California Career and Technical Education Standards

• FB.A.A2.2 Apply appropriate concepts and techniques to account for equity investmentsand w...

California Academic Content Standards (Reinforced)

• ELA.9-10.W.RT.1.5 Synthesize information from multiple sources and identify complexities and discr...12

• The Origin of Chocolates - Hooks / Set

  When students enter class I have them grab their work journals and proceed to their desks which have been moved into 3 main groups of 5-6 desks titled as teams Sole Proprietorship, Partnerships, and Corporations each with 2 laptop captains, 2 data recorders, and 1-2 info. charters who must all work together

  1.     Look up 2 definitions of their group’s term from 2 different sources and record.

  2.     Visit http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/start/chooseastructure/START_FORMS_OWNERSHIP.html and record the pros and cons related to each of their group business types.

  3.     Get all of their information up on the board in large, legible writing

  First group done gets choice of trial size M&M’s or Famous Amos Cookies or Hershey Miniatures for their team.
• Take it to the Boards - Check Understanding

  As each team finishes and asks for me to check their work on the board for adequate completion, they are allowed to have first choice of our trial size treats, but instructed to not eat until given the go ahead.

  Once all groups are finished publishing their information on board, and have a snack, they are allowed to eat while I share the day’s objectives and expected student outcomes:

  • Identify the advantages and disadvantages of sole proprietorships, partnerships and corporations.
  • Research a few organizations electing to start up under very different situations and determine the best business structures for their respective scenarios
  • Finalize researching these companies, their eventual decisions, and how it helped and/or hindered their success.
• Where they began... - Demo / Modeling

  Students are split into teams of two and given a worksheet I found on EconoEdLink published as part of a collection from the Council for Economic Education ( http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php?lid=533&type=educator) that has 1 story of a new confectioner company just getting started and then 3 other distinct stories of companies that now make some of our most cherished sweet treats including Hershey’s, M&Ms, and Famous Amos’ Cookies. I ask students to read the nameless bios and write a recommendation for what they determine as the 1 ^st and 2 ^nd best business models for each business and a rationale.
• Story Time... - Check Understanding

  As a group, we take on the first story together as an open discussion so that I can make sure they are clear on the items they need to locate in order to provide a thorough recommendation. I write up the full group solicited recommendation on the board as a model for theirs.
• In the Beginning...Case Studies - Group Work

  Student teams work on the remaining 3 stories that are all real stories of what are now, large companies…but their identity is kept a secret in the stories of their early creation and start-ups. (It is interesting to see if any of the students start to figure out the relation of these business scenarios to the 3 treats I started the class out with)

  I provide all students a rubric of what is expected in their written recommendations and have them use the rubrics to grade their own product once they complete their first one. I visit their table to let them know if I agree or disagree with their own self-assessment and what I would have them modify to achieve full credit.
• Analyze These Businesses - Group Work

  Having modeled the initial business scenario for them as a group activity, and then given them feedback on their self-assessment for their first business scenario analysis and recommendation of top two viable business structures (sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation)…student teams are allowed to work on their own for the final two scenarios and assess their work when done.

  Students are able to reference the benefits and detriments that we listed about each business model on the board in our opening activity and are urged to do so.

  I remind them that their final activity will be done as individuals and will include analyzing a potential starting business scenario for the most beneficial structure given the situation using these same processes.
• Giving You the Business... - Closure

  Once students have completed their recommendations and turned them in, we go over each scenario as a group quickly to expose the companies behind the stories and I give all students the hint that products from all 3 companies are right here in our room courtesy of our first activity.

  While we expose the companies, I share the business models that the companies started with and how they are structured today if it has changed at all