Service Learning Day

Service Learning Activities: 3/4/15

Jon and Bobby:

Today, Bobby and I conducted the same marketplace activity that we had done during our previous visit, but with a bit of a twist. This time we allowed the students to barter their items for other items, giving the illusion that some are worth more than others. In reality, this is not true. Despite this change in dynamic, a considerable amount of students realized that there is actually no difference in value between the items, and used this knowledge to their advantage when buying selling others’ items.

Additionally, we increased the amount of currency they had. Instead of providing each student with three pennies, we gave them five in order to increase overall spending capacity. Lastly, we kept a class record of the students with the most money and most items. This greatly incentivized them to participate in the activity more, because there was a grand prize for the winners.

Here is the order of operations in the activity:

1. Explain that we are creating a marketplace for the students.
2. Pass out five coins and three items to each student. Do not allow them to look into the item bag.
3. Allow them to trade and barter amongst themselves for five minutes.
4. Announce the 1-minute mark.
5. Identify the winners: the one that has the most items and the one that has the most coins.
6. Award the winners prizes.
7. Re Collect the coins and items, and repeat with another group.

Conner and Edward:

Today, we led a business simulation and market forces game.

We divided our group into two teams, and gave each team one minute to design a business.

They needed to include:

-a name for their business

-a product

-a pitch.

For example, one team created a business called "Chacomalt." Chacomalt made ice cream that didn't melt.

After the students created their businesses, we ran the market forces. Students randomly selected a card from a stack of forty. The card either added, lowered, or maintained their company's profits. At the end of the time limit, each team's profits would be realized and the one with more would win.

The students loved our game. They engaged their creativity to make businesses that they found meaningful and connected to their passion. They were entertained by how market forces are out of their control and could affect their business.

Periodically, students would offer their own explanations for changes in profit. For example, one student said Lionel Messi wore his business's shoes and boosted sales.

In sum, it was a successful, meaningful day.

James and Randy:

Today, James and Randy did two activities. The first one is the marshmallow activity, which involved giving each student one marshmallow. If they do not eat their marshmallows, they will get another one after 2 mins. The purpose of this marshmallows activity is to teach them the power of saving. Some students ate the marshmallows right away, but most of them chose to save theirs and get more.  This activity was then related to saving money in a bank and we explained the power of interest. While waiting in between marshmallow distributions, James explained monopolies and oligopolies. He used very simple examples of a gas station or group of gas stations located in the middle of nowhere.  He engaged the students by having several of them “own gas stations” and having them decide what prices to set to benefit their business.  The explanations were then connected to the game “Monopoly” teaching the students why the game has its name.

Harry:

Today, Harry ran a resumé building workshop.  With his group of students, Harry asked them to write down a list of their strengths, goals, and weaknesses.  In addition, he asked them to list their education background, skills, and interests.  Based on this information, students created resumés that included all of the relevant information that they had listed.  After seeing the initial results, students received individual feedback on their resumés, and Harry helped them to improve on their first drafts and brainstorm new ideas.  

Fun Day at El Sol

Fun at El Sol

The Group at El Sol

Today we taught 4 different classes at El Sol: 6th Grade Middle, 6th Grade Honors, 7th Grade Honors, and 8th Grade Low.  We taught about the principles of investing and entrepreneurship.  We also covered basics of markets and entrepreneurship.  Overall, the visit lasted for over 3 hours (no breaks).  It was tiring, but it was fun the entire time.  We split each class into four groups, each group being led by groups of 2 Sage students.  The groups rotated, so each group of 2 taught 16 different students at least per class.

The groups included:

1. Conner and Edward: Investing Simulation
2. Jon and Bobby: Market Dynamics
3. Rafe and Harry: Interview Abilities and Self-Promotion
4. James and Randy: Bargaining Simulation

New Horizons: Contacting Schools

Contact Log

Conner: Emailed Mrs. Darney at El Sol (11:30)

-Darney teaches several different classes throughout the day

-Requested to stay in her classroom as her classes cycle through and teach all of them

-Would allow us to stay engaged all day and eliminate transportation time and costs

Mrs. Darney,

My group and I had an interesting idea we would like to share with you.

We really enjoy teaching your 6th grade middle class from 8-9, but we also have the rest of the day to work with.

When we originally began teaching, you mentioned several other classes you taught as well.

If you are interested, we would be happy to teach your other classes too and spend some more time at El Sol.

If you are too busy, but know of another teacher that might want us to teach their class, please pass on my contact information.

Thank you very much,

Conner Thomas

Emailed Mrs. Zavala at El Sol (11:40)

-Zavala originally put us in contact with Darney

-Requested for Zavala to put us in contact with other teachers at the school that might be interested in us teaching

Ms. Zavala,

I contacted you earlier this year regarding our entrepreneurship service learning group. You put us in contact with Mrs. Darney and we have been thoroughly enjoying our time working with her and her class.

However, we finish teaching her class around 9:00 which leaves us the rest of the day. We would be interested, for our last couple of service learning days this year, in engaging more classes at El Sol.

