*Note one of the male students who is on my roster and has a 504 plan has been truant for

r weeks so they
are not a factor in this project at this time.
*Note there were 3 other SMG check-in days that occurred while other financial literacy information was
being taught. They arent listed here.
DAY
Investing Day 1 - Tuesday

ACTIVITIES
1. Risks & Diversification
Cornell Notes

SUMMARY OF OBSERVATIONS
Students performed as they are accustomed to the
routine of taking Cornell Notes.

2. Stock Market Game Cornell

Notes

As we were researching the stocks, students became

interested in the process and started to ask to see
particular information on certain stocks.

3. Brief look at how to research

stocks on finance.yahoo.com

Investing Day 2 Wednesday

1. Students watched the PBS

documentary on the Stock
Market Crash of 1929.
2. They answered the reflection
question: Name and explain 3
things present-day investors
can learn from the 1929 Stock
Market Crash. They had to
write one paragraph per item
and use information from the
documentary as support.

Investing Day 3 - Thursday

1. PowerPoint tutorial on How

to Use EverFi.
2. Handout student login
information.
3. Students work on the
Investing Module.

Investing Day 4 Friday

1. Quiz on the Stock Market

Chipotle caused a bit of a discussion regarding how

their customer health scares directly correlated to
stock value.
I had students raise their hands if they had a Twitter,
Facebook or Instagram account. Students that said
they had Instagram were informed that Facebook
owns that, so it would be part of the influence on their
stock. We compared the activity of both Twitter and
Facebook stocks, and they were shocked to see the
disparity. This exercise showed that just because you
think a stock would do well based upon your use of the
product doesnt mean it is a great investment.
I paused the documentary several times to take
questions and further explain concepts in an effort to
keep everyone engaged and not feeling lost with the
information.
This was assigned via Google Classroom. Some
students were absent, so I made sure the video link
and prompt were there for them if they had to finish at
home.
Four students didnt submit, one of whom has an IEP
and the other hasnt been in school for weeks due to
truancy issues. The other two who didnt submit just
failed to do so in the timeline I gave them.
Students seemed to understand how to use the
software right away and didnt need much assistance. I
reminded them that they were allowed to take notes
while participating that they could use for their postassessment.
Four students (none of whom had IEPs or 504s)
received a 6/10 (failing score) during their first try at
the post-assessment. They each retook it and passed
without my assistance.
A couple of students needed extra time, but they
finished at home without incident.
The class average for the quiz was 77%, which is

and Risk & Diversification on

Socrative.com.
2. Class discussion on different
sectors represented in the New
York Stock Exchange.
3. Teams work on and submit
their long-term and short-term
investment strategies for the
Stock Market Game.

Investing Day 5 Monday

1. Revisit strategy decisions.

2. SMG Tutorial (including how
to properly use the
spreadsheet).
3. SMG Trading Time

Between Topics Tuesday

1. Warm-up Write 3 questions

for guest speaker on any
financial literacy topic
2. Guest Speaker

Credit Day 1 Thursday

1. Credit Card Cornell Notes

2. Credit Worksheet

much better than the pre-assessment scores on

investing. There were two 100s and three failing
grades. I reviewed the four questions that less than
60% got correct after we completed the test.
Students did a good job coming up with companies to
match the 20 sectors we put on the board. I told them
that commodities (gold etc.) couldnt be traded in the
game, but it was good to know as an investment
option. About 2/3 of the students took down the
information.
I projected the requirements for the team investment
strategies and discussed it with them. Some students
wanted clarification about the difference between long
and short term for our game. 4/5 teams finished by the
end of class. The last team had their representative
submit it for homework since they had the idea down
and had to type it up. Only one team was not thorough
in their response.
This class is very quiet, even during collaboration time!
I hope they loosen up as time goes on.
Students did seem very interested in the game. Each
person decided on their first role (trader, researcher or
notetaker). I noticed a lack of communication with
some teams between the student trading and the other
student tracking trades in the spreadsheet. I made
sure to check in with each team and answer
questions/guide proper techniques with filling out the
spreadsheet and entering a trade.
I had a former FCPS student return to speak to my
class. He started by introducing himself, his education
and career path. He does a mapping on the board
called Investing 101 where he talks about savings
and investing options from least risky to most risky. He
erased it before I could get a picture!
Students seemed engaged with his discussion. When
it was time for Q&A several students volunteered to
ask questions right away. After about 10 minutes, the
room got quiet again, so I had them rotate around to
pick a question to ask from their warm-up. The
questions were relevant with a mix of how hard is
your job to investing advice questions.
Students took Cornell Notes on the topic of credit
cards. Some students asked questions after regarding
how best to use a credit card and not have to pay
interest, or lose points on their credit score etc.

