Course Profile Introduction to Business, Grade 9 or 10 open, Public

Course Overview

Course Profiles are professional development materials designed to help teachers implement the new Grade 9 secondary school curriculum. These materials were created by writing partnerships of school boards and subject associations. The development of these resources was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training. This document reflects the views of the developers and not necessarily those of the Ministry. Permission is given to reproduce these materials for any purpose except profit. Teachers are also encouraged to amend, revise, edit, cut, paste, and otherwise adapt this material for educational purposes.

Any references in this document to particular commercial resources, learning materials, equipment, or technology reflect only the opinions of the writers of this sample Course Profile, and do not reflect any official endorsement by the Ministry of Education and Training or by the Partnership of School Boards that supported the production of the document.

©Queen's Printer for Ontario

Acknowledgments

Writing Partnership Lead Board: Toronto District School Board

Course Profile Writing Team

Lori Cranson, Lead Writer, Toronto District School Board

Doug Ritchie, Toronto District School Board

Tom Truesdale, Toronto District School Board

Terry Murphy, Retired, formerly Frontenac County Board

Michael Liepner, Retired, formerly York Region District School Board

Project Manager: Madeline Dennis, Toronto District School Board

Internal Reviewer: Jane Phillips, Toronto District School Board (ESL and Special Ed)

Course Overview

Identifying Information

Toronto District School Board

Course Developers

Project Manager: Madeline Dennis, Toronto District School Board, OBEA, OABEC

Course Developers: Lori Cranson, Lead Writer, Toronto District School Board, OBEA, CFEE
Michael Liepner, retired, formerly York Region District School Board, OBEA
Terry Murphy, retired, formerly Frontenac County Board of Education, OBEA
Jane Phillips, Toronto District School Board
Doug Ritchie, Toronto District School Board, CFEE
Tom Truesdale, Toronto District School Board, CFEE

Development Date: March 1, 1999

Course Title: Introduction to Business Grade 9 or 10, Open

School Course Code: BBI10, BBI20

Curriculum Policy Document: Business Studies

Description

This course introduces students to the world of business, including the concepts, functions, and skills required for meeting the challenges of operating a business in the twenty-first century on a local, national, and/or international scale. Students will learn concepts and skills related to personal finance, entrepreneurship and international business.

Unit Titles

Unit #1	Personal Finance	35.5 hours
Unit #2	The Role and Impact of Business	15.5 hours
Unit #3	Entrepreneurship	16.5 hours
Unit #4	Conducting Business in a Competitive Marketplace and the Changing Workplace	30.25 hours
Unit #5	International Business	12.25 hours

Unit Organization

Unit #1: Personal Finance

Time: 35.5 hours

Description:

Students will explore the dimensions of personal finance including income sources, budgeting, financial planning and the use of credit. Through this exploration, students will identify educational requirements to achieve the level of income desired; examine work and employability skills to ensure personal growth and development; and examine financial goals and the strategies to achieve them.

Strands: Personal Finance and The Role and Impact of Business

Overall Expectations: RBV.01X; PFV.09X, 10, 11

Specific Expectations: RB2.01X, 02, 03; PF2.33X, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42

Unit #2: The Role and Impact of Business

Time: 15.5 hours

Description:

Students are introduced to various types of business ownership, distinguishing features and advantages and disadvantages of each. They will research growth trends in businesses and business sectors. An evaluation of the impact of businesses on the community includes how businesses influence standards of living and quality of life, social and environmental issues in the community and change in the community.

Strands: The Role and Impact of Business

Overall Expectations: RBV.02X, 03

Specific Expectations: RB2.04X, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10

Unit #3: Entrepreneurship

Time: 16.5 hours

Description:

Strands:

Overall Expectations:

Specific Expectations:

Unit #4: Conducting Business in a Competitive Marketplace and the Changing Workplace

Time: 29 hours

Description:

Strands:

Overall Expectations:

Specific Expectations:

Unit #5: International Business

Time: 13.5 hours

Description:

Strands:

Overall Expectations:

Specific Expectations:

Course Notes

Introduction to Business is an open course that can be offered at the grade 9 or 10 level. In the course notes, there is an overview of the teaching/learning and assessment strategies that appear throughout the course. The course is designed to build knowledge, skills and attitudes in students. Many of the strategies focus on assisting students in becoming reflective learners who can think about what they are learning, how their learning can be connected to what they already know and how their new learning can be applied.

Health, safety, legal and ethical issues that are relevant to Business Studies are addressed in this course. Students will have the opportunity to work in cooperative small groups to develop effective team, interpersonal and intra personal skills while learning to manage conflicts that arise.

