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Winter, 2006 The
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| Celebrate National Entrepreneurship Week 2007 | ||||
From February 24 to March 3, 2007, entrepreneurs, educators, community leaders and young people across the US will celebrate the power of entrepreneurship and ignite the nation’s consciousness about the importance of being entrepreneurial. The BizWorld Foundation, along with 300 organizations, have partnered together to host a variety of events and initiatives throughout the week to encourage entrepreneurship education. Its impact will be significant for not only the partners involved, but more importantly, for the future of America’s youth and, ultimately, our economy. EntrepreneurshipWeek USA is an incredible opportunity for all of us to make America’s youth aware of their entrepreneurial potential and for them to find out if they have it within them to ‘make a job.’ “We are delighted with the leadership and expertise that the BizWorld Foundation brings to EntrepreneurshipWeek USA as a program partner,” said Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation. “Educating our young people about entrepreneurship and reinforcing the value that entrepreneurs and innovators bring to our economy is critical to America’s long-term prosperity – more so now than ever before.” Stay tuned for more information about the week and scheduled events. |
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| Call for Pictures | ||||
The Foundation is creating new marketing materials and we need your classroom pictures! Send in pictures of teachers and students participating in the BizWorld and BizWiz programs along with a photo release form and you might end up on our new brochure. You will be contacted if your picture is chosen. |
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Getting and using volunteers in the classroom to assist in the BizWorld experience |
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At BizWorld we know how useful it can be to have helpers in the classroom- e.g. adult volunteers to help play roles and facilitate the experience for students. How can you get people in your classroom… who might you ask? Once you have a few live volunteers, how can you effectively use them? Here are a few ways you might consider putting out the call for volunteers:
Now that you have garnered interest and gotten a few volunteers in your classroom it is important to have meaningful and useful experiences for the volunteers. There are many ways to use volunteers and a great deal will depend on their comfort level and background. If you have a business person coming in, why not give them the role of a venture capitalist, making the best use of the skill set they bring. If you have an artistic parent, they may be useful in helping the students design and manufacture the friendship bracelets. It is important to align volunteers with a role that they are comfortable with, as being in a class full of students can be challenging for many volunteers. A few ideas for ways to use volunteers in the classroom:
For a parent or someone with artistic talents:
For someone with management experience:
These are just some ideas to assist you in getting volunteers into your classroom to help with the BizWorld experience. Please share with us any ideas that have worked for you so we can pass them on. |
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 This theme really taught the students real life experiences. The enthusiasm was overwhelming. In fact, many parents informed me that their children talked about BizWorld during dinner and were anxious to get to school the following day to participate more.  – Heather School, 4th grade teacher |
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| New Resources and Standard Correlations | ||||
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In an effort to accommodate all students in grades 3-8, we have just released new Level I and Level III homework and pre/post assessments. You can download the entire new Student Packets online. Level I is written for 3rd and 4th grade students while Level III addresses skills learned in 7th and 8th grade classes. The Student Packet in the BizWorld course guide is designed to be used as a Level II resource, relating to concepts learned in 5th and 6th grade. Download Student Packets and Answer Keys: LEVEL I Student Packet / LEVEL 1 Answer Keys The new resources can be used to challenge students as well as providing a scaffold of the concepts for younger classes. In addition, new math, language arts, social studies and economics National standard correlations have been added to the BizWorld program. Coming in 2007:
Let us know if you are looking for correlated standards in your state! |
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| Join the Teacher Advocacy Program! | ||||
Teachers from all over the United States are becoming part of the BizWorld Foundation Teacher Advocacy Program. A teacher advocate presents the importance of the BizWorld Foundation programs and what they teach students in regards to traditional subjects as other benefits such as leadership and critical thinking skills. Teachers are supported through a modest stipend to conduct a one hour presentation and share their personal experiences with either the BizWorld or BizWiz curricula. The BizWorld Foundation will supply the teacher advocates with a PowerPoint presentation, handouts, attendance sheets and free ground shipping coupons for participants. To join, send an email with your name, email and phone number so we can contact you for future presentations. We are always looking for new opportunities to present and grow the Teacher Advocacy Program. Please let us know if you have suggestions for conferences or other opportunities you might be interested in through this program. |
