Maths Literacy Games
A couple years ago, one of my juniors would talk everyday about wanting an after school job. When I pressed for the reason he didn't yet have a job, he said, ' I'm afraid I'll mess up the register.' It got me thinking about all of my students and how many kids had this same reason for not having a job.Always looking for any excuse to tell a story, I relayed a few about friends who messed up registers and lived to tell about it. We then had a quick discussion about getting fired, how it's not a huge deal, that everyone gets fired at some point, and a couple weeks later he got his first job.Then he quit that job and got a new job. Then he did it again. Within a few months, this student went from being afraid of getting a job to choosing the job he wanted.Teaching teens financial literacy. (hourly pay).(2000) = gross annual incomeWe learn how to convert more accurately, but this way they can quickly know what annual income they are looking at when getting job offers.A former student I have kept in touch with posted on Facebook looking for advice.
She was expecting a baby soon and wanted to know if she should look for a new, safer car or continue to pay her current car loan at 24% interest.24%???She hadn't known the ramifications of such a high interest rate.One of my favorite units to teach in consumer math is percentages. They are the tiniest little numbers but they can mean big money for students who don't know what they mean. We do a lot of practice finding percentages, calculating tips, tax, discounts. My students always complain a lot through our income tax unit. One year I asked at the end of the year what their favorite unit was. Income tax.Teenagers are so silly.So many of my students go without getting a tax refund because they don't know how to fill out the paperwork. It's not right.
Cool Maths Games Literacy
So even though this unit is a real chore for all us, I feel it's necessary. We learn all about income tax fill out a bunch of practice 1040s and then complete this challenging set of.There is a free 1040 cheat sheet for students.