Tel 311 Signature Assignment
Tel 311 Signature Assignment
Tel 311 Signature Assignment
Abstract
The classroom project proposal will cover a project-based learning event that will be facilitated
by Kedale Smith, an educator from Kyrene Middle School who teaches 7th and 8th grade Social
Studies. The applicant and school environment background will be given, the statistics and
demographics of Chandler will be given. Next, a summary of the project and project impact will
be given, this will highlight the general day-to-day activities as well as the predicted impact the
project will have on the teacher, students and community. Following that will be the project
narrative where detail will be given on the specifics of the project; content standards, daily
objectives as well as assessments will be presented. Finally, the budget table and narrative will
be outlined, the total cost of the trip will be estimated and where the funds will be received from,
i.e. Donorschoose.org. This PBL event will be focused on the essential question “How do we
preserve our culture and history?” and will aim at bringing the community together for this
I am Kedale Smith, a teacher at Kyrene Middle School, a branch of the Kyrene School
District located in Chandler, Arizona. As a graduate from Arizona State University with a
certification in History and English, I have found myself regularly taking on different classes
within those subject areas. I do all I can to be where my district needs me, and that work has a
resounding impact on my day-to-day self-esteem. Knowing that I am needed and that I have a
positive influence on my students, fellow faculty members and community pushes me forward as
I began teaching at Kyrene Middle School immediately after graduating from ASU due to
the great first impression I had when I was placed there for my internship during my completion
initial goal is to establish an environment that promotes and nurtures the growth of knowledge
and exploration. The students are there as citizens who are in-charge of their learning, they take
the information and resources provided for them and use it to propel themselves toward the short
The student population is made up of a wide range of children that come from many
different walks of life. I have witnessed and resolved situations brought up by students who are
perceived as “problem children” and often wondered about the quiet ones. The general
population of the classes is so widely varied that it has been hard to establish a common
personality that can used to relate to every student, each student has different needs and as such
requires a different method of approach. Chandler’s population boasts a massive 162,023 total
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people, of that population 80% are white, 4.6% black, 2.6% American Indian, and 6.9% are
Asian (Proximity, 2015). Chandler’s unemployment rate is 3.4% while the greatest chunk of jobs
held relate to “Educational services & health care & social assistance” at 20.8% (Proximity,
2015). As of 2009, the average income in Chandler including benefits was $77,955 (Proximity,
2015). I have had students that required little effort to connect to, often they themselves would
come to me for anything and everything. On the flip side, I have experienced several situations
where I would encounter a student that has shut out their surroundings and this would result in
me having to trespass into their world, I would often fail. Whether I succeeded or failed, I
wouldn’t be discouraged because I knew at the end of the class period another opportunity would
My beliefs about project-based learning experiences and student engagement all stem
from my philosophy of education. Students are ultimately in-charge of what they want to do with
their lives and the teacher’s role is to merely present them with the tools and resources they
require. Through project-based learning, students can not only learn more about the world, but
their own perspectives and ideas as well as the ideas of their fellow classmates. This is what
makes project-based learning so crucial, students learn that they have their own unique reactions
to an experience as do others, which is why it is also important to teach students during these
exercises that respect is important to keep in mind. Only when this important lesson is taught that
the students will be able to flourish in an environment that promotes project-based learning, that
During the trip, the students will have access to a wide array of tools and technologies
that will assist them in completing their assignment. Equipped with laptops and recording
devices, the students will take on the roles of Empowered Learners, Digital Citizens and
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Knowledge Constructors. The students will become Empowered Learners and Digital Citizens
by taking advantage of their laptops and information provided to them at the site to bolster their
knowledge regarding the historical goal they are pursuing (ISTE, 2019). By accomplishing these
two roles they finally become Knowledge Constructors who will use these skills and tools to
construct knowledge from their own unique perspectives (ISTE, 2019). That is the ultimate goal
of the project, to have the students establish ideas that are derived from their unique responses
and reactions to environment they are exposed to, a secondary objective is for them to
The learning-based project being pursued for Kyrene School District revolves around the
question, “How do we preserve our culture and history (knowledge, behaviorisms)?” This project
is needed within the school, Kyrene Middle School, and district because many of the students are
having a difficult time relating the material with their own lives. When lessons are taught and
read to the students about previous wars, social change, and other impactful events, it is evident
that they have begun to disconnect from the academic resources. What the students need so that
they can become engaged and interested in the material is for them to embark on a journey to
find out how the research is collected, including the methods of collecting that data. The open-
ended question that personally asks the students how they themselves can preserve their
knowledge may prompt them to ask questions like, “Can’t we just write it down?”, “What about
This project will involve the students utilizing research methods and tools to collect and preserve
local history, as well as visiting a historical site, monument and/or museum to see what parts of
history have been preserved and more importantly, how they were preserved.
