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Teacher reports back from national financial‑literacy conference; highlights K–12 resources
Summary
A Mill Creek social studies teacher summarized a financial‑literacy conference he attended in New Orleans, described no‑cost K–12 curricular resources and recommended stronger vocabulary alignment across grade levels to help students understand money in a largely cashless environment.
Danny Woods, a seventh‑grade social studies teacher, told the board on Oct. 27 that he attended a national Council for Economic Education conference in New Orleans and returned with no‑cost resources and classroom strategies for teaching financial literacy from elementary through high school.
"You can't talk about history or anything going on without talking about economics," Woods said, describing conference sessions that included Crash Course economics clips, downloadable lesson sets and virtual‑reality field trips. Woods said some materials are packaged as graphic novels and short videos that are easy to use in middle‑school classrooms.
He highlighted several resources he brought back: a vetted bank of 45 lesson plans from ISIT (noted as an Erie‑based resource), downloadable videos and VR field trips for middle‑school social studies, and Federal Reserve materials packaged as graphic novels. Woods said those resources make it easier for teachers to use standards‑aligned lessons without spending classroom time searching for vetted materials.
Woods also reported a recurring theme at the conference: students increasingly lack a tangible concept of money because so many transactions are digital. He said conference materials noted heavy use of digital payment apps and suggested earlier instruction in basic financial vocabulary (wants vs. needs, interest, compounding) and hands‑on activities such as rent‑vs‑buy simulations and compounding interest exercises for older students.
Woods recommended the district consider vertical alignment so vocabulary and concepts introduced in elementary grades are reinforced in middle and high school classrooms. He also recommended administrators and teachers attend such conferences to gather grade‑appropriate, standards‑aligned resources.
Board members thanked Woods for the summary and said they appreciated practical, downloadable materials the district could adopt.
Clarifying details from the meeting: Woods said conference resources included Crash Course economics, ISIT lesson sets with downloadable videos and VR field trips, and Federal Reserve graphic‑novel materials. He reported that students’ use of digital payments reduces their exposure to tangible cash concepts and urged earlier vocabulary development across grade levels.
