We have had a successful start to the year in our business classes here at Central Lee. In Accounting I, we have learned basic accounting principles and have been applying them to a service business called Delgado Web Services. We’ve learned how to analyze transactions into debit and credit parts, record into a general journal, post to a general ledger, control cash, prepare a worksheet, and develop an income statement and balance sheet.
We worked through an Accounting Simulation for Red Carpet Events. Students saw the entire accounting process through this simulation to deepen their understanding of key accounting concepts. To conclude the simulation, students completed an audit test over the simulation. This audit test would be very similar to what an actual auditor would complete, thereby providing another real-life connection.
Like anything, the students recognized there were some good elements of the simulation and some things that could be improved. Making this analysis was another extension of higher-order thinking skills displayed by our students.
Winning the Money Game I is another of our business classes. I am always very excited and passionate about teaching this financial literacy course and helping students become financially successful. The course is now required for graduation for all students. Some of the topics we’ve covered have been saving, budgeting, debt, credit, identity theft, life after high school, consumer awareness, bargain shopping, investing, retirement, insurance, careers, taxes, and giving. The well-rounded curriculum gives students the fundamental foundations to “Win the Money Game” during their lifetime.
Leveraging the advice of financial experts like Adam Carroll and Dave Ramsey, along with a very robust curriculum from UNI, we teach students how to be successful financially and how to become millionaires — and a lot about life and living along the way.
Winning the Money Game I is now available for college credit. Students will have the opportunity to take a summative exam at the end of the course. Those who score above a certain threshold on the proctored exam from UNI will gain 3 transferrable university credits towards college requirements.
I also teach coding classes at the high school, as well as for the seventh- and eighth-grade students at the middle school. Currently we use curriculum from code.org. At the high school level, students did a quick review of the Problem Solving & Computing Unit. Next, they spent time working in the Physical Computing Unit, in which they worked with peripherals and the App Lab and the Adafruit Circuit Playground. This semester, coding students will begin by working with Swift Playgrounds and then back to code.org for work in the CS Principals course.
The middle school students have also been working in code.org, including in the Web Development Unit. We are in the process of catching up the students due to them missing out on coding during COVID-19.
Kyle Van Ausdall
CTE & Business Education Instructor
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