Welcome to Next Gen Personal Finance's August 2016 Newsletter
Welcome to the latest edition of the NGPF Newsletter (#22 for those of you scoring at home). Did you know that when hiring managers are asked about the most commonly required skills to get a decent paying job, they respond "spreadsheets?"So, this month we provide you with ideas on how you might incorporate spreadsheets into your classroom.
Enjoy!
Tim, Jessica and Laura (the newest member of our team)
P.S.: NGPF is providing up to 20 scholarships for teachers to attend the Jump$tart conference in Dallas later this fall. Details here.
Teaching The Basics of Spreadsheets
Looking for a simple lesson to help your students understand the basics of spreadsheets? In the NGPF Lesson Intro To Spreadsheets, your students will...
Enter data into a spreadsheet (Google Sheets and Excel)
Learn basic formatting features
Use basic math operations in a spreadsheet context, including the SUM function
Apply what they have learned with an activity to create their own basic budget spreadsheet
Our Favorite Spreadsheet Activities
After the results of our recent Flash Survey (see below), Laura hustled to compile a list of over a dozen NGPF spreadsheet activities that we have sprinkled throughout our 11 units. Here are a few of our favorites:
Build a Credit Card Calculator provides four options on how to complete the activity based on a student's proficiency with spreadsheets
Create a Salary-Based Budget, our most popular activity, guides students through a methodical, step by step process to build a post-college budget
Plan a Spring Break Trip, a student favorite, involves group work in which students plan for and budget a spring break vacation
If you are looking for ideas on spreadsheet activities (full disclosure: these require additional teacher work to be used in your classroom), check out some ideas from the NGPF blog.
How Are Teachers Using Spreadsheets In The Classroom?
Interesting findings from our the recent NGPF Flash Survey about spreadsheet usage in the personal finance classrooms:
68% of teachers wish they could integrate more spreadsheet activities into their personal finance classes
60% of teachers use spreadsheets at least 3-4 times in their class
80% of teachers create their own spreadsheet activities for their students
Community Activity Next Gen Personal Finance actively supports the financial literacy community through workshops, sponsorships of conferences and teacher professional development events. See below for a representative sample of events that we have attended in 2016. Please stop by and say hello if you plan to be at any of our upcoming events!
In 2016, we are committing $25,000 to support teacher professional development. If you organize or attend a workshop and are looking for sponsors, please let me know by emailing me at tim@nextgenpersonalfinance.org.
Upcoming 2016 Events
September 26, 2016: San Francisco Unified School District training (SF, CA)
September 27, 2016: Oklahoma Jump$tart Association (Oklahoma City, OK)
October 5-8, 2016: Council of Economic Education (Phoenix, AZ)
November 5-7, 2016: Jump$tart National Educators Conference (Dallas, TX)
November 11, 2016: Vermont Jump$tart Educators Conference (Burlington, VT)
Previous 2016 Events
August 4, 2016: Financial Education Bootcamp (Westampton, NJ)
August 1, 2016: Financial Education Bootcamp (Branchburg, NJ)
June 27-29, 2016: NGPF Summer Institute (Palo Alto, CA)
June 22, 2016: Iowa Jump$tart Conference (Ankeny, IA)
June 13 - July 22, 2016: Six Week Summer Bridge Program at Eastside College Prep (East Palo Alto, CA)
May 18, 2016: Workshop at Castilleja School (Palo Alto, CA)
May 13, 2016: New Hampshire Jump$tart Classroom Connections (Merrimack, NH)
April 8, 2016 : MBEA 2016 Conference (Natick, MA)
April 5, 2016: Jump$tart 2016 Hill Day (Capitol Hill, Washington DC)