Environmental awareness as it applies to Introduction to Business, will be addressed in a practical and ongoing manner. Students will be encouraged to proofread all work before printing and will practise fine paper recycling of copies to be discarded. The environmental concerns relating to the impact of business on the local and global economies will also be addressed.

Teaching/Learning Strategies

Cooperative Small Group Learning

Cooperative small group learning is one of the teaching strategies recommended throughout this course. Learning to work as a contributing member of a team is essential for success in the business world. Cooperative small group learning relies on the applications of five fundamental principles for success and effectiveness.

Principle #1 Students work in positive interdependence where the classroom environment becomes one of support and cohesion and every student respects the opportunity to be part of other students’ learning in addition to learning from other students.

Principle #2 Students work in small heterogeneous groups which leads to face-to-face participation, active involvement of all members, meaningful exchanges of ideas/knowledge, internal motivation, and peer support and approval.

Principle #3 Students are accountable both as individuals and as a group. Each group task will be given clear criteria for success. In addition, students will be involved in the planning, designing and carrying out of assessment activities (peer and group). Feedback within the group and from the teacher should be ongoing.

Principle #4 Students learn through ample opportunity for purposeful talk. Talk is critical as it allows students to think through ideas, deepen understanding and create personal meaning, increase active learning and develop metacognition (thinking about thinking).

Principle #5 Students learn and practise cooperative skills as they study and explore the subject matter together. Cooperative skills prepare students for the future workplace where team work is essential.

The following cooperative small group learning strategies have been included in this course profile:

Think-Pair-Share Students are given individual think time to respond to a question, problem or new information. After a minute or so of think time, students are asked to pair up and share the information. Once the pairs reach consensus, they are asked to share with the rest of the class.

Think-Pair-Square This is a variation on Think Pair Share. Students share their responses with another pair, instead of with the whole class.

Combined Groups This is a further variation on the above, when two larger groups are joined to share their work.

Graffiti Each group is given a piece of paper on which to respond to a statement, question, topic or issue. Each member of the group writes down ideas using the same colour marker. The paper is passed to the next group who add to the ideas in a different colour marker. Eventually each paper passes through each group and the original group categorizes the information and draws conclusions to share with the class.

Thinking Skills

Students will face many issues throughout their lives. To assist students in meeting the challenges, we need to help them develop a wide range of thinking skills. Incorporated in this course profile, are the following discreet thinking skills:

Brainstorming Students express ideas with no evaluation. The more ideas the better.

Mind mapping Students use a visual road map to express ideas and connect them to each other.

Dictionary of This strategy helps students reflect on the meanings of words. This strategy is

Key Words introduced in Activity #1, unit 1, and referred to throughout the course to encourage

students to add to it.

What if? This is a cognitive tool that helps students develop a balanced perspective of any issue. An issue is placed in the central circle. Students think about the positive and negative outcomes for the issue. Each outcome also has a positive and negative. The clusters then make up a balanced perspective on the issue. This is useful when students are asked to think about controversial issues.

Treasure Chest This strategy uses concrete materials to assist students in approaching new learning. This strategy is introduced in Activity #3, Unit 1. It can be used anytime you are introducing students to new materials.

Inclusion

Building inclusion and a sense of community is essential for a positive class climate, where students trust each other, are willing to take risks and develop new skills. To be successful, inclusion activities in the form of warm ups, team building or cooperative learning should be built into every lesson.

Note Making Guide (See Appendix A 1.3)

This guide is designed to assist students in developing listening skills, select important information and reflect on the learning opportunity. Students record their personal impressions as well as facts. Have the class brainstorm symbols that students could add to their notes. Explain that students could record notes in a visual format such as Mind mapping. Encourage students to try these two methods of note making.

Guest Speakers

In Business Studies, guest speakers are a readily available and excellent source of current information. Guest speakers can be found in your school, among the families of your students and in your community at large. When you invite guest speakers to class, provide them with guidelines for the talk along with any materials you will be using with the students. Inform your guests of any special accommodations they should be aware of. Arrange for any audio visual equipment ahead of time. Provide students with a Note Making Guide for use when a speaker comes to class.

Response Journals

Response journals are an excellent strategy to assist students in clarifying their thinking and working towards personal growth. With encouragement and support from the teacher, students can move into the deeper stages of authentic response. Response journals can come in many forms, from a simple notebook to predesigned handouts. The specific purpose is to capture the student’s thoughts on an issue as opposed to a repetition of the facts.

