My husband and I heard about the microloan website, Kiva, in the spring of 2007.  It was (and still is) an incredible concept: individuals entrepreneurs in need of money to begin (or further) businesses in the developing world connect with lenders with both the means and desire to help out.  Potential lenders review the stories and business plans of these entrepreneurs and make loans as small as $25 dollars interest free.  The money is paid back according to payment terms laid out in the profile.  When the money is paid back, lenders have the option to lend again, or retrieve their credit and invest it elsewhere.  When I heard about it, I knew that it would be an amazing vehicle for teaching all kinds of concepts related to Math, Social Studies, Reading, Writing and Social Responsibility.  Imaging the kids making and justifying their own loans!  It was certainly worth a try, so I set about creating my own Kiva account.

Getting Started: Setting up an account with Kiva was not difficult to do, although I had to accept that if I wanted to do this in my classroom, that I would have to use my own credit card to provide the money for the loans.  For me, it was worth the risk.  I loved the Kiva concept and was willing to make loans myself anyway.  Plus, I really wanted to give it a go in my own classroom.  My principal was also willing to do the accounting on the school side for me and set up a Kiva account for funds raised by my class.  Whenever I added credit to the Kiva account, I submitted a receipt to the school and was quickly reimbursed.

Fund Raising Efforts: Our first fund raising efforts for Kiva (December 2007) were accomplished as a class.  I came up with the idea of a “math-a-thon”.  The kids would raise the money by being pledged per math sheet accurately completed during a two and a half hour math marathon.  It was a very efficient fund raiser!  We raised $1150 in that short time.  The kids worked really hard, although did not “enjoy” it.  They were utterly exhausted by the end of the session.  I was happy to have the funds, although decided that I needed to use a different method!   They needed to have more imput and as much connection and control of the fund raising effort possible.  Why?  Ultimately, I want the kids to think that doing this kind of stuff is both worthwhile and within their own power.

Decisions Made and Justified (Phase 1)- In the first year, I introduced my students to a range of statistics from GDP per capita and population below the poverty line, to infant mortality and literacy rates.  I dealt with it all at the same time and had them pouring over pretty skookum data sheets, looking for the most needy countries in the world.  Pretty overwhelming stuff, although amazingly, they accepted this unflinchingly.  In very short order, they were scanning business profiles, family stories and country statistics of the Kiva entrepreneurs.  They individually made their decisions and I made loans for them on the spot ($25 each).  They then put together a little writing project with photos of the entrepreneur they helped for display. The kids were very proud of their efforts.  We were lucky to be featured 3 times in local newspapers, invited to guest host a Student Leadership Conference in Maple Ridge, and present our efforts to the Board.

Reflections on the First Year-This was an incredibly powerful project, even though it was really very experimental.  I definitely recognized, and to a certain extent, used the project as a vehicle to cover outcomes in math, reading and writing.  It was a little loose, however.  I taught far too many statistics which were used in a limited way in their decision making.  I had not developed any rubrics for assessment.  The kids had one shot at making a loan on their own.  Their reflections on the experience were limited to group conversations and a film that we made for our day at the Student Leadership Conference.  It was all very cool, but needed a ton of refining and expanding!

This year, I have dealt with many of the issues from the first year.  It is truly a huge part of our classroom culture.  In my next entry, I will start to explain some of the more powerful numeracy components of Kiva Project this year.

Until next time…

Jen