Slightly Off KIlter

Two weeks after signing up for the Junior Achievement program, all Company volunteers trooped over to the "sponsored school" one afternoon to meet the teachers whose classes we'd be working with. I had a few new feelings of trepidation, not being quite sure if the teacher was really happy with this program (or confident in me). After all, she asked if I had ever done anything like this before and I said "no."

Nevertheless, we exchanged names and contact information. I gave the teacher one copy of the activity guide and we decided when I would come (Tuesdays at 11am, starting the following week). Then that meeting was over and I went back to work.

That night, at home, I read through the Activity Guide. There are five activities, meant to take between half an hour and 45 minutes each. They are:

1. How Does a Community Work? – businesses and jobs in the community
   working with a poster, worksheets and "job" stickers

2. Sweet "O" Donuts – production strategies (assembly line and unit production)
   working with perforated paper "donuts" and stickers representing flour, milk, and eggs.

3. The Role of Government – government services, workers, and taxes
   working with paper money, the community worksheet, and stickers representing
   different government workers.

4. A New Business – decision making and voting
   working with a large classroom poster, brainstorming session, and "ballots".

5. Money Moves – how money circulates in a community
   working with worksheets, a song, and a quarter

None of the activities looked difficult and I figured that, having read everything through once, I could refresh my memory of each one the day before and then handle each activity without referring to the booklet.

I arrived a bit early; the class was still at the library. Then they came toward the classroom. The teacher said hello. The kids asked who I was. We all fell into line and went into the room where I was introduced.

It was a class of 20 students at 5 tables of four, approximately half boys and half girls.
They had been prepped to expect me and were excited. Some of them called me "Miss Vicki" but most of them called me VickiBrown.

I explained a bit about who I was and why I was there and then… we did the first activity.

Activities

I have detailed my experiences with the activities in my commentary weblog:

• Activity 1
• Activity 2
• Activity 3
• Activity 4
• Activity 5