Alternative Educator

AI is here to stay.  The only questions are: How will it be used?  Which chatbot will you use?  How will you use it?  In this two-step assignment, your students will explore these questions, become more comfortable using one, and apply it to a short research assignment. A brief reflection opportunity follows for the student to consider the implications of the work they just accomplished using the AI. NOTE: Because of privacy concerns and data sharing policies of these companies, your school

Many people have an inherent dislike of discussing and thinking about money. Before students can begin to understand how to use money, they need to be comfortable talking about money and realize why they should use and discuss money and why financial literacy is important. This is an introduction lesson to a financial literacy unit and curriculum. This lesson has students discuss the importance of financial literacy and why it is important. It has students discussing and reflecting on the

Help your students recognize and respond appropriately to this threat. Cybercrime and identity theft is on the rise, so being able to identify these threats is crucial. This includes links to government websites (both U.S. and Australia) and a video at the end with a humorous look at responding to scammers. This lesson includes topics such as: Identity theftscamming & phishingtypes of scamsHacking and cybercrime

This is for a psychology class, a project section where students can independently explore an interest, or a social studies or science class to teach how the scientific method is applied to the social sciences. Students will identify an interest, identify independent/dependent variables, collect data, complete basic statistic analyses (correlation, usually), and write a brief paper describing this process. This will then be presented to the class when finished. The whole project should take

Great activities to get your students thinking about finances differently.

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In this project, the students are to identify a specific disease and research it.  In an effort to make the learning more relevant to the students, tying facts to something in their lives or their interests will increase engagement and production. This is a short project meant to supplement a science project class, STEM classroom, or biology unit. Students research a disease, answer questions about it, create a paper and a presentation.

Students continue to work with compound interest in this lesson by applying the concept to various investment options and considering personal relevance. In particular, students consider how different compounding rates and interest rates combine to increase wealth. Students also consider how these concepts relate to risk and reward/return on investments. Topic covered in this lesson: Savings accounts, CD, stocks/mutual funds, Bondscompounding ratesrisk/return on investments

The cover is the last step in getting a job. After the resume has been written, the reflection occurred, it's time for the cover letter to be written to be the "icing" on this project. This lesson will have students reflect on the work they did to write the resume and apply this to write their cover letter. It's important to note that the previous lessons had the students go through this process for an entry-level job. While the cover letter may not be necessary, it's imperative that they ge

Following lessons about how to think about money, it's time for students to actually start interacting with the money-making process to help the previous conversations become more real. This lesson has them exploring entry level jobs. It is unlikely they will obtain their "dream job" either in high school or right afterwards, so getting comfortable with what an entry level job looks like and consists of will help them appreciate the need for more education (including certifications) and netwo

There is an idea where you are the average of the 5 people you're around most. This can include friends and family. While there is a great deal of evidence for this idea, there is also some evidence to the contrary. You can make up your mind. Whether or not this concept has value scientifically is not really relevant for this lesson. Rather, this concept has a great deal of value in promoting classroom discussions about influence and goals - getting students to think and question! In this le

This lesson has students exploring how to get information about stocks and investment. They do research, track a stock (ticker), and present portfolio growth at the end of a specified time period (I did a month in my classroom). Students are introduced to the concept of risk and risk tolerance. This is then applied to financial decisions. Students are introduced to investing vocabulary, the concept of how real-world events will affect a stock's price, and how to read and digest information a

A common question on applications, in interviews, or in personal interactions is "what are your strengths"?  Similar to this is the ever popular "What's one thing you would improve about yourself?".  These are difficult to answer for a self-aware individual; They're nearly impossible for someone who has never reflected on their behavior, skills, or interests.  Before students can find a job or internship, they need to know what they are looking for.  Some students will have a clear idea of what

Who am I? What are my interests, ambitions, and career goals? What do you really want to do and why? There are 1000’s of occupations. Levels of education vary, as do salaries and locations. How can an informed decision and necessary preparations be made if you are not aware of what is available and what may best suit your personality. For this research paper you will be completing a number of stages. This will include an interview, reflections on previous research and self-exploration experienc

See the individual posts for more information.

Great activities to get your students thinking about finances differently.

Moving past understanding money to actually earning money (or taking steps to earn money) is the next step in understanding finances. In this lesson, students will explore what it takes to write a resume. They will be exposed to specific concepts and information that is needed on a resume, consider their own work history, and apply all this to make their own resume. The students apply their reflections from the resume to complete a cover letter. The final slide has suggestions for follow up

This lesson looks at the minimalist lifestyle presented in a Ted Talk. Students will consider this philosophy and then apply it by building their own container home. This lesson addresses a number of areas, including: Presentation - evaluating the speakers presentation to apply to their own presentationscreativity - designing their own container houseFinancial literacy - considering lifestyle and financial goals.

Who you're with and how they think has a huge impact on how you think about and use money. This lesson explores how your opinions of money and success are heavily influenced by those around you. Topics addressed include: Financial goalsSocial CognitionSelf-Fulfilling prophecy

This lesson moves beyond dreams and goals and takes a specific look at exactly how these dreams will be accomplished and how to manage any money earned. Students will examine how they intended to spend 1 million dollars and how this money might be better allocated to different saving options. Students reflect on these outcomes and consider any changes that might be needed to realize these goals.