Travis R. Martin, CPA

Activity Background

Student Concert Poster Created in Microsoft Word

There are precious few things that universally appeal to teenagers. In fact, the only thing I can think of is music. Kids may not agree on what kind of music is best, but generally speaking, nearly all teens are into tunes (some so much that they stay tethered to their iPod 24/7).

With this in mind, I like to work a few music-related activities into my classes, especially in Computer Applications.

Our study of Microsoft Word includes a unit on making flyers (we use the Shelly Cashman books). At the conclusion of the unit, the students apply the skills they’ve learned, including inserting graphics and manipulating text, to create a concert poster for a band of their choice. The posters include information like tour cities, dates, and opening acts. The students may make up their own tours or use a website like www.pollstar.com to get real information about their favorite acts.

While programs like Publisher and Adobe InDesign are more geared towards creating posters, completing this project in Word helps the students understand the limitations of the program.  It also helps me understand how far out of the music loop I am (you mean, nobody listens to the Counting Crows anymore??).

When the posters are completed, I have the students upload their documents to a Workshop link on my Moodle website, so that they can be critiqued by others in the class.

This project can also be expanded to Excel (have the students budget and

Student Concert Poster, Created in Microsoft Word

plan an entire tour for their band), PowerPoint (have the students create a video slideshow featuring one of their band’s songs), and Access (have the students catalog the band’s CDs in a database). I will share those activities later on!

Lesson Resources
Instructions: Microsoft Word Concert Poster

Website: www.pollstar.com

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Activity Description

A Student Takes a Shot During Typing Basketball

For junior high and elementary school students, learning to touch type can be a tedious process. Proficient typing requires practice, just like any skill. And practice in this case involves a lot of simple, repetitive motions.

To break the monotony of typing out “www sss xxx ooo lll …” over and over, I like to incorporate Keyboarding Basketball, a simple game that gets the students out of their seats during timed typing exercises.  The basic premise of the game is to have students shoot a basket after completing a timed typing exercise. Where the students shoot from depends on their typing performance.

All you need for the activity is a Nerf basketball goal and a typing program that will allow you to conduct timed typing tests (if your school does not have access to a typing program, http://www.freetypinggame.net has a lot of different typing lessons and activities). 

After setting up the Nerf goal on a closet or door, tape off five different lines for the shooters. Each individual shooting area is labeled with a point value and a word per minute limit, with the lines closest to the goal worth the most points (I know this sounds backwards, but bare with me).  The court layout would look something like you see below.

The words per minute can be tweaked to match your students’ abilities, but the idea is to reward the best typers by giving them an opportunity to score the most points in the game.

Since basketball is played in quarters, my games consisted of four typing

Typing Basketball Champions, Circa 2005

tests and four rounds of shooting. If you keep things moving, you should be able to get through one game in half an hour.

Aside from being fun for the class, this activity is very effective when played as a series.  I divided my class into two teams, and we played each Friday during our typing unit. In order to keep the students busy while their classmates were shooting, I had them open Excel and keep track of their words per minute and points scored. At the end of the term, the students learned how to use formulas like Average, Max and Min, which provided a great introduction to spreadsheets.

Lesson Resources
http://www.freetypinggame.net/play.asp

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Lesson Background

Flip to the front of nearly any high school Economics textbook and you are sure to find a discussion of Economic Systems and Economic Goals.  

When my classes discuss these topics (see PowerPoint notes), I like to incorporate a few simple activities.

Cover of Student Economic Systems Brochure

The first activity covers Economic Systems. After the students have read and discussed the topic in class, I have them create an advertisement (flyer, brochure, commercial, or video) highlighting the main tenants of an Economic System of their choice.

As a wrap-up, I like to have the students read an excerpt from Ayn Rand’s Anthem, to help them visualize what it might be like to have a job assigned to them in a Command Economy.

The second activity uses music to show how people can become frustrated when Economic Goals are not met. During the classroom discussion of Economic Goals, I highlight a song in which the artist is dissatisfied with an Economic issue (think John Mellencamp’s ‘Scarecrow’ , Bob Dylan’s ‘Union Sundown’, or any number of songs, really).

Afterwards, the students are charged with the task of finding their own song and writing a short (less than one page) summary of how it addresses failed Economic Goals. Assuming you have access to the CDs/MP3, these songs can then be played for the class, as time allows.

