Personal Finance, Moving Out!!
                                                               By:  Amy Stringham

Project at a Glance :

This project is for an Alternative-Ed High School Personal Finance class, exploring what it will take to move out and live on your own within five years of high school completion. The course utilizes Dave Ramsey’s Foundations of Personal FInance, with additional resources on how to responsibly build and use credit. This project will be a culmination of skills learned throughout the course, and will require 5-7 class periods, plus some independent work time to compile presentations.
       
Driving Question:

How Can I Move Out and STAY Moved Out?           

Standards:

• Exponential Functions- Compound Interest- Investing and borrowing
• Applying mathematics concepts to real-life situations
• Skills for Success- Communication, Critical Thinking & Problem Solving, Ethical Citizenship, and Personal Accountability ​

Team / Culture Building:

• Small class sizes may limit options as far as group sizes and dynamics. Some may be independent, but with group work components to the project.
• Creative Sequence Assessment​

Entry Event:

• Families or former students with a range of experiences come and share their stories.

Stakeholders: 

• Current Students 
• Students as adults
• Parents & Families
• Employers
• Community members
• Law Enforcement

• Friends 
• Future spouses
• Future children
• Landlord
• Utility company representatives
• Post-secondary education/training

Empathy Building:

• Stakeholders Map
• Stakeholders Matrix/Level of Impact (Friend or Foe)
• Empathy Map- Representing students at graduation​​

• Mood Board

Inquiry / Need to Knows: 

• Interviews- Central High School Alum 3-5 years after graduation, in all stages 
• Artifact Analysis- samples of checkbook registers w/details, budgets, scenario analysis
• AEIOU for a variety of scenarios, or perhaps their own personal family situation? 
• Include 3-5 math concepts/topics that they need to include in their final product
• Share a “roadmap” up front, with the driving question and multiple math concepts they will need to demonstrate along the way,  a project scoring rubric, and schedule for check - ins. ​

Incubation:

• Anti-Problem​

• Rule of Thirds protocol to sort out Ideas
• What if _ _ _ _ _ Were _ _ _ _ _ ?
• Mash up 
• How would _ _ _ _ _ solve this? ​

​Checking in:

• Exit Tickets- Daily
• Periodic mid-project deadlines- possibly two  or three stages along the way.

• 3-2-1 Summary- Three things you learned or accomplished today, two things you still have to do, and one question you have for the teacher.

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Solution Building:

•  Students will organize their solution ideas using the Saturate & Group protocol
• Followed by Dot Voting to narrow down ideas.

Critique and Revision: 

• The NUFF (new, useful, feasible, FUN) test and Dot voting will aide students in revising and finalizing their final solution ideas.
• Critical Friends Protocol

• Students will give groups feedback in the form of I Like, I Wonder, What If? ​

Authentic Audience:

• Parents
• Family members
• Former students who presented at the entry event?
• Probation Officers 
• Peers
• School staff 

Final Presentation:

• Students will use Google Slides to create and collaborate on their final presentation.  
• The final presentation will include math concepts such as:

          Monthly Budget
          Long Term Plan
          Taxes & insurance

Click here for teacher's full plan.

​Reflection and Feedback:

• The Authentic Audience will complete a Rubric and feedback forms
• Peer-to-peer feedback form
• Reflection form
• Bug List
• Pluses and Deltas​​

Meet the Educator:
Teacher B. Amy Stringham teaches alternative education math at Central High School in Grand Haven Michigan.

     "Engaging kids in math concepts they WILL use in life outside of the classroom."