If you know of any teachers that would be interested in us teaching their class about entrepreneurship for an hour on February 4th (Wednesday) and March 4th (Wednesday), please pass on their contact information and I will reach out to them.

I appreciate you helping us engage the kids and teach them a little about our passion.

Thank you,

Conner Thomas

James

-Contacted VanDamme School (11:40)

Hi Ms. VanDamme, I'm a senior at sage hill school this year and am part of a service learning group that teaches basic principles of entrepreneurship to middle school students. My service learning group consists of eight members, and we have spent the last year and a half teaching students from El Sol Academy in Santa Ana. We are wondering if Van Damme Academy would be interested in having our group visit to teach a class for about an hour or two.

Bobby:

-Contacted The Pegasus School (11:46)

Mentioned how 3rd grade is an appropriate grade to introduce these ideas due to two programs that Pegasus has called 3rd grade businesses and Entrepreneur day, gave background information for the group’s accomplishments and members, and told them that I’d like to set up a meeting to discuss possible meeting times.

SEE IT Activities and Materials

Jon Skolnik

Activity:

Materials:

Conner Thomas

Activity:

Materials:

Rafe Feffer

Activity:

Materials:

James Kappos

Activity: Supply and Demand

(split the students into two groups)

Group A

“You have a pencil and need candy.  You have to trade your pencil for candy.  DO NOT TRADE YOUR PENCIL FOR LESS THAN 10 CANDIES.”

Group B

“You have 15 candies, but you need a pencil.  You have to trade some candies for a pencil.  DO NOT TRADE MORE THAN 5 CANDIES FOR THE PENCIL.”

It is impossible for the students to agree on a price, so after a bit of hearing their bargaining, I will explain to both groups that sometimes things don’t always work out how we want it to, and we need to compromise in order to trade for the thing that we need.  Then the two groups should decide on a price between 5 and 10.

Materials: a pencil and some candies

Randy Wang

Activity: The Bean Game

Purpose

Managing money means making choices. There is never enough money available for all of the things we’d like

to have or do. This game will help you decide what is most important to you.

How to Play

This game may be played individually, but optimum results come from playing in a group of 2 or more.

Divide participants into groups of at least 2 and not more than 5. Each individual/group receives 20 beans

and a set of spending category sheets. The individual/group must decide how to spend their “income” based

on life circumstances, values and goals. Each item has a set number of squares which indicates how many

beans are needed to “pay” for that item.

ROUND #1

First, each individual/group must select one item

in each of the categories with the gold stars (Food,

Housing, Furnishings, Transportation, Insurance

and Clothing & Laundry). Once you have finished

selecting items in the required categories,

continue selecting items until you have used up

your 20 bean income.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Why did you choose the items you did? In

what ways were you influenced by your values?

Your goals? Your previous experiences?

Compare what you spent your beans on with

another individual/group.

ROUND #2

Your income has just been cut to 13 beans. What

will you give up? What changes will you make?

Make changes until you only have 13 beans on

your spending sheets.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

What kinds of items did you choose to

give up? Why? What did you learn about

yourself and money in this process? Compare

your budget-cutting choices with another

individual/group.

OTHER CHOICES you may have to make…

1) Someone in the family just broke their leg. If

you have insurance, you don’t need to do

anything. If you don’t, take off 3 beans.

2) Your mom or dad just got a 2 bean raise!

Decide where it should be spent.

Materials: beans or candy

Edward Goul

Activity:

Materials:

Harry Miller

Activity:

Materials:

Service Learning Day #2

Because our class at El Sol had to cancel due to their field trip, we spent time developing activities for our future visits that should last us until the end of the year. We generated a significant amount of content by creating our own, pulling from online sources, and improving on/enhancing previous activities. They are as follows. Additionally, we restocked on supplies and purchased some new items as well.

1.) I will divide the group of children into two groups evenly down the middle without letting them pick teams.  I will then give one group 5 of a certain object, for example candies.  I will give the other group 1 of a certain object, for example a pencil.  I will tell both groups that they each need what the other has, so they must make a trade.  I will tell the pencil group to trade the pencil for no less than 4 candies and will tell the candy group to trade for no more than 2 candies.  The ideal trade is obviously not possible so the two groups will have to negotiate for a while.  I will then begin to suggest marketing strategies to each group, for example, "You need a pencil or else you won't be able to pass your test you have to take today" and "Don't you wish you had this savory candy?"  Eventually, when the kids are stuck and losing interest, I will give them new instructions that will work and they will make a deal.  Then, I will explain the significance of marketing and "selling" your product.  I will also talk about how sometimes deals that we want to make don't always work out perfectly and we need to cooperate to make something happen.


2.) Marketing Activity: Kids are all given the same item. Each has a piece of blank paper and markers etc. The goal is to design the best poster that advertises the product. 

