International Teachers Get Lessons on Economics

Spring Hill teacher Shelby Garner (standing second from right) explains the Mini-Society program to Latin educators (L-R) Claudia Sicoli from Lima, Peru; Carmen Leticia Jemenez from Guadalajara, Mexico; Santiago Foguet from Tucuman, Argentina; and interpreter Patricia Yanez Ibanez while students (L-R) Shruti Patel, Michael Baker and Tye Mitchell complete work in their notebooks.

Latin American educators spent their first Monday in Georgia observing how Fayette’s teachers deliver lessons on economics.

Two of the school system’s top economics teachers, Chris Cannon, 12th grade at Sandy Creek High, and Shelby Garner, third grade at Spring Hill Elementary, were selected by the Georgia Council on Economic Education as classroom hosts for the Latin delegation taking part in a study tour on economic education in the United States.

Fayette’s classrooms were the first of several the visiting educators planned to see during their weeklong stay May 2-6 in the metro Atlanta area. The educators are participants of the Cooperative Education Exchange Program (CEEP) offered through the national Council for Economic Education and funded by the U.S. Department of Education in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State. After Georgia, they will travel to Michigan and Washington, D.C.

Mini-Society, a program used in all of Fayette’s third grade classrooms to teach students about economics, government, entrepreneurship, career opportunity, consumer issues, and values, was the focus of the observation at Spring Hill Elementary.

Students studied production methods by examining the assembly of hamburgers done by one individual compared to an assembly line with seven persons each assigned a particular task. Teacher Shelby Garner had the students participate in a hands-on burger making activity to demonstrate. While nearly twice as many burgers were completed using the assembly line, the students quickly learned areas where they needed to hire additional workers to keep the line moving and quality control in place.

The international visitors, representing the countries of Uruguay, Argentina, Mexico, and Peru, spent nearly three hours in Garner’s classroom observing her teaching methods and talking to students. They will take what they learned from their visit and apply it to their economic education curriculum at home.

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