Today I continued to work on lecture slides and overall financial literacy curriculum development for teachers utilizing my book in their classrooms. I also worked on a workshop for middle school students at CA on the April X Day! It is exciting to think of engaging and creative ways to present the material.
Category: Ella G – Building a Financial Literacy Course
February 15
Today, I planned for three financial literacy lectures I will be delivering soon–one to a middle school in Maryland, one to a high school in Charlotte, and one to a high school in California. I am grateful that I am able to utilize my X Days to prepare and eventually interact with students, as I otherwise would not be able to visit with their classes. Additionally, I prepared a workshop for a regional Future Business Leaders Conference I was asked to present at next week, teaching a workshop for teens. In this workshop, I will cover a gamut of topics, including why investing is a powerful tool for wealth building, compound interest, index funds, diversification/how to create a portfolio, and valuation fundamentals. 
Day 2 Update
I have continued lesson plan development and explored different software options to create engaging video modules. My goal is to build off the material I present in my book while adding new dimensions and other activities to solidify the concepts. I looked at some of Next Gen Personal Finance’s online simulation games to determine where to incorporate them into my curriculum. Through these experiences, I have continued to realize the value in learning through doing. For example, playing a game in which you see how different decisions impact your credit score is very valuable because it mimics real life. I am very excited to continue to translate this understanding into my curriculum and take a multifaceted approach using a gamut of activities.
Reflecting on Day 1
Today, I created outlines of modules for the Educator Guide and started working on Slide presentations and reading quizzes. I spent a lot of time thinking about how best to incorporate different types of activities together for the optimal learning experience for students–including simulations, lectures, videos, projects. It is very interesting to be “behind the teacher’s desk” or in the position of thinking through lesson plans in such a way that the students will absorb the information. I thought about how I could make it relevant to their lives and not present the material so that they just feel inclined to memorize it. For example, with budgeting I wanted them to get hands on experience, so I worked on a simulation game in which the students have a limited amount of income that they must allocate amongst different categories, also enabling them to explore the concepts of opportunity cost and tradeoffs.
One of my main takeaways is the importance of incorporating experiential learning in my lessons. At its core, financial literacy is about empowerment and the ability to control your financial future through developing the ability to analyze and contextualize different situations and subsequently make informed decisions. More broadly, we learn not to be able to regurgitate information, but rather to foster critical thinking skills and be able to make real world connections.
As I move forward, I look forward to continuing to experiment and apply my understanding of experiential learning to my curriculum development.
X Day 1 Plan
Today, I plan to brainstorm and create an outline of my financial literacy curriculum. I will make a list of all the topics I intend to cover and ideate activities as well as the order in which they will be covered. I will create the overall structure and begin creating content for an “Educator’s Guide” for my book which will include slide presentations, discussion questions, suggested activities, and reading quizzes. Content creation represents the “Concrete Experience” step of the Kolb learning cycle.
Making Financial Literacy Accessible
Ella G writes: “My personal finance book is currently being utilized by 40,000+ students, and I have been receiving feedback from educators that they would like corresponding curriculum/activities. Through this experience, I will learn how to create curriculum as well as gain experience in iterating by sending the material to educators and incorporating the feedback and developing practical exercises that students can relate to and subsequently learn from. I will additionally deliver workshops and lectures to local schools and remote schools (virtually), honing my presentation and public speaking skills. I will teach workshops to disadvantaged females to address the financial gender confidence gap, gaining a better and deeper understanding of community needs. Questions I hope to answer: How can we level the playing field for all? How is curriculum developed- how do you create something that engages students? How can we better incorporate financial education into the standard curriculum? How can we better prepare students for their financial futures, and how does financial education relate to education reform as a whole?”
Ella will use this space to share what she is doing to make her book useful to educators and students!