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The PBL will begin with an entry event that will grab the attention of the students. This
entry event will include mini-activities the students will participate in so they can get a sense of
how knowledge is collected and how crucial it is to accurately record it. The games that will be
played are “The Telephone Game” and “Telephone Pictionary”, these games, although fun and
engaging, will outline the importance of accurately collecting the data. how that history has been
preserved by exploring the methods of researching, recording and storing. The students will then
decide which aspects of their local history interest them the most and how they will go about
recording it. The students will also visit a museum where they will be taught by a historian the
local history of Tempe and receive professional advice on how they can best utilize their
equipment during this PBL. From family interviews that cover past events to collecting local
relics that will be recorded and preserved, and finally presenting their findings to an audience at
Student Impact
Seeing as the 7th and 8th grade class sizes range from 27-33, which can be rounded to an
even 120 students that will be impacted by the initial project and an additional 120 per year that
the project is completed only because the project is so far reaching and inclusive that it has many
bits and parts that will appeal to different kinds of students. The project will be made up of
sections that will include methods of collecting the data; interviewing community members,
finding artifacts and other jobs that include peer-to-peer collaboration. The second part that
opens up other possibilities is the job of preserving the data and making sure the information
collected is accurate, this may include checking with other sources to confirm the legitimacy of
the information and involves the hands-on work of analyzing and storing the data in a scientific
Teacher Impact
The impact this project will have on the teacher is that it will broaden their knowledge of
how research is collected and stored, meeting with experts in their fields will also give me the
opportunity to learn more about history. Much like the students, the educator will be taking in
new knowledge and experiences that will help them build better lesson plans in history courses
as well as giving them a new perspective into the world of history. By having a first-hand
experience of collecting data, they will know and appreciate the hard work that goes into the
field, this will make them more appreciative and open-minded of all the little things that are
Community Impact
Finally, the impact this will have on the community is students will be more assertive in
their efforts to reach out to community members to learn about their culture, values, traditions
and general history so that they can preserve it for future generations. The community will
realize the importance of its culture, history and traditions, this will bring the community closer
together in their pursuit to preserve their findings. Another positive is this will also give the
community a chance to rediscover who they are and surely be proud of their history when they
Innovation
The group project will be student-driven but the technology and methods of research will be
provided by the school IT staff and historians during the school trip. They will be on standby to
provide support for laptops that may malfunction, as well as provide students with the
knowledge to operate the video cameras, microphones, laptops, and the usual programs they will
use like Google Slides, and Drive. The students will take on many roles regarding the ISTE
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standards, they will not only learn how to effectively use technology, namely their laptops,
microphones, recording and editing programs, but how to collaborate with each other using these
resources for their project. The teacher will take on a facilitator role on this project, they will
provide the tools and wanted feedback when needed but will stray away from direct instruction
in favor of having the students explore their community topics and methods of research.
