Secondly, I would teach personal finance over a course of a few lessons and that way I could cause excitement within the pupils to build up and make them look forward to the lessons. Current teachers typically tend to hand out sheets and a lot of mathematical tasks and this can be very tedious for pupils. This stops them from learning and taking in the information that they need. Furthermore, current lessons don’t give pupils as much responsibility as usually the examples are about another person who the pupils must budget for. The lack of application to the pupils makes them lose interest and they don’t pay as much attention in lessons as they believe this information is not related to them. Hence, my lessons would involve more application to the pupils’ daily lives.
Therefore, the way I would teach pupils about personal finance by creating a scenario by using power points that would apply to the pupils. I would put the pupils in a pair so that they can put in different point of views of what are a needs and wants. The pupils would have a starting income and a list of compulsory costs which are essential for living. However, the pupils will have some money left over which they can then use to live a healthier, more social or entertaining life. All of their actions will have consequences ie. If they went out for clubbing and consumed alcohol then they would have a negative impact on their health. The purpose of this would be to teach the pupils that they cannot have everything and that money is a limited resource which must be used with great care. It will teach them to make choices with the greatest benefit to them.
Moreover, I will make sure that the pupils will be exposed to the current economic situation which is of economic recovery. This will help the pupils to understand the severity of the current economic situation that even though it is improving it is still quite bad. Hence, helping them to realise the importance of personal finance and managing their money. They will be given statistics such as ; the number of people currently unemployed is 2.47 million, house prices have been on the rise and have increased by 5%. These kinds of facts will help the students to see how managing their money would mean they are not faced by the full effects of unemployment and prices rising as they have savings etc.
Finally, at the end of the whole week I would have a reward like a chocolate box or a voucher for the pupils with the best health, most social life and the best overall life. This would encourage the pupils to try their best at all times rather than participate just because they are being told to do so. Also, the reward system will sustain a competitive ethos among the pupils and this would mean that the students will be performing at their highest level in order to win the prize. This will mean that the students will be more productive in lessons and not mess around as they will be driven by the prize. Also, rewards being awarded for good things will also teach a general lesson that good things happen to those who do good things themselves.
Overall, the way I would like to teach my students very interactively and this is because I believe that they will retain more of what they learn if they are more involved in the lessons and are in groups rather than them doing worksheets. I would like the students to learn the basic but important lessons of needs and wants, savings and borrowing and understanding the consequence of each of their choices. The reward system will be there to promote a good working ethos within the class and make sure that the pupils are working hard at all times. I believe that this is the best method because it allows the students to have fun and learn at the same time
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Summary
The essay is all about how I would like my lessons to be much more interactive than how the current lessons are on personal finance. I would like to use power points and application rather than worksheets as I believe that students will retain more information. Moreover, I would like to apply a lot more application to the current economic status of the UK so that the students can relate to the current situation rather than an old case study. Finally, I want the students to learn the basic lessons of personal finance such as borrowing, saving and spending which will mean that they will be better prepared for the future.
by
kartikayguptalivecouk (student)
