The first Meet the Teacher spotlight comes to us from Ms. Amanda who works at an IB school in Australia and has been teaching IB Business for the last 3 years.
1. What made you become an IB Business Management teacher, and how did your journey begin and how long have you been teaching the subject?
It was just luck that I ended up teaching IB Business Management. I taught Business for years at tertiary level and after studying my Masters in Teaching I got a job at an alternative secondary school who taught IB. Their Business Management teacher was going on long service leave, so I covered their classes and nearly three years later I'm still teaching it.
2. What is the make up and structure of your current IB class? Do you teach HL and SL? Together or separately? How many students do you have per class? Do you teach other curriculums or subjects?
I am the only person at my school who teaches Business Management. I teach both Years 11 & 12. I teach both SL and HL together. I have 7 Year 12 students that consist of 5 x HL and 2 x SL. I have 4 Year 11 students and they have not yet selected if they'll be SL or HL - so I only teach SL units in Year 11. I also teach Year 8 Language & Literature, Year 10 Language & Literature and I'm the head of Changemaker (writing curriculum and overseeing classes), plus I'm the CAS Co-ordinator.
3. Can you share a memorable moment or activity from your classroom that highlights the unique dynamics of teaching IB Business?
There truly have been many memorable moments, one of the most memorable was getting my Yr 11's last year to pitch a product to the leadership team that we would produce - the scope of what they presented was incredible. One student pitched a vending machine, another pitched a clothing swap, there was school soap and a signet ring, as well as caps, t-shirts and hoodies (our school does not have a uniform). After applying budgeting and profitability ratios - we produced a signet ring that was truly stunning. One of our students' parents was a jewellery maker, so this made the project possible.
This student went on to negotiate the alumni list from the school and start his own business, capturing a unique market and he plans to branch out and offer his 'ring making abilities' to other schools.
4. What is one teaching strategy you've implemented that has significantly improved student engagement and understanding?
The first thing I teach is Unit 1.2 Business Entities - we take 1 1/2 weeks on this unit and I teach it with the help of the movie "The Social Network" - the story of Facebook. Students love the movie and learning about the different iterations of business entities as Mark Zuckerberg makes mistake after mistake. This cements their love of Business Management and business entities are in EVERY exam. So it really helps with revision.
5. Do you incorporate real-world business scenarios into your lessons for students? If so, how?
All the time, I think you have to bring the unit to life with real life scenarios. For example, the school (through Changemaker) has just opened a cafe on a Wednesday every week. The Yr 11 Business Management students are joining forces to create an Interdisciplinary Unit (IDU) and are completing profit & loss sheets for the 8 weeks of term. Each profit and loss sheet covers a fortnight and they have to collect all the applicable financial information to create this including, invoices, tax paid, expenses, cash takings, card takings and so on. It's a fantastic exercise that will no doubt imprint profit and loss statements on their minds.
6. What are some common challenges students face in IB Business, and how do you help them overcome these obstacles?
Common challenges include taking in the large amount of theory that is required. I create PowerPoints for each lesson and make them available on a Google Classroom, so they have succinct accurate information to revise.
The text book is enormous, so that has to stay at home and all homework will be from the textbook.
I revise/teach exam questions from Term 1, helping the students to get comfortable with exam questions.
There's honestly a lot of challenges that I try to overcome with easy solutions that can be incorporated into our everyday lessons/activities.
7. In your opinion, what are the key skills that students need to develop to succeed in IB Business? And how do you develop them?
The first thing students who do business need is an interest in business. There's too much to remember if you're not interested!! That is what will drive motivation and work ethic.
The second thing students need is good study skills, so they work effectively in class, they start assessments early and they're motivated.
When it comes to exams they need a plan for each type of question - how do I answer 2 point questions - define and use an example from the question. Understanding what is required for 2/4/6 and 10 point questions (and how much time each should take) is a necessity.
8. If you could give one piece of advice to new IB Business Management teachers, what would it be and why?
Be on top of your workload, you need to choose what to teach the students and you need to make it succinct, memorable and it must leave you time to cover all units and the toolkit with equal focus.
9. Share anything else you would like
Interweave units, so they're actually revising and learning the whole way through, this is a HUGE advantage for students. For example, my Yr 11's are doing finance now, when I talk about balance sheets and shareholders - revise the business entities, who does this apply to? Would a sole trader have shareholders on their balance sheet? Why not? You get the picture.
Thanks to Ms. Amanda for sharing her experience and tips for IB Business!
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