Unit Title: Financial Literacy

Grade level: 11th and 12th

Length of unit: 2 weeks
Stage 1 Desired Results
Meaning
Enduring Understandings/Generalizations:

Essential Questions:

Financial responsibility and planning are lifelong skills that

lead to successful financial independence.
Developing financial goals and establishing a budget are
essential financial planning skills.
Credit is an essential tool used to establish financial
independence.
Maintaining good credit is the cornerstone for financial
responsibility.

How do individuals develop short- and long-term financial goals?

How do financial choices affect your standard of living?
Why is budgeting beneficial for personal finance?
How does an individual create a monthly budget?
What is the purpose of credit?
What is the relationship between debt and credit?
Why is it important to establish good credit?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using credit?

Knowledge & Skills Acquisition

Learning Goals: (e.g., Iowa/Common Core standards.)
21.9-12.FL.1 Demonstrate financial responsibility and planning skills to achieve financial goals for a lifetime of financial health.
21.9-12.FL.2 Manage money effectively by developing spending plans and selecting appropriate financial instruments to maintain positive
cash flow.
21.9-12.FL.3 Make informed and responsible decisions about incurring and repaying debt to remain both creditworthy and financially
secure.

Students will know

Key Financial Concepts:

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Financial Goal
Budget
Spending Plan
Income
Expense
Savings
Credit
Debt
Bankruptcy
Credit score

Resources/Materials:

Giant sticky notes (4)

Individual whiteboards
Whiteboard markers
Budget sample
Budget template
Computers/iPads
Internet access
Comparison of Credit Card Costs and Features
o Cardtrak.com
Current Loan and Credit Card Rates
o Bankrate.com
Credit Law Information
o Ftc.gov
o Federalreserve.gov
o Creditunions.iowa.gov

Students will be able to

Develop short- and long-term financial goals.

Distinguish between wants and needs.
Identify the purpose of a budget.
Understand the components of a budget.
Establish budget goals based on personal needs and wants.
Demonstrate effective decision-making in spending.
Explain how budgeting is beneficial for personal finance.
Create a personal, monthly budget.
Identify the purpose of credit.
Identify ways to establish credit.
Identify personal responsibilities of using credit.
Explain the advantages and disadvantages of using credit.

Stage 2 Evidence (Assessment)

Types of assessment: Selected-Response (tests, quizzes); Personal Communication (interview, oral exam, discussion);
Written Response (short constructed response questions, entrance/exit slips, essays); Performance Assessment (role-play,
Simulation, labs, dramatization)
Pre-assessment:

Carousel Brainstorming Activity: Students will rotate around the classroom in small groups, stopping at 4 different stations for
approximately 3 minutes each. The topics at the stations will include financial literacy, financial goals, budgeting, and credit &
debt. While at each station, students will activate their prior knowledge of these topics (what they already know), as well as what
they want to know, through conversation with peers. Ideas shared will be posted at each station for all groups to read. Through
movement and conversation, prior knowledge will be activated, providing scaffolding for new information to be learned in the
proceeding lesson activity. If students know a lot about one or more of the topics, I will know not to spend as much time covering it
in class and can focus on another topic they want to learn more about.

Formative Assessment:

Exit Slip:
o List 1 of your short-term goals and why? List 1 of your long-term goals and why?
o Why is budgeting beneficial for personal finance? List 2-3 reasons.
Think-Pair-Share:
o What does the term financial goal mean to you? And how to individuals develop financial goals?
o Why is it important to establish good credit?
Vocabulary quizzes (two) on words related to financial literacy
o These will be the same vocabulary words and in the same format (matching words and definitions) they will see on the unit
exam
Cause and Effect Thinking Map: Good and bad examples of establishing credit.
Guest speaker summary/reflection (1-2 paragraphs)
Conferencing: Check in with students while they are creating their personal, monthly budget

Summative Assessment:

Monthly Budget Plan: Students will create a budget for 1 month. In their monthly budget, they will include monthly income
(paycheck), as well as their monthly expenses (rent, utilities, cell phone bill, car payment, gas money, groceries, savings, and
entertainment). Each student will receive the same monthly income of $2,000. I will also provide a total for utilities ($180.50) and
groceries ($295.75). Then, students will research apartments, cars, and cell phone plans and pick the place they would like to live,
the car they would like to drive, and which cell phone plan they will have. They will also use the short-term goal and long-term goal
to figure out how much they would need to save each month in order to reach the short-term goal in 6 months and the long-term goal
in 1-5 years (depending on what it is). Once they pick a car, they will have to research its average miles-per-gallon to determine how
much they will need to spend in gas per month if they travel 400 miles per month. The purpose of this assessment is for students to
live within their means.