Lesson Resources
PowerPoint Discussion: Economic Systems & Goals
Instructions: Economics Systems & Goals Activites
Reading: Excerpt from “Anthem” by Ayn Rand

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Sample Target Market People

Lesson Description

If your students have ever seen a commercial or made a purchase, they have already seen target markets in action.

The concept itself is not hard to understand, but it is nonetheless one of the most important concepts in marketing. The better a company is at identifying their potential customers; the more successful they will be in delivering products and services that are in demand.

In this activity, students get hands-on with target markets by creating a fictional person that is representative of a given target market.

The activity begins with a PowerPoint discussion of how target markets are used to identify the needs of specific groups of consumers and how this information is used to develop/market products.

Students are then shown a document listing sample market segmentations.

The students use this information to identify a target market (single male, ages 18 – 24, income < $25,000 for example).

Once the students have identified a target market, they cut the form of a person out of a large sheet of art paper and decorate it using photos of products that are marketed to that particular group.

After each group has created their “Target Market” person (I usually allot 45 minutes to 1 hour for this portion), they are presented to the class. Often times, the presentations lead to a discussion of how and where the products depicted on the Target Market person are advertised, as well as which target markets are most attractive (from a business sense).

Not only is this activity a good, cheap way to introduce students to target markets, it also provides your classroom with some conversation-starting decorations. After taping this year’s crop to my walls, I had a number of students from other classes ask about them…so, in a way, the target market people are marketing my marketing classes for me!

Lesson Resources
PowerPoint Notes: Target Markets
Instructions: Target Market Person
Resource: Market Segment Listings

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Student Eggmen Used in Distribution Channel Activity

Lesson Background

One of the most underappreciated “P’s” of Marketing is Placement (or distribution). Most people, students especially, would rather talk about product creation, promotion, and pricing, as opposed to discussing how to get products from one point to another.

This hands-on marketing activity puts a fun spin on distribution channels by requiring students to move a product from point A to point B while navigating a classroom obstacle course.

The product in this case is a hard-boiled egg, which with a little help from a sharpie and some push pins, becomes a loveable “Eggman.”

The actual obstacle course will vary depending on how your classroom is laid out, but my classroom provided the following obstacles, or stations, as I called them:

• A 6-foot long piece of tubing that the Eggman traveled down to begin the journey
• 2 traffic cones in the middle of the room that the Eggman had to weave around
• A large desk that Eggman had to travel over
• 2 tables that Eggman had to travel under
• An ocean (marked off with tape and labeled with a sign) that Eggman had to fly over

Of course, carrying an egg by hand through an obstacle course wouldn’t be too challenging, and it probably wouldn’t teach a whole lot about distribution channels.

So, to make things a little more difficult, the students are not allowed to touch the Eggman with their hands. They must transport him by selecting various modes of transportation. For my activity, I use a baseball mitt, a hand-towel, a toy cart, a Frisbee, and a spoon. As an added twist, I require that the students use each method of transportation only once (for instance, a student could not use the spoon to carry the Eggman through each station).

By using this setup, students are forced to develop a plan that utilizes their transportation and labor resources in an

Student Plan for Navigating Eggman Distrubtion Channel

efficient manner.

After creating a plan, the groups are timed to see how quickly they can navigate the channel. I like to assign a dollar amount to each second (1 second = $100 cost) as well as assigning a cost for labor ($250 per student involved in each station). At the end of the game, we calculate what team has navigated the channel for the lowest total cost, and that group is declared the winner.

The activity is concluded with a discussion of how our distribution channels could be made more efficient.

Having completed this activity with a couple of different classes, I can say that it does an effective job of making the subject of distribution channels come to life.

Instructions: An “Eggcellent” Distribution Channel Activity

PowerPoint Notes: Product Placement (Distribution) Discussion

Note
This activity was adapted from a similar one I found on the internet a while back. I believe it was from a group of professors in New York?? I tried to find it again, but couldn’t. If you’re the originator of this idea, and would like credit, drop me a line and I will link back to the original.

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Lego Man

Lesson Background

Unless you are teaching an AP Economics class, you probably aren’t going to get a lot of students to read Adam Smith.

Thankfully, there are ways that you can introduce some of the important concepts from Classical Economics without going right to the source.

One example is the division of labor. Although it seems like common sense now, Adam Smith was the first to introduce this concept on a wide scale. In his book Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, Smith describes the efficiencies that can be gained in producing pins (not the ink kind, but the pointy kind) by breaking up the labor into specific stages.

When I cover this topic, I like to have the students demonstrate the difference firsthand by assembling Lego people.

