Sherry Mitchell has become more business savvy in her 20 years of teaching. Not only does she teach the family and consumer science classes at Irons Junior High, she also oversees the two businesses her students run in their career investigation class.
"We have two different things that the students sell. They sell school supplies so the students come to school without supplies. We also sell athletic cards," says Mitchell.
Mitchell's students quickly discover there is much more to a business than just selling a product; there's also figuring profit loss, performing inventory and creating spreadsheets. Owning a business is just the beginning of Mitchell's creative curriculum, her students also learn the importance of research along with a group of kindergartners at Wester Elementary.
"It is called Ask the Expert and we learn over here how to research and they learn over there how to research," says Mitchell.
When the kindergartners have a tough question, they ask Mitchell's class.
"Our students learn a whole lot from that. They're learning how to relate to children at that age. They're learning how to research on the Internet. It takes a little work for them to learn exactly how to present the information, but it's great.
It is her dedication to providing her students with real life applications and her ever evolving curriculum that makes Mitchell a teacher you can count on.
"I hope they leave knowing education is fun and I hope they learn as much technology as they possibly can and learn how to succeed in life," says Mitchell.
Outside of school, Mitchell enjoys both water and snow skiing. She also volunteers at her church. If there is a teacher you want us to recognize, send an e-mail to teacher@kcbd.com.
