Biz What???...Biz Movie!!!

The class was introduced to the company Biz World, a not-for-profit organization located in San Francisco.  This company offers programs to develop critical thinking, leadership and team work skills in young people through the teaching of business, entrepreneurship and finance.

BizWorld provides programs that can be brought into classrooms to provide authentic learning experiences of economic concepts and business development.  As future teachers, we are going to be working through all project areas to have a better understanding of how it can be used in classrooms.

Our Teaching Social Studies methods class chose to use BizWorld to create a movie company. Our class first had the opportunity to Skype with a representative of BizWorld which was a good way to begin the project!  This also reminded me how far we have come in terms of technology-I am constantly AMAZED!!!  Students will move through all the steps; from business formation, hiring, fundraising, production, marketing and sales.

I think we are all feeling a little confused and out of our element, but we managed to form two companies that will each work together to learn about business development and management.

What do we do now??

Our assignment was to look over the job positions and complete the application related to the position we would like to have.  

I think this could be a great activity for students in the classroom.  Students have the opportunity to review job specifications and then reflect on what skills they have relevant to the desired position.  Students then complete open-ended questions on the application such as, why do you think you would be a good candidate for the job?  This is also an excellent English Language Arts activity.  This could tied to a unit persuasive writing for younger students or even job search skills for older students.

What do I think??

When I think back to my own learning of Economics in High School---I don't think I can!!!!  Not that I wasn't there or I am so old I do not remember.  I do remember being in the class, I remember the teacher but I do not remember what we did nor do I have any recollection of what I had learned.

I know there was a lot of lecture, with a half a year devoted to Economics and the other half to government...I think...yeah it was that interesting!!!  There are classes from High School I can remember quite well and even sparked my interest for future educational pursuits...this was not one of them!!!

In light of my own experiences, I can only say that using a program like this can only increase student learning and attention.  Concepts traditionally taught from a text book are brought to life through authentic learning experiences and exploration.  This program also encourages students to solve problems, think critically and work cooperatively.  I can truly say this program seems to encompass the meaning of the Chinese proverb:

"Tell me and I'll forget, show me and I may remember--involve me and I'll understand"

LET'S BE INVOLVED!!!