In the activity FINE PRINT: Pay Stub, students will analyze a sample pay stub to understand its various components and answer a variety of questions. At a time where many schools have transitioned to offering synchronous and asynchronous learning, we’ve listed some adaptations and extension ideas for this activity that may work for your current classroom environment.

Synchronous Environment Ideas:

• First, take students on a tour of an example pay stub pointing out and explaining important information.
• Implementation Idea #1: 
• If your meeting platform allows, break students into small group breakout rooms to review the pay stub in the assignment and answer questions #1-10. 
• Bring the students back together as a whole group and answer any questions or clarify any misunderstandings. 
• Answer question #11 as a group to review key information listed on a pay stub. 
• Implementation Idea #2: 
• If your meeting platform allows, break students into partners or small group breakout rooms to review the pay stub in the assignment and answer questions #1-10.
• Bring the students back together and rearrange their partner or small groups so they are with new classmates. Put them in breakout rooms to REVIEW and discuss their answers and answer question #11. 

Asynchronous Environment Ideas:

• Use the Google Form version of this activity (to find the Google Form version, see the Teacher Tip at the top of the document) and add answer feedback to the questions for students to review after submitting their response. By using the Google Form version, responses will be graded automatically and the answer feedback you provide will deepen the learning and reflection of the assignment.
• Here is a quick tutorial video on how to add answer feedback in Google Forms. 

No Tech? No Problem!

This activity can be printed and distributed to students as it is written.

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Additional Resources

Here are a few additional resources about pay stubs to use with this activity:

• Let’s Talk Taxes - EdPuzzle Video
• How to Read a Pay Stub - EdPuzzle Video
• Taxes and Your Pay Stub - Lesson 
• FinCap Friday: That’s Gross!

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Have you taken an NGPF activity and creatively adapted it to a virtual environment? If so, reach out to Amanda at [email protected] to share your ideas for a future blog post! 

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 Looking for more Taxes resources for your class? Check out NGPF Taxes Unit which is updated every year! 

About the Author

Amanda Volz

Amanda joins the NGPF Team with over 20 years of experience teaching personal finance. During that time, she led her students to hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships, won multiple awards, and most importantly, impacted the financial lives of thousands of high school students. Amanda prides herself on being an educational leader and is constantly looking for innovative ways to make the classroom relevant, rigorous, and fun. She is a passionate advocate for financial education and has been a long-time member of the NGPF community. Fun fact - Amanda was NGPF’s first teacher account! When Amanda isn’t working, she enjoys cooking, gardening, and traveling with her husband and two children.

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