Easing into the New School Year

The first few weeks of school can be crazy especially if you are a new teacher.  You’re learning about the school, trying to figure out the students, and working to keep them interested in what’s going on.  The last thing you want to have happen is to have a class of 25 students all hating Marketing because it’s sooo boring.  And you know how broad some of the first few chapters of the Marketing books are.  They give you a big overview of Marketing first before getting into the meat of things.  I’ve found a quick way to ease into class while at the same time keeping interest with the students.

 

Every morning, or the night before, depending on how late I’m up grading, I take a few minutes and look through business websites.  The more common ones like MSNBC, CNN, Forbes etc are the best because they usually carry the most up to date articles.  I’ll also look on Boston.com for more local articles too.  I look through the sites to find articles to share with the class.  I’m not looking for the most important business articles, but the articles that the class can relate to the most.  Yes, I know that the Fannie and Freddie crisis is important, but high school students would rather know what changes Steve Jobs is making to Apple.  I’m fortunate enough to have a Smart Board in my class and can show them the article, but if you don’t have a projector, you can still give the students the important details of the article. 

 

What this does in break up the routine they’re used to in the beginning of class and gives me a chance to talk about current issues.  Sometimes a discussion will spark from it, especially if the issue is big. When Playstation 3 came out, I went onto Ebay to watch how high people were willing to spend for it.  Or students will inquire about when we might learn more about it in Marketing.  If you get a discussion from them or not, the students know that you’re not just up there to spout notes and give tests, you’re taking real life subjects and brining them into class.