Of course we've been pretty busy around here. In my Career Preparedness class (freshmen), we recently took a break from financial literacy to work on a college research project. Most freshmen don't yet see the value in the college research process, so I started it off with something creative and collaborative. My goal was to help them at least recognize some factors that will influence their postsecondary decisions (costs, academics, etc.).
I asked student to create an e-poster on the postsecondary institution of their choice, and share it with the rest of the class in a collaborative spreadsheet. Naturally most students are interested in the same schools (those within our state), but I thought it'd be good if they explored other options. Therefore, none of the 90+ students could research the same school. It resulted in a nicely diverse collection of information!
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| Screenshot of Spreadsheet |
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| Student Work Sample |
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| Student Work Sample (SEC schools were popular!) |
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| Student Work Sample |
We used Google Drawings for this project. We've been using Google programs quite a bit this year, but never Drawings. In fact, my first time using it was when I created the sample poster for this project. Google Drawings is very simple program if you have never checked it out. The students liked it.
Overall, I think this project served its purpose: helping students see the factors that may affect their college* choice. Go HERE to check out some of the posters!
On another note, my Business Management students (upperclassmen) have been learning management concepts through various types of management "opportunities" all year. Their most recent opportunity involved managing warehouses. Last week they began "fixing" warehouses that were badly managed (think the virtual Restaurant Impossible...or maybe Tabitha's Salon Makeover). I've watched them turn these badly managed companies into profitable businesses.
And while they each have to manage their own companies, they work together to help solve problems. They've figured out who is strong in which areas, and are using the people around them. Talk about real life.
On an slightly different note, we recently took a trip to Honda Manufacturing of Alabama (along with other business, finance, and IT classes). The students were able to tour the facility and watch vehicles and engines be built from scratch. I insisted on taking my students to a car manufacturing facility after visiting this very facility with a group of teachers last summer. It's an amazing process that requires teamwork, work ethic, accountability, etc., and serves as a lesson to students no matter the field they plan to pursue.
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| Lunch at the mall after the trip. |
So it's been pretty busy around here. Now I'm trying to prepare my Career Preparedness students for a personal finance challenge, and my Management students for retail management. At this point, my Management students have encountered every management concept under the sun, and are probably going to breeze through retail management. Many of them are seniors, so let's be real -- it's only a matter of time before they mentally "check out." And all the juniors are going to get to "pre-senior-year-itis" and check out, too. So hopefully at this point, they've learned so much about management, they can manage these retail stores with their eyes closed. We shall see!
Anyhoo, hope everyone enjoys their Spring Break!
* Of course some of my students will not attend college. I am not one of those teachers who tell students that college is the only way (because it's not -- especially in this day and age). We've discussed ALL the options they have after high school.
