Mustard Seed Training

The Ohio Resource Center’s (ORC) Standards First project recommends outstanding resources to help teachers connect academic and career-technical standards to a real-world context. Want to know what skills a person needs to succeed in a certain career field? Or do you want to find high quality lesson plans and projects to teach those career-specific skills? Go to: http://www.ohiorc.org/standards_first/ and choose one of the following Career Fields:

• Agricultural & Environmental Systems
• Arts & Communication
• Business & Administrative Services
• Construction Technologies
• Education & Training
• Engineering & Science Technologies
• Finance
• Government & Public Administration
• Health Science
• Hospitality & Tourism
• Human Services
• Information Technology
• Law & Public Safety
• Manufacturing Technologies
• Marketing
• Transportation Systems
• General Career Skills

You can narrow your search by Academic Subject: English Language Arts, Mathematics, or Science.
Finally, select whether you want resources For the Classroom or For Professional Reading.

Example: Sell Phones

Before finding a lesson, I wanted to know who is hiring in Cleveland, so I went to http://Cleveland.EmploymentGuide.com and clicked “View All” under “Look Who’s Hiring in Cleveland.” I saw the following jobs listed:

1. Telemarketers,
2. Collections, and
3. Sales Representatives.

I went to ORC Standards First and selected the career field “Marketing” and resource type “For the Classroom.” 3rd on the list I found the following lesson:

Sell Phones: Exploring the Future of Cell Phone Markets

It is listed as a best practice Instructional Resource for English Language Arts aligned to Ohio Standards for 6-12 grades. Could I use this as a volunteer tutor teaching adult GED Test preparation students? The information from Ohio Resource Center tells me I can try this out on students studying reading at a variety of levels. And it looks interesting for adults. Perfect!

Click this link to view the lesson: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2004/02/19/sell-phones/

I open the lesson and glance through to see if a volunteer tutor could use it with adult GED Test preparation students:

Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students work in groups as competing teams responsible for preparing and presenting a comprehensive marketing plan to the board of a “new” cell phone company.

Suggested Time Allowance: 1 hour

Resources / Materials:
–student journals
–pens/pencils
–paper
–classroom blackboard
–copies of “Cingular Wins AT&T Wireless in an Early-Morning Drama” (one per student)
–computers with Internet access

Objectives:
Students will:
1. Reflect on their understanding of cell phone features, prices, and plans.
2. Learn about a merger creating the biggest wireless company in the United States by reading and discussing the article “Cingular Wins AT&T Wireless in an Early-Morning Drama” (link to article: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/18/business/18WIRE.html?pagewanted=1)
3. In groups, act as marketing team to present a comprehensive marketing plan to the board of the newly expanded company.
4. Explore in writing how best to market cell phones to teens.

Evaluation / Assessment:
Students will be evaluated based on initial journal writing, active participation in class discussions, thorough and accurate research and presentation of a marketing plan, and thoughtful completion of a written marketing brief.

The lesson also includes: questions to guide the activity, further questions for discussion, a list of vocabulary words, and extension activities with links to other related articles.

Reading this lesson, it looks like it is building exactly the skills someone would need to get a job in marketing by building a marketing plan and communicating that plan to others. It also helps build content skills needed to pass the GED Test like reading comprehension, writing, and even comparing numerical data. If I print this article, I could use it either with an individual student OR create small groups to give students the chance to practice the workplace skill of working in teams. I think it’s a great find, and it’s just ONE of the high quality resources you can find on this website!

Try it out at Ohio Resource Center Standards First