Eighth graders in Ms. Maule and Teacher Fox's Academic and Career Planning classes at Kromrey Middle School presented their business ideas in the Shark Tank Market this week.
Modeled after the popular TV show, Maule said the Shark Tank Market is the culminating activity for the classes’ entrepreneurship unit. Students work together for about a month to develop their concepts.
“Our main focus is how to work in a group; you will see each person has a business role specific to them,” Fox said.
“Each business has a CEO, CTO, CMO, customer service rep, and product manager,” Maule said. “They create product pitches, get feedback from each other, and build prototypes of their products. Additionally, they advertise their products before the event to convince other students and staff in 8th grade to invest in their products/businesses.”
During the Shark Tank Market, students pitch their business ideas to peers, teachers and parent volunteers. After listening to a team’s pitch, the sharks give tickets to their favorite business ideas to indicate their investments.
“My favorite part is seeing students learn about and implement professionalism at this event,” Fox said. “We discuss what this looks like and expectations for a business, and then they get to execute it in front of sharks – parents and community members, their teachers, and their peers.”
“I love seeing how the teamwork culminates into students' products and the final Shark Tank Market,” Maule said. “They've worked through challenging collaboration issues and get to see their success. It's amazing!”
Fox said that students like flexing their creative muscles for the Shark Tank Market.
“They get to have complete freedom over what their product is – business name, logo, slogan, advertisements, displays, everything,” Fox said.
“When I asked my students their favorite part, they said they loved making the products, creating their pitches for sales, and physically making the products,” Maule said. “They expressed that they liked coming up with the products and creating the posters as well! So, basically the entire project!”