Teaching Business Soft Skills: Curriculum Guide

By Eva Marie Foxwell

Teaching Business Soft Skills is a curriculum guide for new and experienced instructors who want a structured yet flexible outline for teaching in Business and Technology. Eva Marie Foxwell’s lessons are designed with a focus on giving teachers dynamic and interactive lessons, guided learning ideas, detailed assignments, formative and summ

• Language: English
• Publisher: CR Teaching
• Release date: Sep 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9780998929156

Eva Marie Foxwell

Eva Marie Foxwell is a middle school Business Technology teacher at Brandywine Springs School in Wilmington, Delaware. Her previous teaching experience includes K-8 education and serving as a Reading Specialist. Eva received her B.S. in Elementary Education from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. Before becoming a teacher, she held a career in banking for 14 years, in addition to serving as Operations Manager for an insurance company in Delaware and raising three daughters. While working as a substitute teacher at her daughters' school, Eva was invited to teach and develop the curriculum for the Business Technology program. She brings her realworld experience in management, operations, and marketing into the classroom, where she helps students develop business knowledge and entrepreneurial skills. She is now turning her passion for teaching toward creating useful curriculum guides for fellow teachers. Eva's awards include Teen Ink's 2015 Educator of the Year and the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce 2015 Superstar in Education Award. Her first book, Managing the Classroom, prepares students for their future with career-ready education and a student-centered classroom. Managing the Classroom is available through her website, www.crteaching.com. A life-long learner, Eva has completed continuing education classes in technology and pedagogy, and serves as an advisor for multiple charitable foundations. In her spare time, she enjoys coaching youth and high school basketball, reading, cooking, spending time with her family, and antique shopping. Find her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EvaZanoliniFoxwell/ Follow her on Twitter: @EvaFoxwell

Book preview

© 2018 by Eva Marie Foxwell

All rights reserved. With the exception of worksheets designed to be copied and distributed to students, no part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission from the author, except in the case of quotations in articles or reviews.

ISBN-13: 978-0-9989291-4-9 (paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-0-9989291-5-6 (e-book)

To my father and mother for being my first sources of business soft skills and emotional intelligence.

To my incredible sisters, Lisa, Anita, and Tina for always supporting my dream of making a difference in students’ lives and futures.

Contents

About the Author

Introduction

Managing the Classroom

How to Use this Curriculum Guide

Setting Up Your Classroom

Weekly Keyboarding and Binder Checks

Weekly Keyboarding: Teacher Overview

Weekly Keyboarding: Student Homework

Typing to the Top Monthly Contest

Binder Check: Teacher Overview

Binder Check: Student Homework

Unit A: Active Listening

Unit A Overview

Assignment A: Active Listening Conference Presentation Summary

Assignment A Rubric: Summative Assessment

LESSON 1: Active Listening Definition

LESSON 2: Active Listening Whisper Game

LESSON 3: The Wright Family Active Listening Game

LESSON 4: Blind for the Day Listening Activity

Note Taking: The Cornell Notes System

LESSON 5: Microsoft Paint Listening Activity

LESSON 6: Line up in Birthday Order Class Activity

Assignment A.7: Partner Profile

Assignment A.7: Summative Assessment Rubric

LESSON 7: Writing Interview Questions

LESSON 8: Conducting Partner Interviews

LESSON 9: Writing Your Partner Profile Assignment

LESSON 10: Active Listening Conference Plan and Schedule

Unit B: Leadership

Unit B Overview

Assignment B: Conference Flyer

Assignment B Rubric: Summative Assessment

LESSON 11: Defining Leadership

LESSON 12: Six Leadership Styles

LESSON 13: Leadership Questionnaire and Self-Assessment

Study Skills and Test Preparation

LESSON 14: Leadership and Mentoring Activity

LESSON 15: Matching Leadership Definitions

LESSON 16: School Improvement Leadership Memo

Assignment B.16: School Improvement Memo

Assignment B.16 Summative Assessment

LESSON 17: Group Conference Flyer

Unit C: Time Management

Unit C Overview

Assignment C: Time Management Presentation Script

Assignment C Rubric: Summative Assessment

LESSON 18: What is Time Management?

