Junior Achievement Training Session
Volunteer with Junior Achievement (JA), the nation’s largest organization dedicated to giving students grade K-12 the knowledge and skills they need for their economic success, plan for their futures, and make smart academic and economic choices. In order to teach a JA lesson, you MUST attend the 1.5 hour training session.
This event is being hosted by ISPOR, AMCP, PSSNY, PPH, IPHO, SNPhA, and ASCP.
About JA
In order to increase students’ self efficacy to improve their circumstances, JA uses a model that’s based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. The Theory of Planned behavior has been used for more than 40 years in the field of public health to influence behavior toward various public health issues, including managing the spread of HIV, smoking, healthy eating, etc. JA’s uses this model to change certain behaviors related to financial responsibility, educational attainment and career readiness, and entrepreneurship. Students’ attitudes and knowledge are influenced to transform their mindset from “I Can’t” to “I Can”.
Annually, JA reaches more than 4.8 million students in over 200,000 classrooms. Third parties have evaluated the effectiveness of JA and have validated their success through various studies.
JA is a nonprofit organization that relies completely on volunteers to accomplish such amazing work. And guess what?! We can be part of it!
As students from Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine and Pharmacy, I believe we can make a huge impact in these students’ lives. Our school is unique in that we all come from diverse economic, racial, cultural, and religious backgrounds, yet we all have one common goal: to use our knowledge to improve the wellbeing of others. As future pharmacists we recognize the importance of education in order to live healthy lives. Our diversity combined with our passion for higher education will be inspiring to the students we teach. Any professional can volunteer with JA, however I am confident we can be strong role models for students of low-income backgrounds who may not understand the importance of education.
What does ‘JA In A Day’ look like?
We will spend from 8:30am-2:30 pm on a Friday (date TBD) facilitating activity-based lessons. There will be a standard lunch break, so you will spend about 5-6 hours in the classroom. You will be matched up with one other Touro student and together you will provide instructions to complete a hands-on-learning assignment that focuses on financial literacy, workforce readiness, and entrepreneurship.
How do I prepare?
There will be a 1.5 hour training session on Monday September 25th at 5:15 pm in P2 lecture hall. A JA coordinator will be coming in to educate us on effective classroom management skills as well as providing us with all the teaching materials. All that we need for the classroom will be provided to us, so once we get to the classroom, we just need to read from the JA lesson plan and pass out the materials.
What are the benefits of working with underserved students?
- Inspire them to believe anything is possible!
- Provide students with a different perspective than what they are used to from their teacher
- Encourage them to be creative thinkers and problem solvers
- Improve your leadership skills
- THEY can teach you valuable lessons
We need at least 15 people, including students and faculty, to join in order to be able to participate in this event. The goal is to have more than 24 people. Between the JA training session, travel time, and teaching the total time commitment is 7-9 hours.
Refreshments will be served.
Although the teaching event date is TBD, the event will be held on a Friday that is not during an exam study time.