3. SMG Check-in
Students broke into partners of their choice or worked
individually to complete the credit packet. The class
average was 74%. One partnership skewed the
average because they turned it in late and
incompletely.

Credit Day 2 Monday

1. Credit Score EverFi

2. Payment Types EverFi

Students switched roles for the Stock Market Game

this week and seemed comfortable with their new
positions. They are leery to buy a lot of stocks even
they it is imaginary money, so I encouraged them to
have a little fun with it.
It was a mixed bag of success with EverFi today. I
noticed that only six students were taking notes while
going through the modules. The Credit Score module
went really well, with only one student (who has a 504
plan) scoring a 6/10 on their first attempt at the postassessment. They ended up with an 8/10 on the
second try. The class average was an 84%. I attribute
this to having talked about this topic prior to them
completing the module.
The Payment Types module contained some
information not yet discussed as a class. There is a lot
in this module. Eleven (50% of my class) scored a
6/10 or below during their first attempt at the postassessment! Only two of these students had special
education accommodations. The class ended with an
average of 77% on this module.

Credit Day 3 - Tuesday

1. During the second half of

class, students completed the
Consumer Protection EverFi.

Credit Day 4 Wednesday

1. Credit Card Comparison

Assignment

Credit Day 5 - Thursday

1. Credit Quiz on
Socrative.com
2. SMG Check-in

I did have to step in and assist several students with

their re-attempts. I tried answer elimination strategies
and explaining new concepts without giving a direct
answer.
This module contained information I had previously
discussed with the class. It was a success with all
students passing after their first attempt! The class
average was 82%. I think they will be happy to get a
break from the modules.
Many students were out taking the PSAT. So I created
this assignment for students present, and had it be an
option for those who were absent and wanted a nother
positive grade in the gradebook. Students worked
individually to search for two credit cards that
interested them on the NerdWallet site. This is the first
time I used that site per a recommendation from
another teacher. It went well. Students slideshows
were thorough and their rationale for choosing a
particular card was solid. The class average was a
99% for accurately completing the assignment 50%
of the class participated.
The credit quiz was not as successful as the investing
quiz, despite many activities on the topic. The class
average was a 67%. I spent a good deal of time on
remediation with the class after everyone was done.
Five of the ten questions received a less than 65%
accuracy response rate. Upon closer look, I realized
these questions were more tailored to an older version
of the Cornell Notes. I plan on updating this for next
semester.

Financial Literacy Review

Day 1 Monday

1. Students took practice test

on Socrative.com
2. Students played Financial
Football Game

Students are now on their third position rotation with

the Stock Market Game. I spent some time showing
students how to calculate gains and losses for sales of
stocks (since they are now starting to sell) using
formulas in Google Sheets. Some got it and some said
they did, but I can tell I will need to revisit this.
The practice test average score was 65%. The results
were skewed because there were 5 open responses
(that most everyone got right, but spelled the answer
wrong) so that gave false negatives. With those
questions omitted, the class average is more like a
71%.
Another problem occurred when I set the pace to show
students feedback on their answers immediately. It
didnt do this, so we have to spend time going over the
mostly commonly wrong answers (not including the
open responses), which ended up being 13 / 45.

Financial Literacy Review

Day 2 Tuesday

1. Students played Jeopardy in

teams to review
2. Students played a review
game of Kahoot

Cumulative Financial Literacy

Test Day - Wednesday

1. Students completed the final

exam on Socrative.com
2. Students answered survey
on use of Socrative.com
3. SMG Check-in
4. Collect up-to-date
spreadsheets from teams

There was extra time leftover, so I have the students

play the Web 2.0 game Financial Football sponsored
by Visa. It was a fun and different way to review the
material for the students that is also timely given the
fact that it is football season. They enjoyed it overall.
Jeopardy was a great success!!! I broke the class into
5 teams and gave each team a bell. We played two
rounds and had Final Jeopardy. Everyone in the room
was engaged and competitive. It was the most alive I
have ever seen this group. Only three questions
werent able to be answered by students. I even
expanded on questions to see if I could get more
information out of them.
We had 10 minutes left, so I ran a game of Kahoot with
teams as a final review. The competitive spirit stayed
for this as well, and we ended class right at the bell.
The students did a fabulous job on the postassessment. The pre-assessment class average was
52.14% and the post-assessment class average was
85.95%! Nobody scored below a C on it. I am very
happy with these results. However, 3 of the 4
questions that student accuracy was less than 60%
had to do with investing.
The survey produced the results I expected. Most had
not used Socrative before, and they all found it easy to
use. I was not surprised that most moved faster testing
in this format.
I checked in with teams prior to spreadsheet
submission. A couple teams needed to fill in some
missing information on the last categories, student
roles & rationale for buying or selling. Other than that,
they were ready to submit for their periodic check.