LESSON 19: Desert Island Activity: A Time Management Test

LESSON 20: Weekly Planner Time Management

LESSON 21: Time Management Definition

LESSON 22: Time Management Quadrants

LESSON 23: To Do Lists

LESSON 24: Time Management Shadowing and Observation

LESSON 25: Conference Presentation Script

Unit D: Problem Solving

Unit D Overview

Assignment D: Conference Presentation PowerPoint Slide show

Assignment D Rubric: Summative Assessment

LESSON 26: Introduction to Problem Solving

LESSON 27: Problem Solving Step 1: Defining the Problem

LESSON 28: Problem Solving Step 2: Generate Alternative Solutions

LESSON 29: Problem Solving Step 3: Examine the Alternative Solutions

LESSON 30: Problem Solving Step 4: Implement a Solution

LESSON 31: Introduction to Creating a PowerPoint Slide Show

Unit E: Issue Campaign

Unit E Overview

Assignment E: Organizing and Hosting a Business Soft Skills Conference

Assignment E Rubric: Summative Assessment

LESSON 32: Planning a Conference: Seeing the Big Picture

LESSON 33: Group Organization and Task Delegation

LESSON 34: Business Soft Skills Conference Schedule

LESSON 35: Business Soft Skills Conference Flyer

LESSON 36: Business Soft Skills Conference Participation Certificates

LESSON 37: Business Soft Skills Conference Presentation Script

LESSON 38: Business Soft Skills Conference PowerPoint Slide Show

LESSON 39: Business Soft Skills Conference Final Planning

LESSON 40: Business Soft Skills Conference Reflections

Unit F: Final Exam

Unit F Overview

LESSON 41: Final Exam Review Paddle Board Game

LESSON 42: Business Soft Skills Final Exam

Final Exam Answer Key

Course Conclusion

About the Author

Eva Marie Foxwell is a middle school Business Technology teacher at Brandywine Springs School in Wilmington, Delaware, and the author of Managing the Classroom and Teaching Entrepreneurship.

Eva received her B.S. in Elementary Education from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. Before becoming a teacher, she held a career in banking for 14 years, in addition to serving as Operations Manager for an insurance company in Delaware and raising three daughters. Her previous teaching experience includes K-8 education and serving as a Reading Specialist.

While working as a substitute teacher at her daughters’ school, Eva was invited to teach and develop the curriculum for the Business Technology program. She brings her real-world experience in management, operations, and marketing into the classroom, where she helps students develop business knowledge and entrepreneurial skills. She is now turning her passion for teaching toward creating useful curriculum guides for fellow teachers.

Eva’s awards include Teen Ink’s 2015 Educator of the Year and the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce 2015 Superstar in Education Award. Her previous books include Managing the Classroom, which prepares students for their future with career-ready education and a student-centered classroom, and Teaching Entrepreneurship Curriculum Guide, which gives business and technology teachers tools, lessons, activities, assignments, and assessments to engage middle school students in learning Business and Technology. Find Eva and her other books on her website, www.crteaching.com.

A life-long learner, Eva has completed continuing education classes in technology and pedagogy, and serves as an advisor for multiple charitable foundations. In her spare time, she enjoys coaching youth and high school basketball, reading, cooking, spending time with her family, and antique shopping.

Find her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EvaZanoliniFoxwell/

Follow her on Twitter: @EvaFoxwell

Introduction

Teaching Business Soft Skills is a curriculum guide for new and experienced instructors who want a structured yet flexible outline for teaching in Business and Technology. Eva Marie Foxwell’s lessons are designed with a focus on giving teachers dynamic and interactive lessons, guided learning ideas, detailed assignments, formative and summative assessments, and a wealth of classroom material.

For students, this curriculum guide is designed to provide space to think, reflect, create, and collaborate toward formal projects that engage real-world business expectations.

Teachers are encouraged to use these templates as strictly or loosely as they wish. There can be any level of deviation, customization, or combination that works best for your grade level, reading level, business resources, business community, administrative support, and collaborative possibilities at your school.

It is therefore highly recommended that teachers read through this entire curriculum guide before the beginning of the year, in order to assess for themselves the best way to use the provided materials.

Managing the Classroom

Teaching Business Soft Skills is a follow-up to Eva Marie Foxwell’s teaching manual, Managing the Classroom, which brings curriculum to life in the classroom with live role-play and scenarios. Managing the Classroom gives students career-ready education in a student-centered classroom, preparing them to serve as strong leaders as they learn the fundamentals of business.

Teaching Business Soft Skills is meant for use after you have read Managing the Classroom, which provides a course syllabus, guide for assigning classroom business roles, ice breaker activity, learning styles assessment, and goal-setting plan that are integral to making this curriculum successful and dynamic.

For a fully integrated curriculum on Teaching Business Soft Skills, you can purchase Managing the Classroom at www.crteaching.com.

How to Use This Curriculum Guide

This curriculum guide is divided into six units. Units A-E focus on one important business soft skill and provide a variety of lessons, activities, reflection exercises, and formative assessment questions to help students explore and improve on business soft skills. Unit F is the final exam with test review and answer key. In Units A-D, you will find:

Assignments

Each major assignment, complete with clearly articulated requirements and learning indicators, appears at the beginning of the unit so you can see what all the lessons are building toward. You may choose to show students the major assignment at the beginning of the unit, or wait until students are ready to begin working on it. Each assignment will ask students to explore, analyze, interpret, reflect, or synthesize business skills and knowledge.

