Two of William Mason Elementary School’s 2nd grade teachers, Melissa Alder and Meredith Wolsten, began planning in September for Election Day, November 5, 2024.
Inspired by the graphic novel by Stephen Shaskan, "Pizza and Taco Who's the Best?," Alder and Wolsten invited Dr. Andrea Van Buskirk, the Educational Technology Teacher Coach at Montville Township Public Schools, to help them develop a voting event that would incorporate an electronic ballot.
In Shaskan’s novel, Pizza and Taco are best friends. Each has lots of toppings. But, they come to believe that only one of them can be the best. Since the question of “Who is the best?” is debatable, they decide to have a debate and ask their friends to vote.
“Melissa and Meredith had an exciting idea,” explained Van Buskirk. “I think it was the first week of school when they contacted me. They wanted to create an activity, using technology, to teach students about voting.”
Van Buskirk developed an electronic ballot that students could complete using their Chromebooks.
“Technology is a tool,” Van Buskirk added. “It is only one area of the curriculum, but it touches many areas of the curriculum. Therefore, when I work with teachers to develop an activity I like to explore all curriculum standards that apply to that activity.”
That premise led to Van Buskirk suggesting that students use both electronic and paper ballots. This would give students and opportunity to experience, first-hand, different types of voting methods, and different ways of counting the votes.
Additionally, Shaskan’s novel, “Pizza and Taco Who's the Best?," also asks the question: “Can Pizza and Taco’s friendship survive the race for top spot on the popularity food chain?” This question gave students an opportunity to discuss: debate, kindness, unity, and compromise.
Ultimately the educators implemented curriculum standards from Social Studies, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Digital Citizenship, Information and Media Literacy, and Computer Science.
As Election Day drew near, and the breadth of the curriculum activities came into focus, two other William Mason 2nd grade teachers, Cortney Stephenson and Katelyn Estevez, also joined the voting initiative activity. A total of 54 students prepared for the election.
By November 5, 2024, all three sections of grade 2 at William Mason, and Principal David Melucci, were able to cast their votes for Pizza or Taco.
After reading the novel, familiarizing themselves with the issues, debating the perspectives of both Pizza and Taco, and studying the voting process, students signed-in at the polls, stood on line to privately cast their vote, placed their vote in the ballot box, and also logged-in to electronically cast their vote.
After casting their vote, students received an “I Voted” sticker.
Once the polls closed, students helped to count the votes, analyze the results, and explore how the vote affected the candidates and the community.
In the end, Pizza carried the election 39 to 14.