Teen Cash Class Discussion

Former_MSE_Wendy · 7 June 2011 at 5:41PM

This is the discussion area for the totally free, downloadable PDF guide for parents and activity sheets for teachers

Teen Cash Class Guide

Please let us know what you think

mjt106 · 8 June 2011 at 9:40PM

These resources have spurred me to join the forums after years as a fan of the site.

I'm afraid they are virtually useless. I don't mean to be harsh but I am a teacher with a lot of experience of making resources.

The main issues are:

1. Far too much stuff before the actual resources. Teachers are very busy. They don't care why you wrote this stuff they care whether it is useful. No-one uses PLTS, stick em on the end of the pack.

2. It is hard to tell which bits are for teachers and which for students. I wouldn't bother telling teachers how to use the resources but if you want to: write proper lesson plans and separate them from the resources clearly.

3. Write resources kids can use: black and white, much much less to read, space to answer, clear structure.

4. Frankly it seems a bit too proselytizing for the site.

Positives: Good font, some good use of questioning, the tasks are actually pretty useful. In other words a lot of the hard bits about making resources are done, but they don't look useful to teachers and kids won't access them.

This is genuinely meant to be helpful, I think this is an important subject and its hard to get resources to be used in school particularly for PSHE. You need to talk to teachers about their very specific needs and market in ways you wouldn't for other professions.

Happy to be contacted off list.

Matt.

joey2307 · 8 June 2011 at 11:07PM

I am a maths teacher and I agree with a lot of the comment above I'm afraid.

I downloaded and read with both joy and intrigue the NotW and Parent guides that have been available for sometime from the MSE site. And have been trying to find the time ever since to sit down and turn them into deliver-able lessons for pupils.

So having never got round to doing this I was quite excited by this "teacher's edition".

Please don't get me wrong - the resources could be useful but there not really in the format for teachers to just "grab and go" - or more realisticly - "grab, photocopy and go" !

To be fair the pack clearly states it's for KS4 and KS5. Certainly KS5 and top KS4 students should have few difficulties in following and engaging in the appropriate discussions.

But generally speaking there is too much "teacher input" before the students get going with anything - so students would be expected to listen for a long period of time - not what they're used to and generally not what they're capable of!

This one's hard to tell really but I also suspect that there is a little too much prior knowledge expected of the students - I would imagine many wouldn't have a clue about cards, bills, loans, mortgages, etc - I do appreciate there are some early questions that address this issue.

A great idea though and I fully support the campaign for financial education to be part of the curriculum, and fully support the idea of educating people about "buying" from companies who spend millions on "selling".

Love the site, love the weekly e-mail, will be expecting to see you in the honours list someday soon Martin, you certainly deserve it !

January20 · 9 June 2011 at 8:11AM

Oh thank you! I was looking for this for my daughter as she has her first part-time job and her first proper bank account, love spending money and is about to embark on student life so I worry about her budgeting abilities! She won't really listen to me (I've tried believe me!) but maybe she might listen to Martin ? I live in hope!

And to the 2 teachers above: instead of just criticising, if it matters so much to you, why don't you use your experience as teachers to re-write the resources so they are more user friendly to teachers? Personally, if I get a pack of resources, I just ignore what is irrelevant and use what is, and often I find resources don't suit me, so I end up adapting stuff.

mjt106 · 9 June 2011 at 9:51AM

Dear January20,

'And to the 2 teachers above: instead of just criticising, if it matters so much to you ...............'

Did you read the two posts above? The both contain positives as well as negatives.

Did you read the article alert at the top of the forum? This is a forum specifically set up for for criticism (the judgement of the merits and faults of the work- Wikipedia definition) of these resources. I imagine the site asked for such criticism because they would like the resources to be of high quality and thus used by teachers.

There is a place for uncritical encouragement of the MSE team in the great job they do, but that's not what they asked for here. Argumentative responses to people who have given time to be helpful simply discourages new people from contributing.

'...........why don't you use your experience as teachers to re-write the resources so they are more user friendly to teachers.'

My appologies, I obviously wasn't sufficiently clear: That is exactly what I am offering help with.

Matt

Former_MSE_Wendy · 9 June 2011 at 2:40PM

Thanks for your comments so far. The teacher's resource is meant to be a mix of activities for students, plus the necessary info for teachers to be able to be to provide them (as we're aware some teachers don't find it an easy subject to teach) all in one place. These are not lesson plans though, it's about providing relevant exercises and discussions for a range of topics that can be selected depending on which are best for your students.

All comments taken on board though and we will continue to monitor feedback.

Ian.Waring · 10 May 2013 at 8:55PM

I think this course work is great. Must admit, I've bought a copy of "The Richest Man in Babylon" for the children I can influence, which teaches the art of budgeting and of snowballing savings. It also teaches folks about "games" and hence the way that odds are always against you for things like betting and lotteries.

I'm contributing to three Junior ISAs with index tracking funds, which are working well so far, using this books principles.

I'm wondering if anyone's ever done a video version of that book.

Teen Cash Class Discussion

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