Materials: White paper 8.5X11, Markers

3.)
Auction Activity:
1.      Ten pennies are given out to each of the students.
2.      Three sticky notes will be provided to each of the students. They will also need their own pencil/pen with which to write.
3.      Each student will randomly draw three items from a bag and write down their own prices on the sticky notes for each of their respective items 
4.      They will all post the sticky notes next to their items, thereby creating a marketplace. 
5.      Now, we go one by one for each student, auctioning off each of their items according to the starting prices they've set. 
   a.   If nobody wants to buy something, we ask the seller if they are willing to lower their price. If the seller is and nobody buys it again, the seller keeps the item.
   b.   If more than one person wants to buy it, the highest bidder gets it. 
6.      The student with the highest amount of money wins a price and the student with the biggest amount of items wins a prize.





4.) Short group discussion about finding practical ways to find job opportunities that incorporate passions. If there's time, we'll incorporate drawing and award them with candy at the end. In terms of the overall visit, we should bring back timers to make sure that each group knows exactly how much time left they have to finish their activity so nothing gets skipped. 

First El Sol Visit of 2014-2015 Academic Year!

Today, on November 19th, SEE-IT visited El Sol Academy.  We met the new class that we will be working with over the course of the next academic year. Additionally, we encountered several students whom we worked with last year to hear about their experience. Last years' students wished we were still teaching them.

All members of SEE-IT were present (Conner, Edward, James, Rafe, Harry, Bobby, Randy, Jon). We began teaching at 8 AM and taught until 9:30. Each Sage student partnered with another to conduct modules that we cycled through the El Sol students through. The El Sol students were divided into four groups, as there were four modules. 

We are meeting to debrief. We are discussing activities that the students connected to and activities they did not engage in as well. As a consequence, we are making, changing, enhancing, and designing new activities for future visits. Our day was consistently positive. The only obstacle came when we found that the teacher was out for the day. Therefore, we worked with a substitute teacher. 

Proposal

SEE IT

Sage Entrepreneurship Education, Investing in Tomorrow

Service Learning 2013-2014

Independent Project Proposal 

1.           Who are the students participating in this project?

Conner Thomas, Jon Skolnik, Randy Wang, Bobby Cohen, Edward Goul, James Kappos,  and Rafe Feffer.

2.          What is your area of interest, and why?

Entrepreneurship, finance, and business. These topics are dramatically overlooked in public schools and contributes to our country’s citizens’ growing debt and disproportionate spending habits.  We believe that if we can instill basic, fundamental concepts of ideas like saving, spending, and entrepreneurship in the minds of the children we instruct, we can have an early and vital impact on these childrens’ financial futures that will continue to serve them over the course of their lives.

3.          Who are the potential partner organizations you may utilize throughout this project?

We would like to continue to foster a strong relationship with our established partner schools, as we already have a working relationship with them, and they represent the demographic we are aiming to serve.

Throughout this year, though, we have worked exclusively with El Sol Academy.

4.          What is the specific community need(s) that will be addressed? Why do they need to be addressed?

The community we hope to impact is especially affected by a lack of education in financial concepts that would allow them to stay free of debt and the minimum wage trap. Early understanding of basic ideas like saving, for instance, could quite literally change the direction of their lives.

5.          What are possible activities/opportunities you may execute within the scope of this project?

We have developed a curriculum for the students that incorporates different elements and activities--all aimed at teaching the concepts of business. If just one of these students decides to open a small business as opposed to falling victim to poor financial habits we would consider our mission a success.

6.          What do you hope to have accomplished by March?

We hope to have instilled in our students not only a fundamental understanding of finance and entrepreneurship, but also an interest in the field. We want to teach them that helping their community and making money are not mutually exclusive, but rather, go hand in hand, as entrepreneurs are often ones that contribute the most to their communities and raise the standard of living. We know that the communities we will educate have brilliant minds that are only lacking the opportunity to succeed. We want to give them a broader awareness of the world and its opportunities.

In March, we made another trip to El Sol and presented our latest material. Our activities built upon concepts taught during previous visits. Our last trip was surely our most organized and informative, and the feedback forms, provided by the students we taught, reflected that well.

7.          How will you plan to achieve your goals? (Be as specific as possible)

•   October 30: (this needs to be fairly specific): Reconvene and discuss our general goals and philosophies with this year. Discuss how this will function in relation to our investment committee component, SLIC.

•   November 20: Start working on the curriculum that we will be using to teach the students at El Sol for site visit #1 and #2. Finish curriculum for site day #1.

•   December 11: Finish curriculum for site visit #2 and #3.

•   January 15: Site visit #1

•   February 5: Site visit #2

•   March 5: Site visit #3. Prepare for presentations as well. This is to occur throughout the month as well as on this particular day.

•   April 16 (Last SL day, presentations): Present our curriculum, site visits etc.

8.          How will you measure success?

We will measure our success by our students' interest in and reception of the topics. We hope to teach our students financial fundamentals that they can use in alignment with the pursuit of their own passions. With the grasp of a few basic concepts, they could ideally save enough money to succeed in their own business endeavors.

9.          Create a blog to report on your progress.  What is the address?

http://www.slicshs.blogspot.com