage adolescents.” Since its creation, the foundation has given over $1,000,000 in donations and funded over 400 classroom libraries. Those awarded the grant are told a monetary amount to spend on books without restriction from the Foundation. The Foundation then sends these books to their recipient. However, it is not an easy grant to earn.
Mrs. Rebecca Decker, Brick Memorial High School English teacher who currently teaches a college-level ELA course and Investigation of Law & Order, has been chosen as one of the recipients of the most recent grant. This grant allowed her to purchase a plethora of books to fill out her library appropriately.
Receiving this grant is not easy. In fact, this was Mrs. Decker’s third time applying for the grant. According to Mrs. Decker, “You have to fill out your application, get a few letters of recommendation, and make a 3-minute video explaining why you deserve the award.” She noted that it was a struggle to talk about herself for so long and to make her application stand out. “I think it was the connection I made between myself and my daughter’s struggle with reading, and how choice reading really changed that … and all these tiny experiences I get watching students when they reach a good twist or finish a book.” Winning the grant was an important reminder to her of the benefits of perseverance.
Mrs. Decker, the 2020/2021 Teacher of the Year, has also worked with Hope in a Box, an organization that creates LGBTQ+-friendly book boxes, as well as the Teachers Are Heroes initiative. “I’m always applying for things like that,” she shared. This is a great reminder of the efforts teachers make to give their students more resources.
As if this was not a big enough honor, this week Mrs. Decker had her 40th Donors Choose Project funded! Donors Choose has been an imperative tool in getting books into the hands of students. Overall, Brick Memorial High School has raised over $42,000 in donations, with over 50% raised by Mrs. Decker alone!
Mrs. Decker also has a TikTok where she frequently recommends books to her students! Click here to see her page!
Students are always encouraged to visit room 206 to check out Mrs. Decker’s extensive classroom library!
