Wisconsin School for the Deaf - The Wisconsin Times Vol. 134 No. 2 Winter 2012-2013 | Page 9

On the day of the election, perspectives moved to Mrs. Linda Myrick’s classroom where students had built
a polling booth. Each of the students took turns working at the polls. This included checking names from
a staff list to ensure each person only voted once, securing votes in a safe place, and tallying up the votes
at the end of the day. Students learned about the voting process, voting rules, registration, age, community
voting places and privacy. The middle school students in Pie Hall each cast a ballot and the results were
used to make graphs.

RIGHT: Keisha puts her
vote in the box as Mr.
Lievens observes.
LEFT: Jerome in deep
thought inside the election
booth.

This unit continued on Wednesday, after the election. Students learned unique vocabulary, such as:
succession, and inauguration. They discussed what would happen if Mr. Romney would have won and what
would happen now that President Obama won. Mrs. Copeland’s class discussed the secret service, as well
as the interpretation of the votes of the Electoral College. Ms. Havers was able to guide the students into the
making of a graph, based on the student votes.

Linda Myrick’s
class is prepared
to run their
election site.
From left: Wyatt,
Ms. Myrick, Jon,
and Anthony.

Lastly, all the students learned about the WSD staff’s general viewpoint of neutrality and why that is
important in a school. Regardless of personal opinions, the objective was for the students to develop their
own views, by rst learning the necessary vocabulary and background information. It is the goal for every
student to make individual and thoughtful choices, both in school and in the voting booth.
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