Stock Market

This monday @ Kingsley I had a lot of fun in my classroom. I have to hand it to the teacher; she can be pretty creative when she wants to. She really seems to know how to reach those 8th graders (now all she has to do is remmeber how to interact with adults =P). Anyways, the students were learning about the 1920s. In order for them to understand the crazy decade, each student was given $500 to invest in the stock market. There were several stock brokers around the room with various stocks. The students were given a description of each stock and were told they could buy as much or as little as they wanted. No further info was given. They had 2 mins to do what they wanted with their money. The students were walking around the room figuring out what to invest in; they seemed intrigued. After two mins. the teacher would read a news bulletin, updating the class on changes in the country and in the stock market; prices would rise and fall. The students would then have another two mins @ the stock market. In the end, the stock market crashed. The students had to respond about how much money they gained/loss and what their experiences were during the activity.


I could tell the students were having a great time while learning about history. She used this activity as an introduction to the unit, which I thought was a great idea. They got a taste of whats going to be taught all while having fun! Way to go teach.

One thing that was kind of strange....While the students were doing daily geography, the teacher gave me a stack of pick slips that were "Cav Cash" students get them for doing good things. While she was talking to the students, she handed me this stack. No explination or anything. I havent even been introduced to that class yet and she wanted me to do what? I was too confused. After D.G. she took them back and didnt say anything. I realized during the next class that she wanted me to pass them out i guess to students that answered questions, but how was I supposed to know that? Some explination, PLEASE! I mean, we get there early enough to discuss lesson plans and whatnot...but she wont aknowledge me and jordan before the students get there. We should talk to her; ill bring it up to Jordan (shes been sick this week).

Overall, Monday was the best day yet. I hope things do start to pick up and I can interact more with the students!