Celebrating Economics Through Local Business History is a Citizen Schools Apprenticeship developed in 2002-2003 by Paul Friedmann, Teaching Fellow, in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

This apprenticeship was originally taught in West Roxbury, MA, at the R.G. Shaw Middle School Campus during the Spring Semester of 2003.

Entire Apprenticeship (includes all information and lesson plans, 62 pages, 450K PDF)

Purpose and Goals

Notes to the Citizen Teacher

Apprenticeship Planning Timeline

Lesson Plans

Session One
Apprentices will participate in a Treasure Hunt as a means of being introduced to the Business District and the goals of the Apprenticeship.

Session Two
Apprentices use a Turf Map to consider business diversity and the structure of the business district. Apprentices begin to learn about the history of West Roxbury by visiting the local Historical Society.

Session Three
Apprentices will develop interview questions for business owners and will practice the proper techniques for effective interviews in preparation for next week’s Interview Day!

Session Four
Apprentices will interview business owners as a means of obtaining information for their business histories.

Session Five
Apprentices will organize the information gathered during the previous session’s interviews. Using compiled and organized information, apprentices will determine what information they still need.

Session Six
Apprentices bridge the gap between research and writing in preparation for their presentation. Students practice their presentation skills using their own writing.

Session Seven
Apprentices make suggestions about which types of businesses they would like to see added to the West Roxbury Business District. Apprentices edit their presentation sections. Apprentices begin to design their PowerPoint presentation.

Session Eight
Apprentices finalize their sections of the PowerPoint presentation. Presentation responsibility assignments occur. Apprentices practice presenting their parts without the PowerPoint presentation.

Session Nine
Apprentices travel to the Federal Reserve Bank for their final Wow presentation rehearsals.

Session Ten
WOW Presentation

Appendices: Examples of Visuals, Tools, and Processes

Celebrating Economics Through Local Business History is available as portable document format files (PDFs). To view and print PDFs, you need Adobe's free Acrobat Reader software.