End-of-Unit Exam: Students will be assessed on what they learned throughout the entire unit. The exam includes matching
vocabulary words with their definition, fill in the blank questions, short answer questions and an application problem. The types of
knowledge that will be assessed include key financial concepts (vocabulary), identifying the advantages and disadvantages of using
credit, explaining why budgeting is beneficial for personal finance, how financial choices affect an individuals standard of living,
and decision-making skills in real world situations.

Week

Day 1
Opening Exercise:
Carousel Brainstorming
Activity- Have students
count off by 4's. Group 1
will start at the first station
titled Financial Literacy.
Group 2 will start at the
second station titled
Financial Goals. Group 3
with start at the third
station titled Budgeting.
Group 4 will start at the
fourth station titled Credit
& Debt. While at each
station, students will
converse with peers and (1)
write what they already
know about the topic, then
(2) write what they want to
know about the topic. They
will spend 5 minutes at
each station, rotating
through all 4 stations. (25
minutes)
Come back together whole
class and discuss the ideas
shared at each station. (15
minutes)
Introduce the unit
Financial Literacy and
post the enduring
understands and learning
goals/standards on the
front board to remain for
the entire unit. (5 minutes)

Day 2
Introduce the essential
questions for the lesson (2
minutes) How do individuals
develop short- and
long-term financial
goals?
How do financial
choices affect your
standard of living?

Day 3
Introduce the essential
questions for the lesson (2
minutes) Why is budgeting
beneficial for
personal finance?
How does an
individual create a
monthly budget?

Day 4
Monthly Budget PlanStudents will begin to
create their 1-month budget
(45 minutes).
Students will get on
the iPads and
research:
o Apartments
in the metro
area and
decide
Discuss definitions and
which one
Think-Pair-Share (3
identify the
they can
minutes)- What does the
purpose/benefits of a
afford to
term financial goal mean budget (20 minutes)rent
to you? And how do
Budget- a plan for
o
Cars that
individuals develop
spending and saving
they can
financial goals?
money over a
afford and
specific period of
the average
Hand out individual
time
miles-perwhiteboards and markers to
A budget helps you
gallon to
each student. Discuss
track over a specific
determine
definition and examples
period of time the
how much
(30 minutes)money that you
they will
Financial goalearn (money
need to
goals that
coming in) and
spend in gas
individuals set that
money that you
each month
revolve around
spend (money going
if they travel
finances and
out) each month
400 miles
money, driven by
Money is a limited
each month
specific future
resource
o
Cell phone
financial wants and
The importance of
plans
needs
planning and
o
How much
Short-term goalsfollowing that plan
their shortcan be achieved in a
Puts you in control
term and
couple-6 months
of your money
long-term
o Video
Determines how
goals are, so
games
much money you

Day 5
Monthly Budget PlanStudents will continue to
work on their 1-month
budget (45 minutes).
Students will get on
the iPads and
research:
o Apartments
in the metro
area and
decide
which one
they can
afford to
rent
o Cars that
they can
afford and
the average
miles-pergallon to
determine
how much
they will
need to
spend in gas
each month
if they travel
400 miles
each month
o Cell phone
plans
o How much
their shortterm and
long-term
goals are, so

Enduring
Understandings:
Financial
responsibility and
planning are
lifelong skills that
lead to successful
financial
independence.
Developing
financial goals and
establishing a
budget are essential
financial planning
skills.
Credit is an
essential tool used
to establish
financial
independence.
Maintaining good
credit is the
cornerstone for
financial
responsibility.
Learning
Goals/Standards:
21.9-12.FL.1
Demonstrate
financial
responsibility and
planning skills to
achieve financial
goals for a lifetime
of financial health.
21.9-12.FL.2
Manage money

o Clothes
have to spend
they can
they can
o Concert
during a specific
plan on how
plan on how
tickets
period of time
much they
much they
! Have
will need to
will need to
Keeps you from
each
put into
put into
overspending
stude
savings each
savings each
Helps you create a
nt
month
month
savings plan for
write
future financial
a
Conferencing: Check in
Conferencing: Check in
goals
short
with
students
while
they
with students while they
Helps you
-term
are creating their budget.
determine what you are creating their budget.
goal
can and cannot
they
afford to buy
have
It is financially
on
responsible
their
whit Identify the components of
eboa a budget (8 minutes)rd,
Income
then
o Salary
hold
o Allowance
it up
Expenses
so I
o Rent
can
o Car payment
view
o Cell phone
them
plan
.
o Groceries
Long-term goalso Utilities
can be achieved in a
o Clothing
year or more
o Entertainme
o Laptop
nt
o College
Savings
tuition
o Short-term
o Car
goals
! Have
o Long-term
each
goals
stude
o Emergencies
nt

effectively by
developing
spending plans and
selecting
appropriate
financial
instruments to
maintain positive
cash flow.
21.9-12.FL.3 Make
informed and
responsible
decisions about
incurring and
repaying debt to
remain both
creditworthy and
financially secure.

