Variety is the Spice of Life

There is an amazing variety of educators on The Gateway to 21st Century Skills. We are linked together by the common goal of making a difference in the lives of our students while still having time to maintain a life of our own outside the classroom. We teach a wide range of grade levels and subjects, and we all want to equip our students with the right skills to succeed in the 21st century. When we cook a meal, we need a full set of spices to create just the right flavor. In teaching, we need to use a full range of tools and types of activities to complement the variety of students and teachers working together to become productive members of 21st century society.


The 21st century skill Joann focuses on in her picks for this week is financial literacy. This is a very timely topic right now, and students and teachers are exposed to the problem in the media and at home every day. Please take some time to look through the resources this week, even if you don’t think you will be able to use them directly in your class. The beauty of these examples is in the variety of activities they include and the extension activities that you can use to engage even more of your students.

The lessons from Thirteen Ed Online are good examples of well-planned activities that aim to reach students with all different learning styles. The first resource, CyberCurrency, starts with a group brainstorming session to create a class learning discovery chart, clips from a PBS show to introduce topics, and a simulation to illustrate the benefits and limitations of the barter system. You are letting your students learn by seeing, hearing, and doing.

Looking back at the resources we have highlighted over the past ten weeks, I see all kinds of activities that get our students thinking in different ways. The Gateway has lots of standards-based resources that can meet your needs with little or no modification. Not all of our resources give you this kind of variety straight out of the box, though. Sometimes you have to put a little work into varying the types of activities you present to your class. If you feel like you are stuck in a rut and doing the same types of activities every day, be sure to look at extension activities included with many of the resources. These can help you add more variety to your lessons.

The following examples stick to the theme of financial literacy learning, but they can easily be adapted to another skill you are working on right now. Do your students like to get up and move? Make giant coins and bills out of poster board, and have them jump on the correct denominations to answer money questions. Do they learn best by teaching one another? Split up the important points you want to cover, and allow small groups to present the ideas to their classmates. (Don’t forget about some of the neat presentation tools we have talked about in previous weeks!) Are your students hands-on learners? Maybe you can have them to create their own currency to simulate a store in your classroom to see how well it would really work. In the example from Thirteen Ed Online, they use paper donuts as currency. Using real donuts as currency in your class “store” could be a fun and memorable way to help students understand the limitations of the donuts as a form of “money.” Many students can also benefit from writing down what they learn at the end of each activity. Using a journal with your students at the end of the lessons can be a good check of understanding for you, and it may help your students see what they are learning as well.

You work hard and spend a lot of time preparing lessons each day. Whether you plan your lesson completely from scratch or adapt one you find online, take it one final step and make sure you include enough variety to appeal to all the different learners in your classroom.

~Peggy's Corner~

Example of a comic strip assignment for a Chemistry assignment: http://www.toondoo.com/View.toon?param=1573080

Find a huge variety of lessons on http://thegateway.org/

For the Love of Money

Do you love to spend money? Most Americans do. I recently read that about 43% of American families spend more money than they earn each year. That’s a horrifying statistic, and one that obviously deserves attention. The ability to understand money, and how to make informed decisions regarding money management, is the basis of financial literacy. The current economic recession has also spurred lawmakers to re-examine the importance of early intervention, and the need to beef up financial literacy courses in American schools. The following resources are a sampling of financial literacy lesson plans by Thirteen Ed Online, the educational Web component of WNET, PBS’s leading station in New York. Thirteen Ed Online offers free standards-based lesson plans and classroom activities, online mentors, workshops, and online reviews of curriculum-based Web sites in addition to instructional television. All lessons are aligned to McREL and NCTM standards. It’s our hope that resources like these will keep your students “talkin’ ‘bout cash money – dollar bills, y’all” – but in a financially literate way.


Cyber Currency, Currently
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2010-01-03.0338376195
Subjects: Economics, Math, Finance
Grade: 4-6

Ever heard someone complain that the barter system would be simpler or more effective than using currency? In this unit, students learn the limitations of the barter system, and understand the traits of an effective system of currency. The lessons use games and an episode of the PBS show Cyberchase to teach students the value of currency, how to save money, and earn simple interest. The unit offers some great hands-on learning opportunities, such as incorporating a classroom general store from which students can “purchase” items, converting foreign currency, and lots of other extension activities to help kids learn the importance of being financially literate.

Why Does Money Have Value?
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2009-12-29.1068507299
Subjects: Economics, Math, Finance
Grade: 6-8

Ask your students (or most adults, for that matter) why money has value, and you’re likely to be met with vacant expressions. Just why does money have value, anyway? This lesson examines the evolution of money and its financial worth, how goods are valued in different currencies, and the necessary structure and means for the exchange of goods. Additionally, students also learn the basics of financial markets, and, through an extension activity, they can research the currencies and exports of various countries.

Finance and Responsible Lending
http://www.thegateway.org/browse/dcrecord.2009-12-29.8482802848
Subjects: Economics, Math, Finance
Grade: 9-12

Subprime mortgages were a major player in the financial meltdown that has resulted in our current economic recession. Poised on the brink of adulthood, high school students need to know how banks function, and how money is borrowed and lent. The sheer number of Americans who either ignored or simply didn’t understand the banking process and how money is loaned underscores how vital it is to master this content. This lesson discusses the basic concepts of creditworthiness, consumer credit, and interest rates. Students analyze the types of services that banks provide, and why. They also learn how financial institutions decide who is a candidate to receive credit, and how interest rates are set on different types of loans.

~Joann's Picks~

Check out http://thegateway.org/ for more great resources.