BY RACHEL FERRARI
Staff Writer

Many students sit in class, wondering how it would be different if students got to teach. In a role reversal, some of Baldwin’s top students will become economics teachers for a day at the elementary schools on Junior Achievement Day, March 27.
They will be teaching subjects like economics to children in kindergarten through fifth grade at McAnnulty, Whitehall, and Paynter elementary schools.
There are six lessons, one for each grade.
“Each lesson has five sections and teaches the students about money, savings, goods and services, how businesses work, work ethic, the flow of money, and skills for 21st century jobs,” gifted coordinator Debbie Reynolds said.
The lessons come from Junior Achievement, or JA, a worldwide program for student business education. There is some flexibility as to how the information can be taught.
“The curriculum can be taught over multiple visits, like once a month or once a week, or it can be done like we are doing –all in one day,” Reynolds said.
With 58 classrooms and two high schoolers to a room, more than 100 student volunteers will be teaching. The preschool teachers are also participating and will be teaching rooms at McAnnulty.
Last year was the first year Baldwin participated in JA Day. They taught in McAnnulty and Whitehall classrooms only last year.
Sophomore Stevie Kisty taught a fifth-grade class at Whitehall last year.
His group focused on learning different economic terms, and the lesson wasn’t difficult to prepare or teach, he said.
“I expected it to take a lot more preparation, but it was just like playing games,” Kisty said. “It was a really cool experience to see what it is like teaching younger kids.”
Dash Phuyel, a junior, worked with first-graders at McAnnulty during last year’s JA Day. His lesson included learning the difference between a person’s needs and wants.
Phuyel was surprised by how well-behaved his pupils were.
“I expected kids to be annoying and distracted, but they were actually calm and interested in the lesson,” Phuyel said.
There is a lot to be learned from JA Day, Phuyel said.
“JA Day is a great way to meet the kids and gain experience for the future,” Phuyel said. “I was really amazed at how smart first-graders are these days.”
Both Phuyel and Kisty will be teaching at JA Day again this year.
Volunteers don’t know their assignments ahead of time, but Phuyel hopes to teach at Paynter, where his cousin is currently in fifth grade.