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| BizWorld is up and running in my seventh grade Leadership class and has been a hit! The students were skeptical at first because simply ‘making friendship bracelets to sell to another class for fake money’ did not appeal to them. However, throughout the program they've learned that BizWorld is so much more. They also love the fact that their teacher didn't learn about some of the BizWorld topics until a college accounting class! I can tell it's going to have a major effect on the students. -- Maureen Ferry, 7th grade teacher |
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| Teacher Spotlight | ||||
Rich welcomed the opportunity to work on a cooperative, project-based program. Starting a year with new students and parents is challenging for all teachers. Rich spoke very positively about the way the BizWorld program involved parents in the classroom from the first session. “This program made a good impression on parents by getting the families involved in the classroom right away.” Rich also shared his enthusiasm and plans to use BizWiz to follow up his BizWorld experience, “What a great way to truly spiral back on concepts taught previously. This really pushes the students towards mastery of their skills." |
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| Expanded Collaborative for Excellence in Learning (ExCEL) | ||||
We are excited to announce that the BizWorld Foundation programs have been recommended to the San Francisco Unified School District’s after school program, Expanded Collaborative for Excellence in Learning (ExCEL). The BizWorld Foundation programs are a great fit for the Academic Alignment Project which provides resources and professional development to reinforce the role that after school programs play in supporting academics and overall learning. The ExCEL Program’s mission is to create and sustain “safe havens” at public schools where students and community members can access expanded learning opportunities and integrated education, health, social service, and cultural programs in the out-of-school hours. The BizWorld Foundation was able to present the BizWorld curriculum to all the site coordinators who will implement the program at each school. Eva Jo Myers, the District Coordinator, believes “the program will really take off at all the schools!” The BizWorld Foundation is excited to work closely with ExCEL and other school districts to provide teachers and coordinators with curricula that educate and excite students. |
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| BizWorld is a great project. I think this is because it has helped me to realize that to have any career, all the skills we are developing in school will need to be strong and that they are going to actually help us in life. - 7th grade BizKid |
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| Foundation News | ||||
We are excited to introduce Julie Wurm, National Program Director, and Kira Mait, Education Coordinator, to the BizWorld Foundation team. As National Program Director, Julie will to continue to expand the network of BizWorld classes, building bridges between the Foundation and educators, and reaching more students around the country. “These programs present a unique opportunity for students and I look forward to facilitating as rich an experience as possible to enrich student development,” said Julie. Julie brings a rich background in education, having served as a classroom teacher for over 10 years. In addition, she is the author of the best-selling book, Working in the Reggio Way: A Beginner’s Guide for American Teachers, (Redleaf Press, 2005) about her work in the world-renown schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy (Listed among the 10 Best Schools in the World, Newsweek 1991). Julie holds BA from California State at Chico and an MA and EdM in Curriculum and Teaching from Columbia Teachers College. As Education Coordinator, Kira is facilitating teachers by providing alternate ways to teach components of the program, namely extensions or scaffolds for a particular session. In addition, she is the liaison for educators, ensuring that they feel comfortable with the curricula and have all the resources necessary to incorporate the programs into their yearly routines. Kira recently moved to San Francisco after living in New York City for the past ten years where she was an elementary school teacher in both public and private schools. On her first day Kira said, “I was drawn to BizWorld because the programs are extremely hands-on, interactive and informative. I am eager to be involved with such an innovative foundation where I have the opportunity to affect the lives of thousands of teachers and children.” |
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| Visit the BizWorld Foundation Today | ||||
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Look for us this spring at… California Association for Gifted Assoc for Supervision and Curriculum Development National Council of Teachers of Mathematics |
Did you see our Teacher Advocate presentations at… Tennessee Mathematic Teachers Association National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Utah Education Association Utah Council of Teachers of Mathematics Utah JumpStart National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of Mathematics Advocacy for Gifted and Talented Education California Math Council South California Math Council North |
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Did you see the BizWorld Foundation at… National Council of Economic Education Utah Council of Teachers of Mathematics Utah JumpStart National Association for Gifted Children Texas Association for Gifted |
| Visit the BizWorld Foundation Web site: |
| BizWorld Foundation
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| BizWorld
Foundation 444 De Haro Street, Suite 203 San Francisco, CA 94107 |