Thanks to NGPF Fellow, Jason-Lamont Jackson Sr., who teaches at West Orange HS in West Orange NJ for this post!

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Student engagement while in a classroom has always been important and as we enter into unchartered territory in the Fall, finding creative ways to keep students engaged is paramount! Below is a list of Fin Cap Fridays that I've witnessed my students enjoy and dive into with passion. I must admit that because the FinCap Library has grown tremendously since I started using the weekly current events series in my class, I've been able to share a second episode with my students each week. Students simply love these weekly quizzes and videos because they're short, to the point, and highly engaging because of the inclusion of memes and gifs that students enjoy throughout the video production. I lead into the exercise by asking my students to share what they know about the topic, then we play the Kahoot quiz and finally I finish with the video. If students are extremely curious, we may even go onto one of the activities from the final slide in the FinCap Friday slide deck.

There are several reasons why videos are important in education. The visual and auditory nature of videos appeals to a wide audience of learners and allows each student to process information in a way that's natural to them. The use of videos in teaching and learning serves to not only benefit students, but also teachers!  In New Jersey, we have a state requirement that mandates a full semester of Financial Literacy content be offered to every student and while a list of courses can meet this requirement, I have seen how students enjoy and value Personal Finance the most! In my class, I have heavily relied on NGPF's Semester Course Curriculum, and I add in FinCap Fridays each week. The students see it as a welcomed bonus!

If you have not yet utilized a FinCap Friday resource with your students, I recommend checking out one from each unit to get started so that you can see the variety of topics and current events covered. I'd suggest bookmarking this blog post link so that when you're planing for the fall you can come back and start with a few of my personal faves, which I highly recommend!

My Top 10 FinCap Fridays:

STARTING WITH THE TOP 3...

1. Behavioral Finance - Likes Me, Likes Me Not

2. Taxes - From the Red Carpet to The Red Ink of the I.R.S.

3. Checking - Peer to Peer Apps Go Head to Head

& HERE ARE THE LINKS TO THE REST...

4. Career - Impress for Success

5. Saving - Do We Have Your Interest Yet?

6. Paying for College - Be Fast with the FAFSA

7. Credit - How To Get Extra Credit

8. Investing - Playing with F.I.R.E

9. Insurance - Drive Well, Pay Less

10. Budgeting - From Catalogs to Clicks

My absolute favorite thing about these is that it was a seamless transition from in the classroom to remote learning. My students already knew the routine and they were excited to get back in thr groove of this after a short break in March. I hope this helps you get started on building fun routines into your financial education classes! 

Enjoy! 

About the Author

Yanely Espinal

Born and raised by Dominican, immigrant parents in Brooklyn, Yanely is a proud product of NYC public schools. She graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in 2007 before going on to receive her bachelor's degree at Brown University in 2011. As a Teach For America corps member, Yanely taught third and fourth grade in Canarsie, Brooklyn. She received her master's degree from Relay Graduate School of Education in 2013. She spends her spare time making YouTube videos about personal finance on her channel, MissBeHelpful. Yanely also loves to dance, sew, paint, listen to podcasts, and babysit her 10 nieces and nephews!

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