Personal+Finance

1) [|Occupy Toronto Article] This article explains the need for personal finance in Canada. The youth of today are illiterate when it comes to personal finance and are overestimating the wages they will one day make, the time it will take them to own a house, and the age that they will retire. The story of Occupy Wall Street (in this case Occupy Toronto) can help me in my future classroom. It is important for my future students to realize what these protesters are fighting for and explain what it means to be in the "1%" and the "99%." As the article states, many people feel like they were mislead by the educational system. They feel like they wasted money on an outdated education that will not provide them with a stable job and resulted in piles of debt. By implementing a personal finance course (or applying an interdisciplinary learning approach using personal finance and other business courses) business teachers can help students understand how the financial world works so that they can make realistic financial goals and decide what is best for their future. This is a teacher resource that can aid the teacher in having discussions about important financial issues occurring throughout the world.

2) [|The City] I received "The City" resource binder in 2010. The interactive resource has 8 characters that it follows during different stages of their lives. Students would become one of the city characters and complete the worksheets based on these characters' lives. I would use this resource in a Personal Finance class as a way for students to analyze a character's finances. Students would be required to complete worksheets that focus on income, expenses, revenues, budgets, saving, credits, debts, and financially planning. This would be a way to get students interested in personal finance without having it reflect their current monetary situations (especially if money is a problem at home). This resource can be used for students as it would equip them with the tools that they need to navigate the financial realities of adulthood. This resource is beneficial to a teacher as it has lesson plans, student handouts, worksheets, and overheads.

3) [|Book - Managing Your Money by Canadian Dollars and Sense] This book is a guide to help navigate adults and students through confusing issues of personal finance. Each chapter builds upon the other and teaches the reader steps on how to save money and get out of debt. The overall goal of the book is to help people learn how to manage their money so that they can ultimately obtain financial security and economic success. I would use this resource in the classroom as a teacher since the book doesn't have enough details in each chapter to fully explain its points to a student. I would use this book to teach Personal Finance by using certain chapters to plan units around. Chapters that I would use in this book include "setting realistic expectations," "distinguishing needs and wants," and "putting together a budget." I would use these chapters to help students create a budget for when they graduate. Students would have to decide if they are going to enter the workforce or attend post secondary and then would have to research the expenses associated with each choice. Students would only be given a certain amount of money in which they would have to create a budget, create goals, and choose needs over wants. This would be one way to get students to start thinking about how to manage money so that they can find financial success as consumers and producers.

4) [|Practical Money Skills - Website] This website has a lot of useful resources pertaining to business education. It includes teacher resources such as lesson plans and students activities along with student resources like games. You have to sign up and make a free account to see any lesson plans. All of these resources reflect personal finance issues. In particular I would use the lesson [|"Living On Your Own"] in a personal finance class. This lesson includes student activities in which the students would analyze the costs of living on their own including bedroom furnishings, redecorating a home/setting up an apartment, budget living on your own or upgrading your lifestyle, and signing a lease and rental agreement. The activities include worksheets and even a quiz. I think this would be beneficial for students as it would help realize the financial costs associated with graduating and living on your own.