Teacher of the Month: Sabrina Lin


Sabrina Lin

Business Entrepreneurship Initiative, Business Fundamentals, Personal Finance, Social Entrepreneurship, and Entrepreneurship Honors

School: Valley Christian High School

Location: San Jose, California


I work in the BEI department; BEI = Business Entrepreneurship Initiative. We offer Business Fundamentals, Personal Finance, Social Entrepreneurship, and Entrepreneurship Honors. We also have the Quest Incubator to assist our high school students in pursuing their entrepreneurial ventures! Our BEI has been growing rapidly in the last few years and we now provide afterschool entrepreneurial programs for K-8, and a capstone startup project for high schoolers to compete in front of industry judges and a real VC (final 3 teams).

BEI Showcase May 2021

We asked Sabrina a few questions. Her answers are below.

WHAT STUKENT COURSEWARE HAVE YOU USED?

I have used Digital Marketing and Mimic Social (I love the Buhi company!)

WHAT TEACHING TIPS WOULD YOU SHARE WITH OTHER TEACHERS?

Since I teach Business Fundamentals and Entrepreneurship, I try to integrate activities that allow students to “play while learn.” We folded many paper airplanes to illustrate the Kan Ban methods of production. The students were asked (while at home in Zoom) to create a new animal, which they got to show off on screen. I try to provide space for the students to interact and try new things. I love wearing my shirt “We Love Our Students” as a constant reminder to students that I do care for them and want them to succeed.  As a DECA Co-Advisor, I try to provide advice to teams to help them succeed, bringing in my industry background from working 20+ years at Hewlett-Packard. The DECA Community Giving Project Team took 4th place at the International competition this past April, which had over 10,000 competitors!

For Mimic Social, after each round, we would debrief together. First, we’d look at the class ranking which was very motivating for many students. Then we would ask a top achiever to share some of his/her secret sauce for how they ranked so highly. Through grit, my students kept trying new tactics and wording/images to try to get better. I did have to impose a minimum number of posts per round as a way to hold them accountable. They loved downloading the csv files and analyzing what posts performed better than others. The analytic rounds were very stimulating and confusing all at the same time—the students love the challenge of trying to “crack the code”.

WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES AND TALENTS?

As you can tell from some of my photos, I enjoy the outdoors and have backpacked two 50-milers in Yosemite NP and Sawtooth Mountains, ID. Being immersed in the wonders of God’s creation and seeing the pristine lakes, rivers, and mountains is one of the most rewarding experience for me. I enjoy planning “extreme” vacations, as my sons claim, where we get to go try new adventures, like a couple of years ago—hiking the Mayan trail to get to Machu Picchu in Peru. I try to stay fit with body pump or body compact, so I can keep up with my young adult sons. Our school is conveniently located on top of a big hill, so daily I get to scale that mountain from my parking spot. Gardening is another hobby and I experiment a lot with drought-tolerant plants in the hard clay soil of California. I love to mentor students and enjoy making connections with them, to support and pray for them. 

Thank you, Sabrina, and congratulations!

CONNECT WITH SABRINA LIN

LinkedIn

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