The premise is simple: divide the classroom up into two groups, teams and individuals. The teams work together to make Lego figures (I use simple Lego people) as quickly as possible, while the individuals make them on their own. Ideally, the process should take 5-7 steps. After a given time period, work is stopped and the groups count up their output.

Typically, the groups are able to produce much more than the individuals. Once the benefits of the Division of Labor are apparent, the class engages in a discussion of productivity, focusing on things that could be done to make the workers more productive (use of technology, training, etc.).

In addition to building the Lego people, students can read an excerpt of Smith’s work regarding the Division of Labor here. Instructors may also wish to incorporate the Department of Labor’s information on Labor Productivity.

Lesson Resources

Instructions: Lego Assembly Line Activity
Website: Department of Labor – Productivity Statistics

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Lesson Description

Generic vs. Name Brand Taste Test

From an early age, we as consumers have been conditioned by the likes of Chef Boyardee and Chester Cheetah to reach for their products when grocery shopping. We assume that we choose name brands, like Cheetos, over their generic counterparts because the name brands are of higher quality. But is this always the case?

In this activity, students participate in a blind taste test that pits name brand foods against their private label (generic) equivalents.  Included in the taste test are the name brand/private label equivalents for: Sprite, Orange Juice, Bottled Water, Pop Tarts, Cereal Bars, Fruit Cocktail, Cheetos, Cheez-Its, and Froot Loops.

Students sample each product and then complete a form that indicates which product they believe is the name brand, and which they believe is the better of the two products.

Inevitably, students are not always able to correctly identify name brands in the blind taste test. This leads into a discussion (PowerPoint provided) of why name brand foods are more expensive, as well as the cost savings that we can recognize by substituting private labels for name brands.

Students Participating in Taste Test of Generic and Name Brand Foods

Lesson Resources

Worksheet: Taste Test Scorecard

PowerPoint Discussion: Generic (Private Label) vs. Name Brand Foods

Article: Dumped! Brand Names Fight to Stay in Stores

Lesson Extensions

• Marketing – this lesson could also be used in a Marketing course
• Personal Finance – I often add a component the requires students to devise a weekly menu and compare prices on the items at their local grocery store

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Lesson Description

Product creation and market research go hand-in-hand. If a company is going to spend millions of dollars developing

Puzzle Puffs - Student Created Cereal

and promoting a product, they need to be fairly certain that there will be a market for the product. Of course, companies don’t always get it right (Arch Deluxe with a New Coke, anyone?). But, generally speaking, the more information a company has about their customer’s preferences, the more likely they will be able to create a successful product.

In this hands-on activity, students develop a new cereal concept for Kellogg’s. The activity starts with students reading a short case about Kellog’s slumping cereal sales (see link below). Then students divide up into groups and conduct market research using surveys or focus groups.

After conducting their market research, the groups each create a new cereal based on their findings. Ideally, students will have experience with Adobe Photoshop or a similar graphics editing program. This will help them in creating an attractive design that fits over the top of a regular cereal box.

Resources:
Cereal Creation Project – Instructions and Case Reading

Cereal Creation Project – Sample Student Survey

Marketing Basics – PowerPoint slides from classroom discussion

Possible Lesson Extensions

• Home Economics – Students could make prototypes of their cereal
• Math – Students could use sampling techniques as part of their surveys
• Marketing – Students could develop a promotional campaign for their cereal (radio, television, “new” media, etc.)

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In the preface to his classic novel Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut wrote “I think I am trying to clear my head of all the junk in there…I am trying to make my head as empty as it was when I was born onto this damaged planet fifty years ago.” To this end, he goes on to say that he is purging all the characters from his prior novels. So it goes.

In looking through my “teacher stuff” the past few weeks, I realized that my archives could use a Vonnegutian purging. In the five years I have been teaching, I have instructed thirteen different courses. The result of all this “teaching” is a tangled web of files that exist (often times in duplicate and triplicate) somewhere on my Moodle website, my two home computers, my school computer, and my three jump drives.

To give you an idea of the clutter, I have 27 files labeled “Chapter 9.” That’s it. “Chapter 9.” No other description. Of these files, 14 are Word documents, 7 are PowerPoint files, and the remaining 6 are a mix of images, sound files, and test bank questions.

This is just one example. Most of the texts I use have far more than 9 chapters.

So, I have decided to clean house. My first thought was to take the good stuff I have and sell it on www.teacherspayteachers.com. But, then I thought ‘what if no one buys my lessons?’ I can take a kid sleeping through class, but to be universally panned in a free market? I don’t know if I can handle that kind of rejection.

