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Objective(s)
Students will read and comprehend non-fiction texts to find
background information about a company listed on the NYSE.
Students will look up a stock history for the past year on the
NYSE web site and will evaluate whether that stock is one the
class should invest.
Students will write a T-Chart as a pre-writing for a persuasive
essay, helping students to analyze why the class should or should
not purchase shares in a company.
National Standards
Language Arts: Demonstrates competence in the general skills
and strategies for reading a variety of informational texts,
gathers and uses information for research purposes, and demonstrates
competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing
process.
Summary
In this lesson, students will research different companies
that trade on the New York Stock Exchange to gather information
to assist in making a class decision on which company to invest.
Technology and/or Materials Needed
- Computers with Internet access (one for each group of students)
- Encarta CD-roms
- Persuasive writing graphic organizer, i.e. T-chart, reasons/details
chart
- index cards with one NYSE company written on it (see list
in resources)
- Newspapers
- Chart paper, post-it notes
Implementation Time Frame
Two to three 45-minute class period
Activities
Motivation: If possible, visist the New York Stock Exchange,
take virtual tour, or invite a stockbroker to the classroom.
Engage in discussion of what was learned from this activity.
Review persuasive writing and its components. Provide each
student a persuasive writing graphic organizer to be completed
later. Explain to students that after researching information
about company traded on the NYSE, students will persuade the
class to buy or not to buy shares of that company.
Teacher demonstrates how to look up a stock on the NYSE website
and print graphs showing the recent history of a company.
Next, students are divided in groups of two to three students.
Each group will receive the name of a company on an index card.
Each group is to research that company using the Encarta CD-rom
with the computer, websites online, and the newspaper. Within
the group, students will research different aspects of the company
and document their research.
After significant research time, students will organize their
persuasive essay using the graphic organizer. As a group, students
will decide whether the company they received would be a good
one to invest.
Students will present their results to the class. A piece
of chart paper will be hung at the front of the room and divided
into three columns with the headings: Definitely, Perhaps with
More Research, and Definitely Not. After reporting on the company,
the group will write the name of the company on a post-it note
and place it one of the columns on the chart paper.
Assessment
Students will write the persuasive essay to be scored for
writing componets and language usage.
Resources and Related Links
List of NYSE Companies featured in MS Encarta 98
- America Online (AOL)
AMR Corp (AMR)
AT&T(T)
Boeing Co. (BA)
BP Amoco (BPA)
Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ)
Delta Airlines (DAL)
Disney, Walt Company (DIS)
Eastman Kodak Co (EK)
Exxon Mobile (XOM)
Ford Motor Company (FDRB)
Gateway, Inc. (GTW)
General Electric (GE)
General Motors Corporation (GMPRG)
Hershey Foods Corp (HSY)
Hewlett Packard Co. (HWP)
Hitachi, Ltd. (HIT)
Kellogg Company (K)
Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT)
McDonalds (MCD)
New York Times Company (NYT)
Nike Inc. (NKE)
PepsiCo Inc. (PEP)
Philip Morris Cos Inc. (MO)
Reebok (RBK)
Sears Roebuck & Co. (S)
Sony Corp (SNE)
Texaco (TX)
Time Warner Inc (TWX)
Toys R Us (Toy)
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT)
Xerox Corp (XRX)
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