Financial Fitness

Financial Literacy – Required, Yes or No?

Last week I had an opportunity to speak at the NHAFCS Teacher’s Conference on Financial Literacy. In my preparation, I uncovered all sorts of statistics on the Financial health of our youth and our role as educators to improve overall knowledge in this subject area.

According to a recent study by NextGen Personal Finance, as reported in the Business Insider, by Jeff Desjardins , only 5 states in the US require a Personal Finance class for High School Graduation. Five out of Fifty? Is anyone else a little shocked by this number? The President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy defines personal financial literacy as “the ability to use knowledge and skills to manage financial resources effectively for a lifetime of financial well-being.” We are talking about the basic fundamental skills necessary to make responsible decisions with regard to making money, spending money and saving money in order to achieve personal independence and well-being. Are we really expecting our youth to navigate today’s complex financial world without the skills they need to effectively manage resources for financial well-being? Five states equate to only 16% of US High School students having guaranteed exposure to one of the most valuable life-skills – Managing Money. It’s no wonder, after college “with $1.45 trillion in student debt, millennials find themselves in a tough spot to begin with – but 45% regret even taking out loans to that extent in the first place. At the same time, only 24% of the generation demonstrates “basic” financial knowledge, while 70% are already stressed about saving for retirement.”

NH JumpStart Coalition recently reported results of a similar survey they conducted specifically on our home state (NH) which indicates that in New Hampshire, 12% of our High Schools now require a stand-alone Personal Finance course for graduation. Champlain College’s Center for Financial Literacy conducted a more thorough evaluation and graded all 50 states. NH was one of the 19 states that received a B, but unfortunately, 30% of our nation received a D or F.

Obviously, a direct measurement of financial literacy is difficult to obtain, but studies have indicated that there is a correlation between a comprehensive exposure to the subject and improvement in financial decision making. The good news is, compared to previous studies, things are getting better with 36% of young adults more likely to save than older generations and adult spending down 26% overall. Yes, that’s good news, but there is still significant room for improvement.

Does your high school offer a Personal Finance class? if not, don’t you think they should?

Category: Personal Finance | LEAVE A COMMENT

March 13 2018

Personal Finance

Financial Literacy- A Must Have 21st Century Skill!

For almost 10 years I have been passionate about including some aspect of Financial Literacy in every class I teach. From developing SMART goals and creating a Personal Budget, to managing credit and staying out of debt, in today’s world, understanding how to successfully manage your money is a fundamental skill. Personal Finance is essential to every High School Curriculum. I believe its importance is overlooked and would love to see it as a required component for high school graduation credits.

This fall I was asked to present a Professional Development session on Personal Finance at the 2018 NHAFCS conference on March 23, in Manchester, NH. The following information includes my presentation and a listing of valuable resources to get anyone started on the road to Financial Fitness!

Personal Finance- lesson ideas and Resources

Taking too long?

Reload document

Open in new tab

Download

Presentation:

Personal finance from KaeCunningham

Category: Personal Finance | LEAVE A COMMENT

March 4 2018

Authentic Audience through blogging

Authentic Audience

Coming home from a basketball game, I was talking with my 9 year old grandson about heading back to school next week (we are wrapping up our February break). And he said to me, “Grammy, you are so lucky!” “How so, Andrew?” I asked. ” He replied, “Because you don’t have to learn anymore! ” Wow, I just had to chuckle, because boy Oh boy, he couldn’t have been any further from the truth! (Kids are the best) My immediate response was, of course, “I learn something new every day”.

I am currently involved in the Better Blogging with Students initiative with Kathleen Morris from Edublogs and many other educators. I would venture to say that we all are learning something new every single day! I believe we have a common goal as teachers: to do a better job of engaging our students in their learning. By learning and developing our own skills through blogging, we hope to help our students improve their understanding of digital literacy and responsible digital citizenship along with the development of better writing and communication skills. A tall order, I know, but I am a teacher on a mission with a passion for learning. After all, It’s not a matter of having to learn, it’s about wanting to learn.

In January, I wrote about resurrecting my class blog as my first effort in getting students more involved and enthusiastic about what goes on in the classroom. I will admit, it’s been moving along slower than I had hoped, but we are making progress. This week my students will begin the 10 week Student Blogging Challenge, which looks interesting and frightening all at the same time! (More to come on this experience, I’m sure!). I also shared the top 5 reasons I believe blogging is a great classroom tool and my thoughts on reason #1 – Student Engagement.

What fuels our need to learn more?

There is something about having a listener that shares a common interest, or the same point of view, or a common goal. They get it, they understand. They are not judging or grading or criticizing. They are just listening and giving support and acknowledgement of your work. They are your authentic audience and they fuel your passion to keep going, dig deeper, do better, learn more. It is human nature. We are social creatures of habit and we need to share. Connecting what we do in the classroom to the outside world is a perfect way to get students involved and take ownership of their learning. In The Value of an Authentic Audience from Edutopia, Monica Burns shared ,”One of the reasons…we establish authentic audiences for students, [is so] they can see the purpose for their work.” Authentic audiences provide a sense of buy-in and help students connect to the real world. Our peers intrinsically ignite a sense of purpose, a drive to put your best foot forward and express yourself in greater detail. After all, it’s not just for the teacher or the grade, ‘real’ people are watching and reading and listening!

As Cailin Tucker shares in her Ed Talk on Connecting Students to an Authentic Audience, when we choose to persevere (in spite of our fears) for the sake of learning and connecting, we open ourselves and our classroom to a world of meaningful possibilities.

Happy sharing through blogging!

Mrs. C

Category: Blogging for Learning | 2 Comments