ThisPersonal checking account lesson is designed to be for grades 9-12 Financial Literacy classes. Financial Literacy is a state graduation requirement. 1
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: The objective of this lesson is for students to be able to understand, manage, create and calculate a personal checking account. Students will be able to complete a check book register, properly fill out a personal check and create a personal check using Microsoft Word and then shop using the created checks and then write a reflective essay. This lesson takes several days to complete and the check writing/shopping activity is the culminating experience. 2
SWBAT manage a personal checking account, accurately track spending and understand the importance of money management. They will be assessedon a properly balanced check book register, a correctly created personal check with an image on check that reflects their personality and written essay. The Lesson: OVERVIEW: As the students get seated, they log on to the computer. Using the Smart Board, the lesson is introduced. Students are taught about checking accounts. Key concepts are presented and as a class, problems are practiced. Over the course of several days this lesson takes place. They are introduced to the parts of a check, the checkbook register and how to use it. They are then instructed to create their own personal check after the teacher demonstrates. Once the checks are created, they are stapled to appears like a checkbook and given a register with a $5,000 starting balance. They each create a store with a price list and students circulate to each store, shopping and leaving a check to pay, logging all activity in their register. The balanced register is the ultimate goal. TECHNOLOGY: The Smart board is used to present the lesson, practice filling out check and for the students to practice filling out the check register. This gives them a hands on practice and the group can offer feedback. Students also use the internet to collect images that reflect their personality that will be used on their personal check. This is am important part of the lesson because it allows the student create something that is personal to them and make the connection show how personal checking relates to them. Microsoft Word is used by the students to create their own personal checks. They use the drawing tools and inserting the image they chose. This reinforces all the parts the check and they begin to understand why each section is there and why it is important. ASSESSMENT: They will be assessed on the following: correctly balanced checkbook, properly completed check, correctly created personal check and written reflective response. 3
SENSE AND MEANING: In order to get all theinformation presented into Long term memory, Sense and Meaning must be attached. Does this make sense? Class discussion on familyand finances and money management with guided questions help to bring lesson into relative terms. MOST IMPORTANT Does this have meaning? Why do I need to know this? Understanding that they are in charge of their finances brings meaning to this. Further discussion regarding paychecks and debit cards and how they are tied to checking account is presented. This usually leads to an animated classroom discussions with lots of what if questions from the students..when new learning is readily comprehensible (sense) and can be connected to paste experiences, (meaning), there is substantially more cerebral activity followed b y dramatically improved retention. (Sousa p 53) (Hocker) 4
Since this lesson occurs over a period of severaldays, there are multiple opportunities for Prime Time 1 to happen. How to fill out a check, Parts of the check, Check book register, How to create a personal check are all new concepts for the students andare presented in the beginning of class. This is done as whole group instruction and students will take turns at the Smart Board to practice the skill while the class provides feedback. The Smart Board provides a strong visual for students and easily commands their attention and having peers give feedback is a proven instructional strategy. (Sousa) 5
Down time during this lessonis when the students use the internet to search for a graphic to be used on their checks. It must be a graphic that reflects their personality or an area of interest for them. This is to help give them a personal connection to the activity. This allows them to be as creative as they want and practice using the technology. Students will save their findings to the H: drive for later use. Students will be able to look at past work of other students as well as teacher s samples displayed on the Smart Board. During this time, students collaborate on their findings and assist one another in the use of the technology. They will also complete independent practice activities to reinforce taught concepts. (Sousa) 6
THERE ARE SEVERAL PT 2 BECAUSE THIS LESSON IS OVER SEVERAL DAYS. Primetime 2is when the students have savedtheir graphic and are ready to begin designing their own personal check. All resources are on the computer and they are ready to begin. Students are instructed to open Microsoft Word and create a personal check. This program is familiar to them and they can easily accomplish the assignment without struggling with the technology. They have already practiced writing checks and know the parts of the check. Now they must use the tools they learned in Computer Literacy to create a personal check and use what they have learned in PT1 to complete the lesson. Teacher will demonstrate via the Smart Board, reminding them of the tools they will use and the parameters they must follow. Once the demonstration is complete, students will create their own check as teacher observes and assists when needed. PT 2When students participate in the Shopping Experience they are demonstrating mastery of all the skills. They are writing the checks they have created, filling out the check book register and ultimately, balancing it. If it is out of balance, they must determine where the error is and fix it. Another PT 2is when the students use the last part of the last day to write a reflective essay, answering what they have learned and how it applies to their life and why it is necessary (another opportunity for Sense/Meaning). (Sousa) 7