write
a
longterm
goal
they
have
on
their
whit
eboa
rd,
then
hold
it up
so I
can
view
them
.
Distinguish the
difference between
wants and needs
o Wantsomething
you would
like to have,
not
absolutely
necessary
! iPod
! Movi
es
o Needsomething
you have to
have, cant
live without

Vocabulary Quiz & Exit

Slip Questions (5
minutes) Financial goal
Budget
Income
Expense
Savings
Why is budgeting
beneficial for
personal finance?
List 2 reasons.
Introduce the Monthly
Budget Plan project- Hand
out the directions sheet,
rubric, and template. Then,
read through the directions
with the students and allow
for questions (10 minutes)

it
!
!

Food
Shelt
er
Financial goals, as
well as wants and
needs are important
because these types
of financial choices
will affect your
standard of living.
Income- money that
you earn, money
in
Expense- money
that you spend,
money out
Savings- money
that you put away to
use later

Exit Slip- Students will

establish personal budget
goals based on their needs
and wants- Remind
students, they will have to
plan to save for this in their
personal, monthly budget
they create (10 minutes)
List 1 of your shortterm goals and why.
Approximately how
much do you think
it will cost.
List 1 of your longterm goals and why.
Approximately how
much do you think

it will cost?

Introduce the essential

questions for the lesson (2
minutes) What is the purpose
of credit?
What is the
relationship
between debt and
credit?

Discuss definitions and

examples and purpose of
credit (10 minutes) Credit- borrowing
money to repay at a
later date, loan
o Borrowing
lunch
money from
a friend
o Credit cards
o Car loans
Debt- money that
you owe to a lender
Credit can be a
great tool, but can
also become a huge
financial burden if
not used wisely
Discuss ways to establish
credit (13 minutes) Important: To
establish credit for
the first time, you
must demonstrate
that you are a
responsible

Introduce the essential

questions for the lesson (2
minutes) Why is it important
to establish good
credit?
What are the
advantages and
disadvantages of
using credit?
Discuss definitions and
examples (8 minutes) Credit score- a
number that
represents your
creditworthiness,
used to assess your
risk to pay back and
your interest rate
Bankruptcy- Unable
to pay your debts,
insolvent
o Lose your
house
o Credit
score=0
Think-Pair-Share (5
minutes)- Now that you
know the relationship
between debt and credit,
why is it important to
establish good credit?
Discuss ways to establish
good credit (10 minutes)
Only charge what

Vocabulary Quiz (5
minutes) Credit
Debt
Bankruptcy
Credit Score
Explore features and costs
of various credit cards (10
minutes) CardTrak:
Comparison of
Costs and Features:
www.cardtrak.com
Current Loan and
Credit Card Rates:
www.bankrate.com
Ask students which credit
card they would use (5
minutes)
Explore credit law
information on the iPads
(10 minutes) Federal Trade
Commission
website:
www.ftc.gov
Federal Reserve
System website:
www.federalreserve
.gov
Iowa Division of
Credit Unions
website:
https://creditunions.
iowa.gov

Guest SpeakerAccountant from Wells

Fargo Bank talking about
credit (35 minutes)
Summary/reflection on
the guest speaker- 1 to 2
paragraphs including the
following (10 minutes):
1 new thing they
learned
1 thing that stood
out to them the
most
1 question they still
have about credit

End of Unit Exam (45

minutes)
After students have
completed the exam
and turned it in,
they are expected to
silently read or
quietly work on
unfinished work.

individual
you can afford to
pay back
Obtain a credit card

Make payments on
Obtain a store credit
time every month
card
Avoid applying for
Purchasing a car
numerous credit
and making car
cards/store cards
payments

Purchasing a house
and making
mortgage payments Discuss advantages of
using credit (10 minutes) School loans
Building a credit
Weddings
line- establishing a
good credit history
Cause and Effect
EmergenciesThinking Map- Good and
provides money
bad examples of
immediately
establishing credit (10
minutes)
Purchase powereasier to make big
Discuss the responsibilities
purchases
of using credit (10
minutes)Discuss disadvantages of
using credit (10 minutes) Borrow only what
you can repay
Interest ratescharge you a large
Read and
amount of interest
understand the
on the balance you
contract your bank
dont pay off by the
provides
end of the month
Pay debts promptly
Blowing your
and on time
budget and
Report lost or stolen
increased debtcredit cards
spend money that
immediately
you dont have
Never give your
Credit fraud- you
credit card
might youre your
information unless
credit card or
making a purchase
someone might

Leave time for students to

ask any questions about
what they have learned
throughout the unit. Hand
out study guide for the
exam (15 minutes).

steal your credit

card/number and
rack up debt