Assignments A, B, C, D, and E are the major assignments for the course. (Unit F is the final exam.) Smaller, shorter assignments within each Unit correspond to a Lesson number. For example, Assignment B.16 is the smaller assignment for Lesson 16 within Unit B.

Lessons

Lessons are designed to give teachers activities, materials, and scaffolded learning toward a major assignment. Teachers may expand, contract, or omit components as they see fit. A lesson may take one or more class periods, depending on your scheduling needs or rate of student mastery. Every lesson contains three parts:

The Lesson Introduction provides an overview, offers a space for you to write your own announcements or reminders, provides a list of required materials, names the lesson’s objectives in Bloom’s taxonomy, and suggests different learning accommodations.

The Lesson Activities page contains a step-by-step activity and discussion guide, synthesis and formative assessment questions.

The Lesson Conclusion page is a teacher reflection space with questions for you to reflect upon after the lesson has ended, and space for your own notes and action items.

Warm-ups

Warm-ups are designed to increase motivation and engagement prior to a lesson. Students should be given time to explore and imagine the subject before instruction begins, in order to build on their prior knowledge. Warm-up sheets are ready to copy and distribute. Warm-ups may also be completed on the computer if desired.

Worksheets

Worksheets ask students to analyze, brainstorm, work in groups, reflect, synthesize, or demonstrate understanding of concepts. Worksheets are self-contained portions of the lesson, and are ready to copy and distribute. Worksheets may also be completed on the computer if desired.

Summative Assessment Rubrics

For every major assignment, a clear and easy to use rubric for summative evaluation is provided. The structure distinguishes between higher-order concerns and lower-order concerns. All Assignments are graded on a 100-point scale, with one page provided for scoring and one page provided for written feedback. Rubrics are ready for double-sided copying and distribution.

Bi-weekly Binder Checks

Because organization is a crucial business soft skill, binder checks will be placed among the lessons roughly every two weeks. The Binder Check Teacher Overview worksheet and copy-ready Binder Check Student Homework sheet appear at the beginning of the curriculum guide, before Unit A.

Weekly Keyboarding

Touch-typing is also an important professional skill that students should being practicing now. Weekly Keyboarding homework and Typing to the Top contests will give students generous amounts of practice and fun competition in class. The Weekly Keyboarding Teacher Overview and copy-ready Weekly Keyboarding Student Homework sheet appear at the beginning of the curriculum guide, before Unit A.

Typing to the Top

Each month, students can engage in a competitive typing contest in class. A copy-ready Typing to the Top contest sheet appears at the beginning of the curriculum guide, before Unit A.

Final Exam

One cumulative final exam, with answer key and a fun review game, will assess student knowledge and complete the Business Soft Skills course.

Setting Up Your Classroom

Part of the engagement and fun of teaching Business Soft Skills is using creative ways to give students real business experience. You can consistently reinforce business and professional behavior expectations by setting up your classroom itself as a business.

You can assign or let students brainstorm and vote for what kind of business you want to imagine for your class. Try to get them to be specific—not just a Fortune 500 company, but a bank or a real estate firm. Imagine possibilities in all industries: education, government, service, health care, travel, finance, nonprofit, etc.

Assigning each student a specific and important role gives them a sense of responsibility and a stake in the whole class’ success. You can also choose to rotate positions after each unit to fairly distribute responsibilities.

Positions for Classroom Jobs

In the first volume, Managing the Classroom, I outlined responsibilities of each job position that I employ in my classroom. I wrote each position in a similar style to a job description that one might find posted on a company website so that each feels like a real business position.

Some positions are more intensive than others, so in certain descriptions I have added examples of what a student in that position might say as part of their job. It is important for you to review the responsibilities of these positions with the students.

I use the classroom job positions model and it has been working effectively for years to parallel to the real-world roles. Positions include:

• The Boss/ Business Manager/ Teacher

• Communication Managers (newly added!)

• Assistant Managers

• Project Managers

• Quality Assurance Managers

• Marketing Managers

• Transition Managers

• Attendance Managers

• Scribe Manages

• Timekeepers

Modeling your classroom after a business requires commitment and dedication from all parties, but the benefits can be astonishing. Watching students take initiative, demonstrate loyalty, and contribute to a bigger cause can be very rewarding for all.

For more information on how to structure your classroom like a business, conduct ice breakers, set goals, and address learning styles, see Managing the Classroom at www.crteaching.com.

Teaching Business Soft Skills

Weekly Keyboarding

Teacher Overview

Students will complete weekly typing exercises to increase their speed, accuracy, and ability to touch-type. Use a website like keyhero.com or keybr.com to test students, track their speed and accuracy, and let them compete with each other.

Why Keyboarding