LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Read opposing viewpoints and take a side; evaluate potential reasons for and against schools teaching financial literacy courses.

HEALTH ED STANDARDS

NHES 2: Analyze the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology, and other factors on health behaviors.

CASEL COMPETENCY: Social awareness

KEY VOCAB

credit rating

financial literacy

fiscal

Lesson Plan: Should Schools Teach Finance?

Is learning to manage your money as important as learning history and literature?

PREPARING TO READ

Before you read the debate “Should Schools Teach Finance?” ask your students the following pre-reading question:

What are the pros and cons of schools being responsible for teaching finance?

READING AND DISCUSSION

  • Have your students read the debate “Should Schools Teach Finance?” independently; read the article out loud to them; or have one student read one side of the debate and another student read the other side.
  • After they’ve read the debate, revisit the pre-reading question. Have their answers changed? Remind them to vote in the poll at the end of the story.

BUILDING COMPREHENSION AND VOCAB

Check students’ comprehension of and engagement with the story with the following assessment tools:

  • Comprehension Quiz
  • Vocab Builder

EXPANDING SEL OPPORTUNITIES

Continue the learning journey with the following writing prompt:

After reading the article, give students the chance to engage with it by writing a LETTER TO THE BOARD in response to the debate question. Have them imagine they are writing to the board of education for a school district or state that is currently considering whether to require financial literacy courses in schools. If their answer to the debate question was “yes,” they might start with a short introduction where they congratulate the board on examining this issue, and state their support for financial literacy courses possibly being offered in the near future. If their answer was “no,” they might say that they disapprove of the financial literacy courses that are being taught in some other schools and have a few concerns they would like to outline. For the body of the letter, have students use a mix of their own ideas and ideas from the article, including the questions in the student-facing prompt. Remind students to end by thanking readers for their time and encouraging the board to make the right decision for students in their district or state.

Print the Lesson Plan

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