Differentiation will be achieved by the teacher in that they may assign students with needed
accommodations with bigger groups that are willing to take on the extra work as a challenge if
they feel unchallenged. If the students that are unchallenged need further difficulty, they are free
to take on a wider project that goes further than the community. The exit tickets will be handed
out daily except for when otherwise noted, the final assessment will be the students' community
presentations at the public forum that will be held at the Arizona State University Tempe
campus. The students will present their findings at the ASU School of Earth and Space
Exploration where they will be introduced by Dr. Donald T. Critchlow. This wide community
outreach public forum will give the project the much needed attention so that it can be
established as a renewable project that can be picked up by other middle schools in the area.
Together, the future of the project will flourish due to the collaboration from different school
districts that aim to preserve their own culture and history as well as compare their findings to
neighboring districts. This all-encompassing project may grow due to its initial success at the
ASU Tempe campus where it will see exposure to the many community groups in the area.
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Budget Table
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Budget Narrative
Before discussing the items or cost of the items, the fact that there will be 35 students
involved in the PBL will be mentioned to remind or refresh the reader. With this number of
students in mind, the items were bought in quantities to match. As a note, there are items on this
list that cost no money or are contracted to the school prior to the event but their role and
involvement is pertinent to the event’s success, or they are directly tied in with another item on
Beginning at the top of the list, the first group of items will be materials that the students
require for the day-to-day tasks in the classroom and when participating in the field trips. These
items include writing utensils, erasers, material to write on, and folders to store their findings in.
The quantities of these items match the number of students, the exception to this rule is the
writing utensils and erasers where the students will be allowed to take two for the duration of the
PBL. The funding source that will be used to retrieve these materials is DonorsChoose.org, the
items all will be purchased from one seller, Staples, for convenience. The donor project that will
be set up will highlight how the materials will be used in a PBL event in a pursuit to research and
preserve the local history and culture of Tempe, local donors may be more inclined to donate if
they know their money will go directly back into the community through enlightening research
Secondly, the more expensive section of this event being the technology tools that the
students will utilize for their day-to-day research, and activities. These items will include a
notebook for each student, notebooks were chosen for their mobility and lighter weight in
comparison to full-sized laptops, and microphones to record their findings from community
interviews, auditory materials and other related sources. These materials will be sourced from a
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teacher grant that awards $10,000 per year for three years for projects that aim to increase active
learning and instill a passion for education through new teaching methods. Again, since this
project focuses on PBL, this may reinforce the project as a progressive learning experience that
may lead to the teacher receiving the grant for that one implementation of the events and future
The final section of the budget list includes food and people that will support the project,
the food will be sourced from a reputable company called The LunchMaster, the amount of food
requested will be enough for the 2 day trip to the Tempe History Museum where the students
will spend the entire day. Of course, lunch will also be provided for the teacher, historian, bus
driver and two possible chaperones. This number of lunches is accounting for all participates for
two days; 35 students, one teacher, one historian, one bus driver, two chaperones, which all total
to 80 lunches. The historians pay will be moderate in that he or she will be paid $150 by the
school and will be provided with lunch for both trip days. The same deal with be applied to the
bus driver, $150 pay per day and lunch. However, the chaperones will not be paid but will
receive lunch for the involvement in the PBL event. The funds for these items will come from
DonorsChoose.org section will also be applied. This time, it will focus on the field trip aspect of
the PBL where it will explain the importance for the students’ to be fed nourishing food so they
can learn more effectively and soak up more knowledge. Of course, the pay for the historian and
All in all, this budget narrative highlights the materials that will be needed for the PBL
event as well as useful resources where the funds can be attained. Although all of these materials
could be earned through a teaching grant, that avenue is not ensured so it is smart to look into
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more places for money and grants. These three sources listed are all possible ways that a teacher
can earn the funds for school projects. The students will be provided with the necessary materials
so they can achieve their learning goal during the project-based learning event.
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References
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2019a). ISTE Standards for
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2019b). ISTE Standards for Students.
http://proximityone.com/az_sdc.htm.