Lets Make a Profit
This digital story is the launch for my semester-long PBL unit, in which my 7th grade math students run their own sneaker and streetwear resale shop. Over the unit, students set prices, calculate markups and discounts, and plan for fees and shipping, all of which tie directly to the 7th grade standards on percents and financial literacy. The intended audience is my students. Many of them are working below grade level in math, and many are Emergent Bilingual learners, so I needed an entry point that felt familiar and low-pressure before we ever touched a formula.
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I chose to tell a story about a mistake instead of a success. Jay, a 12-year-old reseller, “makes” $30 on a pair of sneakers and then finds out he actually lost money once the app fee and shipping were taken out. That twist creates a real reason to care about percents. The math isn’t presented as a lesson; it’s the thing that would have saved Jay. I kept the numbers simple and repeated them visually on screen so students could follow along even if they missed a word, which supports my EB students and anyone still building confidence with operations. The story ends on a question rather than an answer, “Will you calculate, or will you guess?”, so students walk into the project with a decision to make.
In practice, I’ll show the video on the first day of the unit, whole-class, since my students don’t have consistent device access. Afterward, students will discuss in pairs what went wrong for Jay and explain it out loud in their own words, which gives my EB students structured speaking practice. Then we’ll revisit Jay’s receipt as our first worked example before students start pricing their own shop inventory. Throughout the unit, Jay’s question becomes a shared reference point: before any price is set, we ask whether it was calculated or guessed.
