Mesquite Junior High students learning valuable job skills in Computer courses

From basic computer skills to building their own business plans from scratch, Junior High students attending Gilbert Public Schools are learning tools that will help them achieve success both academically and professionally. The series of Computer courses offered to seventh and eighth grade students as electives will help them one day become efficient and reliant employees in the workforce. Jennifer Accra teaches these courses at Mesquite Junior High School.

“I teach them Microsoft Word, Excel, Publisher, and PowerPoint, but I make it fun,” she said.

After reviewing the essential keyboarding skills, Accra works with the students on shape and collage projects, pixel art, data graphs, and more. Accra says her students seem to really enjoy developing their own business plans.

“When we do business plans, we talk about pay, employees, and taxes. It’s kind of interesting. We talk about minimum wage, salary, and hourly. It’s kind of good to have a heart-to-heart discussion, because that’s real life stuff,” she said.

The students are responsible for developing their own original business idea. From there, they design their own business cards, letterheads, logos, brochures, and they also learn the proper way to address and write formal business letters. At the end of the project, each student puts together a presentation to try and sell their business to their classmates. 

“The kids walk away with a lot of knowledge at the end of the semester,” she said, “They usually come back, and they are pretty happy that they did it.”

During the second semester, Accra teaches students how to create an interactive game in PowerPoint. The assignment is popular with her students, because it allows them to express their creativity. They make a game using 25 slides, GIFs, animations, characters, and more. The project typically takes about three weeks for them to complete.

“Everyone will get to play each other’s game. The goal is to win. It’s all about luck, of course, when you play a game,” she said.

For students with a more advanced skill set, Accra believes they find enjoyment in helping others. She uses their support to help guide other students in activities. 

“A lot of these kids are pretty tech-savvy. I like to use peer teaching in the class, whether it is one-on-one, or a student teaching a skill to the whole class. Learning from those kids is always great,” she said.

The Computer courses at the Junior High level put students on track for high school, where students can explore job readiness programs like those offered in the Career & Technical Education (CTE) courses.

To learn more about the courses offered to Junior High students, visit the Course Descriptions section of our website, or schedule a school tour at Mesquite Junior High today!