Speaker on Business
Goals:
1. Students will receive primary information about how small shipping businesses work and what they are responsible for.
2. Students will gain knowledge and demonstrate their understanding of terms that are directly related to the operation of a small shipping business.
3. Students develop the skills to anticipate questions and problems that might arise, and are able to identify problems to find the solution.
4. Students will be exposed to the structure of a small business, operational issues, and financial issues.
Resources:
1. Representative from a local shipping business. If there are no local shipping business, substitute a person from a different local business.
2. Multiple printouts and one transparency of a crossword puzzle, which incorporates the terms learned in class that day.
3. List of questions put together by each student
4. Multiple list of terms the students should listen for during the speaker.
5. Overhead and screen.
Time:
The lesson will require somewhere from 1 1/2 hrs. to 1 hr. and 50 min.
Procedure:
Preparation: Talk to the speaker before hand about what you want him/her to focus on. For this lesson you could focus on the structure of a small business, operational issues, personnel, etc. Give the speaker an idea of the terms that the students are already familiar with.
Step 1 Students take out list of questions they wrote the night before to ask the speaker.
Step 2 Hand out the list of terms the speaker will be explaining during the presentation.
Step 3 Introduce the speaker (i.e. What business is he/she from. What is her/his job there.)
Step 4 The speaker will begin his/her presentation. (Lasting 30 to 40 min.)
Step 5 Open the floor to questions from the students.
Step 6 When the questions begin to taper off, thank the speaker and end the presentation.
Step 7 Give students a few minutes to express their feelings and reactions about the speaker.
Assessment:
1. Each student will turn in the list of questions prepared for the speaker. (Criteria for success: each student must turn in X# of questions.)Curricular Strands and Major Concepts:
1. Language Arts: Listening to a speaker, and maintaining a Q&A session.
2. Critical Thinking: Developing questions prior to and during the presentation.
Possible Extensions:
1. Field trip to the speakers place of business.