Financial Fitness for Life for Students

My Students

In Florida, almost every student sees a foreclosed or a short sale home on the block. While tourism keeps the service industry strong, there are few opportunities from manufacturing or corporate jobs for today's graduate. Understanding how the economy and spending work is key to my seniors success.

Students come to my Economics class because education administrators at the state level have realized financial fitness is just as key, just as essential as other core subjects that are mandatory for graduation.

This is a mandatory general education class so students will come in from all social classes and economic classes. Many of our students ride the bus from their apartments and government subsidized housing into a neighborhood where the economy and the expectations for those who live there are very different. Our school serves a population of students who live on food stamps and government assistance. Financial literacy may encompass the terms of check cashing or "pay-day" loan buildings that dot their neighborhood like flies. This class is a chance to expose those students to ideas about wealth and money that many of them simply don't have the resources to understand at a level that will provide practical and useful for their transition to the adult world.

My Project

The students can learn financial fitness using these materials. Reports and documentaries will spur investigating key economic events and increase discussions and knowledge. We will use the economic workbooks for learning and as a tool for instruction. The documentaries provide real world examples of how wealth is created, managed and lost. The video on Walmart will help students understand the loss of the "mom and pop" stores. We will explore the culture of on line sales and the emergence of "Super Centers" and "Super Brands". We will use the informative books on introducing economics for readings in class and ask questions that will become writing prompts. These materials I am asking for my class, the books and quotes and passages will help students understand how the US and global economy has changed and evolved. These materials will be used to help students obtain a working knowledge of financial literacy.

Textbooks and PowerPoints are so done for so many students.

Our kids live in the 21st century but often we teach like it's 1980. Students are capable of learning and absorbing-media productions like the films requested will do much to grab attention and get students thinking and asking questions, Books will take students deeper than textbook blurbs. The materials asked for will transform my class into a place of higher learning for students who need to master financial literacy most of all.