Morehead State University in conjunction with KEDC invite teachers from grades 3-6 to attend a three day Professional Learning Experience called Mini Society® Training.

 

When:         June 24, 25, & 26, 2008

 

Where:       KEDC Office, Ashland, KY

 

Cost:           None, unless registered teacher does not attend

Please read NOTE below for clarification

 

Benefits:     No Cost, Certificate for 24 hours of PD Credit

                    Free materials to Implement Entire Program

                    Fun Experience

Catered Meals, Snacks, etc.. for entire 3 days

$50 Stipend for Resource Center

Bonus Curriculum

 

To Register:        Send your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, as well as school name, number, grade taught and district to:  j.ratliff@moreheadstate.edu

 

 

For Additional information, please read the following:

 

An entrepreneurial professional learning experience is available to teachers in the KEDC network from grades 3-6. Teachers outside these grade levels may also attend if their circumstances would allow them to teach this curriculum in their classes (i.e. gifted & talented, special education, etc…). Although the training is an intensive 3 day commitment, it will be a great deal of fun. The dates set for the training are June 24, 25, & 26, 2008 at KEDC’s office in Ashland, KY. To register or find out more information about the training, please contact Janet Ratliff at 1-800-567-2681 or e-mail her directly at j.ratliff@moreheadstate.edu. To register, please send Janet your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, as well as school name, number and district. Please read below for additional information. This professional Learning experience was made possible by a grant obtained from the National Council on Economics Education, through the Kauffman Foundation.

 

Teachers attending will receive a certificate for 24 hours of professional development training, a $50 stipend to be used for a resource center for their students, and all of the materials necessary to run the program. This program combines the curriculum that you already teach and introduces the material in a wonderful new entrepreneurial way. In addition, teachers will have a catered lunch each day and will enjoy snacks throughout the day.

 

NOTE: Since there is little money in your district money for PD, there will be no charge for this program unless you sign up and do not attend. Please read the rest of this section: Teachers signing up for this workshop should note that in the event that they do not show up for the training session, an alternate teacher should attend in their place. This grant requires that 25 teachers be trained or $300 is charged to Morehead State University per teacher not trained out of the required 25; therefore, it is necessary for the district to agree to find an alternate in the event that someone cannot attend. Otherwise, the district would be committed to pay $300 for those signing up and just not attending.

 

Details of the Program:

 

The Mini-Society® instructional system, created by Dr. Marilyn Kourilsky, is a 10-week program that introduces children ages 8 to 12 to entrepreneurship as a real experience. Each student looks for opportunities inside and outside the classroom society and develops products or services to address those opportunities, creating their own businesses.

Students benefit from Mini-Society® by:

  • experiencing the “real world” in the context of entrepreneurship, including opportunity recognition and generation of business ideas;
  • discovering the importance of cooperation;
  • building creativity and logic;
  • learning about setting and achieving goals;
  • enhancing a sense of empowerment and self-sufficiency; and
  • having fun!

The program is initiated by scarcity situations that ultimately motivate the children to establish their own society, complete with name, flag and currency. Within this self-organizing, experience-based society, the children independently evolve businesses to meet market opportunities. The skills and knowledge learned in the program incorporate and complement other curricula, such as language arts, social studies, math, science, critical thinking, problem solving, practical arts and cooperative learning.

 

 

The Mini-Society® is an experience-based instructional system targeted primarily for teaching entrepreneurship, economics, and citizenship concepts. It was conceived by Dr. Marilyn Kourilsky in the early 1970s and has been refined, extended, and extensively tested over a period of over three decades. Mini-Society® has been widely implemented in over 40 states and has been shown to be effective across socioeconomic boundaries and student learning styles.

 

Teachers in grades 3-6 qualify to attend this workshop. The workshop requires 24 contact hours; this is done through three (8-4:30) sessions. 24 hours of professional development credit will be awarded. The program is integrative and interactive in nature. All students, even the non interested student in class often becomes an interested and active participant due to the nature of the program. Twenty five participants are required for this program to be offered in an area (if awarded).