BizBuzz

Financial Literacy Month!

Our office is buzzing with the excitement of teachers preparing to take BizWorld & BizWiz into their classrooms from now until the end of the school year.  Whether they are teaching the program as a fun project after testing, an event in celebration of Financial Literacy month, or an exciting year-end review -- teachers across the country are embracing our programs as a tool to engage their students in curriculum that is unique, innovative and relevant.  What a rewarding feeling! 

Last month I had the pleasure of working with my program team to train 12 teachers from Oakland on the BizWorld program through an outstanding event sponsored by the Wachovia Foundation.  The event was held in the Wachovia office and their employees joined the training as volunteers.  Next month, the volunteers will join the teachers in their classrooms -- ultimately resulting in hundreds of kids starting friendship bracelet companies in Oakland this spring!  :) Doesn't that just warm your heart? 

This week is about diving deep into preparations for the NCTM conference in Washington, D.C. in two weeks.  I'm looking forward to meeting some great people & learning more about what's happening in math classrooms throughout the nation. Will you be attending the conference?  If so, please stop by our booth and say hello!  I'd love to share our programs with you -- or hear your BizWorld story! 

Back from the Whirlwind Tour!

Phew!  How wonderful it is to be back in the office after living out of a suitcase for so long! Five conferences in less than a month.  What fabulous opportunities to meet so many "new to BizWorld" teachers and to hear stories from those of you who have been teaching it year after year -- and love it!  Your enthusiasm is contagious and your excitement about taking our programs into your classrooms is what motivates our team to keep doing what we do.  Thank you!  I had some particularly amazing feedback recently from Mary in Missouri who teaches at an independent school where BizWorld has become a "rite of passage" from lower school to middle school -- and Luann in Pennsylvania who has "created a certain buzz in the building" by teaching BizWorld to four classes at the same time!  Incredible!  A class of fifth graders in California also sent me a copy of their school newsletter to share their unique experience with the program.  My favorite sentence read, "The Super Novas commercial declared the sun would explode and bracelets would rain from the sky!" I love the creativity that the marketing campaign inspires :)  Please send us your story...when you're done teaching the program, click "report" on the homepage of our website and let us know how it went!

Happy 2009 from The BizWorld Foundation!

Hi! I'm April Bond, Education Outreach Manager here at The BizWorld Foundation. I come to this position with ten years of experience in Education, the past three as a fifth grade teacher. Oh, how I wish I knew about these programs when I was in the classroom! As many of you know, there aren't many things that can engage an entire group of kids for any length of time these days, but if you've seen our programs in action, you know the magic that they can inspire :) I'm excited about the great start we've already had to this new year and believe that this is going to be one of our busiest yet. With the current state of the economy, we all know how important it is for our students to be financially responsible and that begins with us! At our office here in San Francisco, our team is busy planning BizWorld & BizWiz camps, teacher trainings and events, and preparing to dive into a full conference schedule in just a few weeks. Our first three stops outside of San Francisco are Anaheim (CAG), Chicago (NAIS) and New York (Celebration of Teaching and Learning). If you are going to be attending any of these conferences, please come by our booth and say hello! Or better yet, send me an email to find out about professional opportunities to share your BizWorld and BizWiz experiences with other conference attendees. I can be reached by email at april.bond@bizworld.org or on our office phone at 415-503-5880. Looking forward meeting many of you soon!!

Wrapping up a great conference!

Thank you to everyone who came out to see The BizWorld Foundation at the 2008 California Association for the Gifted conference in Anaheim! We had a fantastic time meeting such wonderful, enthusiastic teachers. Our office is still buzzing from all of the energy! We will be heading to New Orleans on March 14 to attend the Association for Curriculum Developers conference. If you or a colleague is going to be attending, please drop me a line and let me know: kristen.mjoseth@bizworld.org.

Excited for The BizWorld Foundation's 10th Anniversary Education Luncheon!

I am really looking forward to The BizWorld Foundation's 10th Anniversary Education Luncheon on Tuesday, December 4th in San Francisco. Our whole staff has been working really hard to put everything together and I think it's going to be a fabulous event! BizWorld students (or "BizKids" as we say) from North Star Academy in Redwood City, CA will be on hand to perform their company's commercials. I'm so excited to see what creative ideas they have come up with! Also, Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube, will be featured as the guest speaker. I'm a big fan of YouTube myself and I'm curious to hear his thoughts on entrepreneurship education. Check the blog in the next couple of weeks to see pictures of the event!

The BizWorld Foundation at NAGC!

One of the aspects of my job that I love the most is being able to attend education conferences all over the U.S. and speak to teachers about The BizWorld Foundation and our programs. Just recently I attended the National Association for Gifted Children Conference in Minneapolis, MN with my co-worker Ashley. I met countless amazing teachers whose dedication to education is very inspiring. I especially love running into teachers at conferences who have used the BizWorld or BizWiz programs...they always have some great stories to tell! I'll be attending the ASCD conference in New Orleans, LA in March 2008 and would love to see all of you! Please don't hesitate to shoot me an email and let me know what conferences you or your colleagues will be attending: kristen.mjoseth@bizworld.org

Pre/Post Assessments: We need your advice!

Here at BizWorld, one of the most exciting times of the day is 2:00 PM. That's when the mail comes, and we all anxiously wait to see if any pre and post assessments have arrived! But lately, there has been a shortage of thick, white BizWorld envelopes coming through the mail slot. Which leads us to wonder: what would make the pre/post assessments more feasible to send in? We’ve heard from some teachers that it’s too long. Others say that in a crunch for time, it’s too difficult to get everything done in one day.

We want to hear from you! Let us know what you think, how we might change the process, update the assessments themselves and any other suggestions.

BizWorld is a dream come true!

BizWorld is a dream come true for me. It's a crowd pleaser for my students, the parents are impressed because of the knowledge gained and I get a very focused group of kids for the week. They didn't just read about running a business, with Bizworld, they've lived it, they've experienced it. They keep begging me to do it with them again. Thank you!!

Laurie Steed

Standardized Testing

Through many of our converstions with teachers about how and when to use the BizWorld programs...a suggestion about inserting the program into the school year that has worked successfully for many is during testing.  Essentially, we have been told that to have one or two conversations about business the week preceeding testing and then in the afternoons, after testing is completed, both BizWorld and BizWiz are the perfect ways to engage students.

Did you teach BizWorld during Entrepreneurship Week 2007?

We have completed the 1st annual EntrepreneurshipWeek initiative.  We will have a drawing for a class pizza party on March 15th, 2007.  So, to be included please send us a note with your name and school information.