Week Three Teacher Instructions
Week Three Teacher Instructions
Week Three: UNITE
Overview
This week, students will make a final decision on the product or service idea to continue developing. They will set personal and team goals, develop a company mission statement, and explore potential funding sources for business ventures.
Objectives
- Understand the criteria for selecting the nature of the business venture
- Introduction to the SMART goal setting model
- Understand potential mechanisms for funding business ventures.
Teacher Preparation
- Review detailed instructions to become familiar with materials/activities
- Review videos and materials in advance
- Ensure there are a computer, projector and speakers available.
- Read through and print out Snake Oil Instructions & Cards
- Print out a copy for each student of the Pitch Evaluation Criteria
Agenda
- Recap and Expectations (5 min)
- Snake Oil – Ice Breaker (20 min)
- Idea Selection (40 min)
- Personal SMART Goals (15 minutes)
- Company Mission (15 min)
- Venture Funding (30 min)
- Wrap Up (5 min)
Activities
1. Recap and Expectations (5 min)
• Ask students to recap what the class worked on last week, and remind them of the expectations that were set in week one.
Project the Week Three Slideshow and go through the slides as you go through each activity.
2. Snake Oil – Ice Breaker (15 min)
Use the below activity as an icebreaker to start off the day.
Snake Oil: Pitch Your Product Ice-Breaker
Instructions:
The object of the game is to imagine a product/service from a random selection of words and pitch that product/service to a particular customer segment.
Note: You may either play this game following the slideshow and instructions below, or use the instructions and cards found in the Snake Oil Instructions & Cards document in week three. There are two types of cards within the set. One type of cards is customer cards (12 in number) and the others are noun cards (60 in total).
Participants will try to convince each other that the product/service is appealing to a particular consumer (as chosen by the student).
It is helpful to demonstrate how the game works:
i. Have students pick six words from the list provided in the slideshow and write them down on a piece of paper.
ii. From their list, have students choose two words that, when combined, could be an appealing product to sell. This is the name of their product/service.
iii. Choose one student to act as the customer. They will choose their "identity" from the list provided in the slides and will hear everyone's product/service pitch.
iv. After all students have pitched, the customer student will choose which product they would like to buy. You can do multiple rounds with different student customers and different word choices.
3. Idea Selection (40 min)
• Explain that students will now share their ideas that they prepared at home in their small groups, and, will determine the product idea that will be used moving forward.
• Before the idea sharing, thank everyone for putting time into developing an idea. Remind the group that every idea has value and respect should be displayed.
• Review the criteria form the Pitch Evaluation criteria with your group.
Process:
(Note: there is flexibility in how to determine the final product/service within the small groups. You can move forward with what works best for your group).
• Distribute the Pitch Evaluation Criteria found in week three materials. Ask students to listen to each idea in their group and fill out the pitch evaluation sheet as they go.
• Each team member gets to share their product/service
idea with their group – approximately 3-5 minutes each. Questions are allowed after the pitches but keep them to a minimum.
• After all of the pitches, students can have a discussion on the pros and cons of the ideas to determine the final idea. This will allow them to explore in more details the viability of the product and identify potential challenges. Once the discussion is done, the group can vote on the product they want to move forward with or judge again using another method.
• This is the product/ service that the small group will continue to work on for the remaining weeks of the program.
• Ask students to complete the Product/Service Research Assignment page as a group for their final idea and provide to you.
• Submit each team's product/service research assignment page to JA.
4. SMART Goals (10 min)
• View the
• Explain that as a group they will eventually create goals together. For now, ask students to apply the concept they have learned and write down a SMART goal related to what they want to get out of this program personally. Have each student write their SMART goal on a piece of paper, then fold it in half and put their name on it. Collect students' goals with the aim to give them back at the end of the program. You can also use the Student Goal sheet to have students set their goals.
5. Company Mission (15 min)
• Now that a product/service has been selected, the group will start functioning like it is setting up a Company. They will need to consider what their business model will look like, where funding would come from, and develop a plan as if they were going to roll out their venture. Remind them that while they won’t actually be producing/ selling during this program but it’s best to plan as if they were planning to set up a new venture. The first step will be to think about the Company Mission, Goals and Vision.
• A company’s mission statement is their opportunity to define the company’s goals, ethics, culture, and norms for decision-making. The best mission statements define a company’s goals in at least three dimensions: what the company does for its customers, what it does for its employees, and what it does for its owners. Other mission statements also include what the company does for its community and for the world.
• Facilitate a discussion using the following questions:
o “Who” is your company?
o What do you do? What do you stand for? And why do you do it?
o Do you want to make a profit, or is it enough to just make a living?
o What markets are you serving, and what benefits do you offer them?
o Do you solve a problem for your customers?
o What kind of internal work environment do you want for your employees?
• Once you have answered these questions complete the Company Mission Template
6. Venture Funding (20 min)
• For the purposes of this program the group will not be producing a product and taking it to market, however it is still very important for the students to understand the cost associated with doing so and recognize the importance of raising capital to launch a business. Go through the following definitions as a group and discuss.
Capital is money, machinery, tools, equipment, and buildings that businesses need for operation. JA companies obtain operation capital by selling shares.
Overcapitalization When a corporation raises more money than it needs. Overcapitalization is wasteful because it represents assets that may have been used elsewhere to produce wealth. It also creates an unnecessary burden on a company because it must pay dividends to investors it did not need in the first place.
Undercapitalization Undercapitalized firms are those with insufficient funds to meet their current expenses. In such a situation a company must find a way to raise additional funds, or face bankruptcy.
Initial Capitalization This is the amount of money required to start the business.
• Watch the
• Have them discuss fixed (rent, advertising, insurance, bank fees etc.) and variable (materials, packaging, etc.) costs and revenue. They will need this information next week when completing their Business Model Canvas.
8. Wrap-Up (5 min)
• Submit Product/Service Research Assignment
for final product ideas to JA.
•Remind students to complete incomplete tasks, review progress and remind students of what to prepare for the next meeting.
• Remind students to bring anything they had offered to contribute to prototyping for next week (this may include equipment or leftover materials from the prototype they developed at home).
