Running Header: Debate Project Proposal

Debate Project Proposal

Callie Hoffman

Arizona State University

Debate Project Proposal

Abstract

BASIS Mesa is a school with advanced curriculum but little amounts of technological resources. Callie
Hoffman, the teacher, feels that her students will be better off in their learning environment if they can
have pieces of technology integrated into their learning process because the students have grown up in a
time in which technology is everywhere. Sixth graders will work on a research based project in which
they support their view on a topic using researching skills.
Debate Project Proposal

Debate Project Proposal

School Environment Narrative

BASIS Mesa charter school is in the BASIS school INC. 10 district. For the purpose of this proposal I

will use the geographical public school district in which BASIS Mesa lies to show the demographics of

the area. Geographically the school lies within the Queen Creek Public School District in Mesa, Arizona.

BASIS Mesa houses nearly 600 K-12 students. Because it is a charter school, they do not provide free or

reduced-price lunches to their students. They also do not have any budget to provide busses to or from

school so all parents are responsible for their child’s transportation.

I am a sixth-grade teacher at BASIS Mesa within the BASIS School District. BASIS Mesa is a K-

12 charter school with wonderfully intelligent students and very involved parents. BASIS works on an

advanced curriculum and students test averages are well above state averages. Last year on the AZ Merit

test, sixth grade students scored an average of 79% on the English portion and a 75% on the math portion.

The school has an average of 83% proficiency in reading and a 75% proficiency in math. Graduating

students have gotten into such prestigious school as Brown University, Massachusetts Institute of

Technology, Berkeley, and Stanford. Average SAT and ACT scores are well above state average as well

with SAT scores averaging at 1450 and ACT scores averaging at 31. The students that attend this school

have a lot asked of them and the ones that don’t step up to the work load that is required usually make a

change to a school where they can be more successful around the middle school age.

Teachers at BASIS Mesa are very accommodating for their students. The school has adopted an

after-school program that all teachers are required to host in their own classroom at least once a week.

This program allows students to come into the classroom and get any extra help they need in all content

areas. With this extra time students are allowed they have the opportunity to ask questions or make

clarifications to their skills that they haven’t mastered yet. This program has been very helpful in allowing

students to improve their skills in the classroom and increase their test scores.
Debate Project Proposal

I am the only sixth grade English teacher at the school which allows me to gauge the knowledge

of the students as an entire grade and I am able to more easily make changes to my lessons to help

students learn all that they need to in this grade. My classes contain 29-31 students. Class periods are 55

minutes plus I facilitate a 30-minute study hall period. I work together with the other sixth grade teachers

to create consistent expectations of behavior in the classroom. I work closely with the Social studies

teacher to help incorporate Language Arts content expectations in his classroom as well as use content the

students learn in Social Studies into my lessons. Sixth grade students are not allowed to bring their own

technology into the school so my classes are very limited to “paper and pencil” work.

Our school does not have a lot of technology available for teachers or students but the technology readily

available is:

 A laptop provided to each teacher

 A projector in each classroom able to connect to a laptop
 A cart of 30 Laptops containing basic software including Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

NOTE: One of my classes has more students than I have laptops available so it is difficult to do

classwork with these laptops

 Mimeo clicker for students to use. Much like a clicker used in college classrooms used for

multiple choice answers.

Our school has a wireless network that all teachers and students in the secondary school have access to

use with their laptops. This wireless network runs very slow and often feels more of a burden than a tool

to enhance learning.

Applicant Biography

Callie Hoffman is in her first year of teaching. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Arizona State

University in Secondary Education. Callie loves to find different ways to engage the students using tools

they can easily become familiar with. She feels that students need to be comfortable in the classroom

environment and that the teacher should provide all of the resources possible to help students learn in the
Debate Project Proposal

ways that fit them best. The parents and community should feel welcome in the learning process as they

are crucial in providing support to both student and teacher.

Introduction of Project

As sixth graders, most of my students are just beginning to develop their own opinions and intellect. For

this reason, the students will be working on a project in which they research an aspect of individuality,

make a stance, and create a poster that informs other students of the subject they researched. Students will

work individually on the main project but will collaborate with classmates throughout the project so they

have support from their peers. Students will pick an aspect of the broad topic of individuality and research

it to make a claim as to why it is so important to embrace individuality. Students will present their claim

to the class in the form of an infographic or poster and then pin their posters around the school to help

encourage their schoolmates to embrace their own individuality.

The research portion of this project is very important as students need to understand that their stance

needs to be supported by facts. This project will help students begin to develop their researching skills

which will be invaluable to them in their coming educational years. It will also help them develop critical

thinking, reading, writing, and public speaking skills. In this project students will need to be able to do

research and put together their presentation on a poster or infographic.

Debate Project Proposal

References

BASIS Mesa. Retrieved September 23, 2018, from a

aaaaahttps://www.schooldigger.com/go/AZ/schools/0089803393/school.aspx

BASIS Mesa. Retrieved September 23, 2018, from https://www.trulia.com/schools/AZ-mesa-

aaaaabasis_mesa-5700109163

S. (2018, February 07). Explore BASIS Mesa. Retrieved September 23, 2018, from

aaaaahttps://www.niche.com/k12/basis-mesa-mesa-az/

S., & P. (2018, May 30). Explore Queen Creek Unified School District. Retrieved September 23,

aaaaa2018, from https://www.niche.com/k12/d/queen-creek-unified-school-district-az/