My biggest challenge is helping my students see school as something real. So often our work comes back to points and grades, when I want them to feel alive and involved in things that matter to them and their community.
My students are bright, ambitious, and ready for real-world learning.
Together we investigate our community and larger world, grounding our discussions of business practices in the familiar and local, as well as global contexts. Two years ago, we started a program called Venture, where students take accounting and design courses to stretch their creative muscles, build financial literacy and aesthetic acuity. We started a school store where we sell supplies and accessories, and they students are involved in every aspect of the business. In accounting class, students track expenses and sales; monitor our pricing, food waste costs and profit margins. As a cohort, students investigate sales trends and marginal returns, report and discuss their results in business meetings, and make decisions as a team.
My Project
Next year we want to involve students with disabilities who participate in our school’s “special day” and “workability” classes as we expand our operations -- opening a new business selling healthy muffins through our school cafeteria. Right now at our school, students with severe disabilities already learn to shop wisely, cook healthy and safely, and manage a family budget. To partner with them for this project, we will need food storage containers, kitchen shelving, and cooking equipment.
In Accounting class, my students have been developing financial literacy skills by purchasing supplies, pricing products, managing our business bank account and doing all the accounting for the business. Our methods are thorough, but not very efficient without Point of Sale technology to track information electronically. The POS (iPads, iPad stand, printers) system we have requested will revolutionize our operations and expose our students to the technology of an authentic modern work environment.
Through this ambitious project, we hope to build a true collaboration between different school populations, while strengthening the 21st-century skills of all our students.
While we are focused on building concrete knowledge and skills, the thing that makes this project really special is that it teaches students to value the skills of others and work together for a common purpose - to delegate, share, brainstorm, troubleshoot, synthesize - the value of which is immeasurable.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Geoghegan and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