Newspaper and Magazine Collections

Begin a collection of newspapers and magazines that can be kept in the class and accessed by all students.

Oral Presentation Skills

Distribute the oral presentation rubric (Appendix B1.5) at the beginning of the course and use it to assess individual and group presentations. The rubric is designed as a summative assessment. It is recommended that by the end of this course students should be at level 3 or 4 on this rubric. Students may identify a particular skill from this rubric to work on and add the assessment criteria to any rubric. Students decide what skill they want to work on and develop a plan to improve their skill. This process will help students develop oral presentation skills and confidence.

Conflict Management Strategies

Students are required to work collaboratively throughout the course, therefore, addressing conflict management is important to student success. At the beginning of the course, the teacher should address this issue, emphasizing that not all conflicts can be resolved, but students can always choose how to handle them. The following steps in resolution should be displayed in the classroom in the form of a poster or bulletin board display. Teachers must ensure that students understand the steps, and that the steps be followed should a conflict arise. Self, peer, group, and teacher evaluation forms help deflect conflict and solve problems.

Eight Steps to Conflict Resolution:

Define the Conflict

State the Problem

Check your Perceptions

Generate and Evaluate a List of Possible Decisions/Alternatives

Reach a Mutually Acceptable Decision

Implement and Evaluate the Decision

If the Decision is Satisfactory, Students Continue Their Work.

If the Decision is Unsatisfactory, Students Should Repeat the Process.

Accommodations

The following accommodations should be considered throughout the course as appropriate. Accommodations will vary from student. Some modifications of expectations in workload may be required in order to allow students to be successful.

ESL/ELD	SPECIAL EDUCATION
• pair or group students with English speakers	• provide new vocabulary in advance
• provide Note Making Guide	• provide Note Making Guide
• provide a set of reference notes	• repeat instructions
• promote peer tutoring	• provide visual organizers
• reinforce main ideas by using think, pair, share/square	• allow additional time for organization and completion of assignments and assessment
• display subject specific key visuals	• provide opportunities for modification of summative assessment
• provide outlines of critical information	• pair written instructions with oral instructions
• provide models of charts, timelines or diagrams	• pair student with a peer tutor
• pair written instructions with verbal instructions	• assist student to develop a dictionary of key words
• use key visuals to illustrate definitions for the students’ dictionary of key words	• provide photocopies of peer/teacher notes
• simplify instructions	• simplify instructions
• highlight key words and phrases	• pair student with a buddy
• brainstorm in pairs in first language if English is limited	• provide opportunities for cooperative group work
• allow extra time for reading or writing assignments	• provide models for graphs, diagrams or mapping activities
• provide electronic resources to prepare assignments	• allow assignments to be completed in alternative formats
• encourage use of first language/English dictionaries for assignments and assessment	• prepare reference notes
• allow additional time to complete assignments and assessment instruments	• contact special education department for student specific accommodations
• provide models of wording of summative assessment instruments	• contact parent/guardian for support and suggestions
• provide opportunities for students to practise oral presentation skills	• allow use of computers for assessment evaluation
• provide visual/auditory cues	• provide oral preplanning of activities with students
• use peer conferencing to reinforce instructions/information
• ask an ESL/ELD teacher to review questions, assignments, or assessment instruments

Instructional Strategies

Activity Based

• Discuss

• Concentration Game

• Interview

• Oral presentation

• Field Trip

• Oral Discussion

• Panel Discussion

Cooperative Learning

• Small Group Discussion

• Combined Groups

• Think/Pair/Share/ Square

Independent Learning

• Homework

• Research

• Note Making Guide

• Timeline

Direct Instruction

• Focused Questioning

• Guest Speakers

• Worksheets

• Demonstration

• Spreadsheets

Thinking Skills

• Treasure Chest

• Brainstorming

• Mind mapping

• Dictionary of Key Words

• Response journals

• Graphic Organizers

• Problem Solving

Assessment/Evaluation Techniques

There are a variety of assessment and evaluation strategies used throughout this course. They have been selected with the following principles in mind.

Principle #1 Assessment and evaluation techniques are an integral part of teaching/learning strategies and expectations. The assessment/evaluation techniques are selected to effectively assist students in achieving the overall and specific expectations and be consistent with the teaching/learning strategies. The assessment/evaluation technique measures not only how well students have achieved expectations but how well the assessment/evaluation technique matches the teaching strategy.

Principle #2 Good assessment/evaluation policy ensures continuous assessment of student progress and interest, and specific evaluation