This Lesson has enough pieces to it that all of Gregorc s Learning Styles can be accommodated. The Mind Style's learning types are based on the concept that individuals learn through: taking in concrete experiences or abstract constructs and then ordering them in a linear, sequential way or in a random, leaping way. Concrete learnersabsorb information through direct experience, by doing, acting, sensing, and feeling. They deal with the obvious and the here and now; they prefer details and think inductively, from the parts to the whole. Abstract learnerstake in information through analysis, observation, and thinking about what is theoretical or speculative in nature (abstractions), and they understand or believe what they cannot actually see. They use reason and intuition, and look beneath what isto the more subtle implications; they prefer theories and think deductively, seeing and starting from the whole picture. Orderingrefers to how the mind grasps and arranges (processes) information Sequential learnersorganize information in a linear, step-by-step, and logical manner. They prefer to have a plan and follow it rather than acting on impulse. They typically do well on written tests. Random learnersorganize information in chunks, without any particular order, and may be able to start in the middle of a task or to skip steps or even to work backwards. They prefer impulse and spur-of-the-moment activity to plans. Like Abstracts, they are intuitive. They typically do not do as well on or do not like written tests. The four learning styles are made by combining the concrete and abstract ways of taking in and thinking about information with the sequential and random ways of processing and ordering that information. ("Mind Styles Overview") 8
Again, there are so many aspects to the lesson, many of Gardner s MI are addressed. Howard Gardner is a psychologist and Professor at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. Based on his study of many people from many different walks of life in everyday circumstances and professions, Gardner developed the theory of multiple intelligences. Gardner defined the first seven intelligences in Frames of Mindin 1983. He added the last two in Intelligence Reframedin 1999. Multiple Intelligences According to MI Theory, identifying each student s intelligences has strong ramifications in the classroom. If a child's intelligence can be identified, then teachers can accommodate different children more successfully according to their orientation to learning. Teachers in traditional classrooms primarily teach to the verbal/linguistic and mathematical/logical intelligences. The nine intelligences are: VISUAL/SPATIAL -children who learn best visually and organizing things spatially. They like to see what you are talking about in order to understand. They enjoy charts, graphs, maps, tables, illustrations, art, puzzles, costumes - anything eye catching. Creating the check is perfect for this type of learner VERBAL/LINGUISTIC -children who demonstrate strength in the language arts: speaking, writing, reading, listening. These students have always been successful in traditional classrooms because their intelligence lends itself to traditional teaching. MATHEMATICAL/LOGICAL -children who display an aptitude for numbers, reasoning and problem solving. This is the other half of the children who typically do well in traditional classrooms where teaching is logically sequenced and students are asked to conform. Balancing the checkbook register BODILY/KINESTHETIC -children who experience learning best through activity: games, movement, hands-on tasks, building. These children were often labeled "overly active" in traditional classrooms where they were told to sit and be still! Hands on production of check, shopping experience MUSICAL/RHYTHMIC -children who learn well through songs, patterns, rhythms, instruments and musical expression. It is easy to overlook children with this intelligence in traditional education. INTRAPERSONAL -children who are especially in touch with their own feelings, values and ideas. They may tend to be more reserved, but they are actually quite intuitive about what they learn and how it relates to themselves. INTERPERSONAL -children who are noticeably people oriented and outgoing, and do their learning cooperatively in groups or with a partner. These children may have typically been identified as "talkative" or " too concerned about being social" in a traditional setting. NATURALIST -children who love the outdoors, animals, field trips. More than this, though, these students love to pick up on subtle differences in meanings. The traditional classroom has not been accommodating to these children. EXISTENTIALIST -children who learn in the context of where humankind stands in the "big picture" of existence. They ask "Why are we here?" and"what is our role in the world?" This intelligence is seen in the discipline of philosophy. By addressing as many of the intellegences as possible, there is a greater chance that learing will occur and that informaton will make it to long term memory, hence, sense and meaning. (Lane) 9
LIMBIC SYSTEM Thalamus-all external sensorystimuli enter here lecture, large group discussion, Smart Board demonstration, hands on activities all involve senses Hippocampus-area whereworking memory convers to Long term memory after assigning sense and meaning Amygdala-regulates emotion and motivation and then passes message back to hippocampus. (Sousa) 10
CEREBRAL LOBES FRONTAL LOBE Concerned with reasoning, planning, parts of speech and movement (motor cortex), emotions, and problem-solving. There is a large amount of math in this lesson and students will be using this part of the brain. PARIETAL LOBE The parietal lobe plays important roles in integrating sensory information from various parts of the body, knowledge of numbers and their relations,and in the manipulation of objects.portions of the parietal lobe are involved with visuo/spatial processing. Number relations are needed to understand the debit and credit in the checkbook register. Student need to be able to manipulate the numbers to reflect addition or subtraction to the account. Also, strong manipulation of objects when creating the check. ("Parietal Lobe") TEMPORAL LOBE Concerned with perception and recognition of auditory stimuli (hearing) and memory (hippocampus). This portion of the brain is used during teacher lecture and demonstration and instruction. They must then be able to retrieve this information so they can complete the work on their own. OCCIPITAL LOBE Concerned with many aspects of vision. This is a highly visual lesson. From demonstration at smart Board to searching internet to creating. (Chudler) 11
During this important part of the lesson,students will describe in their own words, how this lesson created meaning for them, how the concepts will be used in their life and how the concept of financial management is important to their personal success. To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting. Edmund Burke ("Brainy Quote") 12
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