Instead, I am throwing the doors open to my archive. Every lesson/activity/unit that I use in class that works reasonably well (or has the potential to work well in the capable hands of someone else) will be posted on my website under the “lesson plans” link. And you can have them. All for the low price of free.

Don’t teach Business, or Business-related topics? You will have to get your free lessons somewhere else.

Moodle Screenshot from my 2009-2010 Accounting class at SCHS

On a side note, I know a lot of teachers are curious about Moodle. I have been using Moodle in my classroom for 4 years now, and I love it. In the future, I hope to do a few posts about how to integrate Moodle into the classroom.  In the meantime, here is a link to one of my courses for Accounting. Click on Login as Guest to enter.

If you have any questions about a lesson, or would like to suggest a topic, drop me a comment or an e-mail at travis@travisrmartin.com

Thanks!

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In 1990, Garth Brooks sang about his “friends in low places.”

Sorry Garth, I can’t relate.

Thanks to the magic of e-mail, I’ve discovered that I have quite a few friends in really high places.

There’s Dr. Mohamed Achour, the Nigerian Prince who values my friendship so much that he wants to wire me $4.5 million – no questions asked.

And let us not forget Mr. Mohammed Omar, Secretary to the Manager of the Foreign Remittance Department of an unspecified bank in Senegal. Mr. Omar wants my help in smuggling $20 million out of his country and into the safe haven that is the U.S. Banking System (does he not watch the news?).

Although their BLATANT MISUSE OF THE CAPS LOCK KEY and butchered English can get annoying, my foreign friends really don’t ask for much. Just a return e-mail. And a bank account number.

If you have an e-mail account, I’m guessing you have run into some of these characters too.

Now that everyone has caught onto the “strange guy needs to move money out of the country” scam, fraudsters are turning to more sophisticated methods in their never-ending attempt to pry sensitive data like social security numbers and banking information from unsuspecting computer users.

One particularly effective method is the “phishing” e-mail.  These messages, which look like legitimate communications from actual companies, harvest personal information in a couple of ways. A typical phishing e-mail will contain a link along with a message asking the recipient to update their account information. Once the link is clicked, the user is redirected to a site where they are instructed to put in their personal data, which then goes directly to the scammers. A second variation installs spyware and other malicious software onto the user’s computer if they click the links contained in the message.

For spammers, the success of any phishing e-mail is predicated on fear. If a recipient is scared into believing that a problem really does exist, they will be more likely to follow the dangerous links. That’s why the latest phishing e-mail, a spoof of an IRS notice of underreported income, could turn out to be a big headache for a lot of people.

Sample IRS Phishing E-Mail

The fake IRS e-mail arrives in inboxes with the subject of “Notice of Underreported Income.” The sender name shows up as “Internal Revenue Service.”

Those two items are enough to give some people a heart-attack before they even open the e-mail.

Once opened, the e-mail instructs recipients to review their tax statement by clicking on a link supplied in the message. At that point, if you’re panicked enough to click the link, they’ve got you.

Thankfully, there are a few simple steps you can follow to avoid becoming a victim of phishing e-mails, like the IRS Notice of Underreported Income.

Never Divulge Personal Information Via E-Mail

No legitimate company or governmental entity is going to request detailed personal financial information from you via e-mail. Ever. As such, you should never give up this information just because an e-mail asks you to. If you ever have any doubt about the status of your account due to an e-mail you’ve received, pick up the phone and call the company directly or visit the company’s website (but not through the suspected e-mail). Most corporate sites have pages warning their customers of the various phishing scams that are circulating.

Keep Your Internet Browser and Virus Software Updated

The latest versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer (7.0 and up) and Firefox (3.0) contain anti-phishing toolbars that can protect you from fraudsters. These browsers cross-check the sites you are visiting or the links you are clicking against a database of known phishing sites. Should you venture down an unsafe path, you’ll get a friendly warning.

Help Cut the Phishing Line

You can help stop the scammers by sending the phishing e-mails you receive to federal authorities, who will then use the information to track down criminals. reportphishing@antiphishing.org and spam@uce.gov are two e-mail addresses that accept your forwarded phishing e-mails.   When forwarding the e-mails, always send the entire original message and leave the subject line intact.

By following these guidelines, and exercising a little common sense, you should be able to avoid falling victim to internet phishing scammers – at least until they come up with something else. Which, you can be sure will happen sooner or later.

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