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Winter
1999 Economics in Action! Recipient
Ann Jeschke
Mark Towster, MCEE Chair 1998-2000 presents
Ann Jeschke her award, Chillicothe, February
2000.
The mission of the Missouri Council on Economic
Education (MCEE) is to promote and improve economic literacy for
educators and students. This increases their understanding of our
economic system and equips them to function as responsible citizens
who make informed personal and public policy decisions. This issue
recognizes Anne Jeschke for her outstanding ability to integrate
economics into her curriculum at a variety of grade levels.
Mrs. Jeschke teaches fourth grade at Field School
in Chillicothe, Missouri. She has been teaching for 17 years and has
participated in numerous economic workshops and graduate courses
offered through Operation Outreach-UMKC Center for Economic Education.
She has been serving as an Economic Advocate for the past two years.
As a result of her exposure to a variety of curricula and teaching
strategies, Anne has integrated Community Publishing Company,
Gingerbread Man, Economics and Children’s Literature and Dollar$
and $ense along with her own creative lesson plans across her
curriculum to promote economic literacy.
All fourth grade students in the Chillicothe R-II
school district receive a rich experience in economic education. Mrs.
Jeschke, is responsible for reinforcing with each fourth grade student
not only the basic concepts they have learned in earlier grades but
the application of this economic understanding. Using the "Show–Me"
Economics curriculum as a basis, Anne works with all fourth
graders to solidify their knowledge of productive resources, scarcity,
opportunity cost and much more. However, once the foundations have
been reviewed, Mrs. Jeschke connects this fundamental knowledge with
the real world of spending and saving through the Dollar$ & $ense
program.
For the past four years, she has implemented Dollar$
& $ense. It has proven itself to be a very effective tool to
bring the school and community together to achieve a common goal.
"These real-life lessons have had a profound effect on my
students." she stated. Mrs. Jeschke commented that taking tours
of the local Bank Midwest and traveling to Kansas City to the main
bank were wonderful educational experiences with a lasting effect on
their attitudes towards spending and saving. The bank personnel have
worked very hard to make the tours informative and interesting.
Watching the money counter, holding large sums of cash while standing
in the vault, seeing the computerized equipment, learning about
careers in banking all make for a well-rounded field trip.
Many of the students have opened savings accounts
as a result of their participation in the classroom program. Goals for
savings have been set. In fact Mrs. Jeschke’s class has taken the
program one step further and opened a classroom account each year as
well. The class conducts sales events in the school to benefit the
needy. The first year $700 was donated to one needy family from her
classroom whose home was destroyed by a fire. Each consecutive year
this part of the program has been expanded to make contribution to
organizations in the community who serve the needy... During the
current school year, the entire school has adopted the approach and to
date over $2000 has been earned to help those in need.
One other modification to the program was that last
year’s class earned money to take a field trip to Jefferson City
which included saving the profits from their sale of baked goods to
pay for train tickets, souvenirs, snacks, etc. In order to pay for
this year's field trip, the students are producing Millennium
calendars for sale. Students are using technology to mass produce and
sell calendars taking into account all expenses, figuring their
profit, filling all order and delivering them. Anne would urge each
reader to try teaching economics and see for yourself all the benefits
to society!
In summary, Mrs. Jeschke praises the Dollar$ and
$ense program for the continuous learning opportunities throughout
the year which provide a strong link between basic social studies and
mathematics content standards and the economics taught through this
program. For her fourth grade students, Dollar$ & $ense has
become the strand that brings powerful life lessons to them across the
curriculum. She also acknowledges her Bank Midwest partner, Sherry
Jones, who works tirelessly each year to provide a high quality of
instruction in the classroom with many added "touches" to
make the program so beneficial to students.
Mrs. Jeschke has demonstrated great creative
ability as she has successfully integrated economic curricula and
concepts into a wide range of curricular areas. The MCEE salutes Anne
Jeschke of Chillicothe, Missouri for her dedication to and creativity
in teaching economics across the curriculum.
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