Come on In to My Classroom Library

Receiving the Classroom Library Grant was the start of something really exciting for me: Getting to see my students’ excitement over fresh, new books (even if they were self-proclaimed book haters) allowed me to turn that energy into eagerness to explore new stories.

As a confessed social media lover, I have been a proud member of #booktok and #bookstagram for many years—and recently created my own #teachergram that follows and interacts with many bookstagram accounts. Embedding myself in these communities over the past few years has exposed me to authors, books, and genres I might never have been otherwise. Watching authors share their projects on TikTok captivated me and hundreds of thousands of others, who became overnight readers when the early days of COVID-19 quarantines had us all spending way more time at home.

I used my #teachergram connections and research to choose new materials for my classroom. I tried to make wide selections that represented all kinds of students: from Amy Tan and Malala Yousafzai to Trevor Noah and Brian Broome. It was important to me to pick books that would not only interest students who didn’t care for reading (so bright, colorful, fun covers), but also were written by a variety of authors from a myriad of backgrounds. I also made sure to choose both fiction and nonfiction, including plenty of memoirs from authors whose lives may mirror those of my students—and whose successes would hopefully spark even the tiniest spark of the idea that they too, could triumph.

My classroom library is something that I am very proud of. I love to see students come in and browse, leisurely picking through the titles available. I don’t even mind when the shelves end up messy or in a different order than they started in if the student comes to me clutching a book and says, “Ms. Nguyen, can I borrow this?” or “Ms. Nguyen, I read this one and it was so good!” I don’t mind when they come back and admit that “this one wasn’t for me,” because many times the admission is followed by another long, reflective session standing in front of the shelves, touching books and wondering which universe the next story will take them to.

I won’t pretend that every single student is captivated by my classroom library—even with forty-ish new titles. Nevertheless, the Classroom Library Grant has made a difference for the students who do care, because it created opportunities for them to read books that are on hold for weeks at the library, or that they never might have considered if they weren’t available in my room. It has created a conversation piece between students who aren’t mine, but see the wide array of books in my room, then come in shyly and ask, “Can I look at your books?”

I always say, “Come on in.”

Heather Thi Nguyen
Classroom Library Grant Recipient, 2022
Pinellas Park High School, Pinellas County
St. Petersburg, FL

Sigma Tau Delta Classroom Library Grants

Sigma Tau Delta’s Classroom Library Grants are designed to enhance the Society’s goals of

promoting interest in literature and language in the surrounding communities;
fostering all aspects of the discipline of English, including literature, language, and writing; and
serving society by fostering literacy.

The Classroom Library Grants are also intended to support our members who have entered the field of teaching and need material support to help achieve these goals through their work in the classroom by providing their students with a library in their own classrooms, especially where access to school or public libraries or to books in the home may be limited.

The Society will award up to five grants of $400 each per cycle to help members of Sigma Tau Delta who have been teaching in a Middle School or High School classroom for five years or fewer. That is, applicants may or may not be recent college graduates; the Classroom Library Grant is intended to help new Middle School and High School teachers, whether in their first years out of college or in the first years of a second career, to build a classroom library for their students.

Criteria For Selection

In choosing recipients, the Classroom Library Grant Committee will consider the following criteria:

lack of economic and geographic access to books at your school, or another demonstrated need;
the explanation of how the classroom library envisioned will support your goals in alignment with the Society’s goals; and
supervisory endorsement of your classroom library project.

Please note that this grant is now only available to middle school and high school educators.

Deadline and Dates

Applications will be accepted July 22 – August 12, 2024, 4:00 p.m. Central Time (CT). There will only be one application period for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Classroom Library Grants