These resources for teaching financial literacy to middle school students are tried and tested. Following is an example of how the methods work:

With her deep understanding of what makes an eighth-grader tick, Danielle Dixon was a natural fit for teaching financial literacy to middle school students. She had plenty of motivation, but lacked a few essential pieces to guide the learner outcomes and long-term vision she sought to achieve. Therefore, Danielle conducted a brief test with her eighth graders to find out what personal finance knowledge would most benefit them. The results suggested that the students needed a comprehensive introduction to the full gamut of financial literacy topics.

Danielle had discovered that teaching financial literacy to middle school students – in her case – would require covering the entire scope of topics. She consulted with her principal and received the go-ahead to weave financial education into her social studies curriculum. Danielle would present financial literacy topics one day a week for a 45-minute class period, with the goal of giving the students a complete overview of money management skills over the course of the academic year. This gave her plenty of time to make a real difference teaching financial education lessons, so she believed the students could reach the Evaluate tier on Bloom’s Taxonomy of Higher Order Thinking Skills by the time they graduated from middle school.

Mrs. Dixon now comprehended her short-range and long-range goals for teaching financial literacy to middle school kids. She stated with a financial literacy quiz for middle school students to assess their knowledge. The next step was selecting delivery methods. She had many options – live instruction, online or mobile technology, blended or flipped instruction were some of the choices available. Blended delivery that combined in-person and mobile instruction appealed to Danielle a great deal. That choice would allow asynchronous pacing and between-student networking.

Which topics were most appropriate for teaching financial literacy to middle school? Danielle wanted to cover a comprehensive overview of subjects. She wanted to introduce the students to emotional relationships with money, budgeting, saving, career planning, insurance, investment, entrepreneurship, and government influences, at the very minimum.

A highly-qualified educator for teaching financial literacy to middle school students – that’s what Danielle sought next. Who had the teaching skills, combined with personal finance knowledge, to do the job well? Danielle found out about the NFEC’s certification program, which trained educators to meet national standards. After doing some research in her community, she located a CFEI who was willing to teach as a guest in her 8th-grade social studies classroom.

Danielle had taken five steps toward teaching financial literacy to middle school, but now she needed a curriculum. What resources would offer the flexibility to pick and choose lessons while also providing just-in-time learning components? Danielle believed she could meet her learning outcomes when she chose a package that had practical, action-based, interactive activity pieces and was modular in design.

Mrs. Dixon aided the financial educator to present a series of lessons to her eighth-grade class as part of her effort at teaching financial literacy to middle school students. All 41 of her students participated at some level, and by the end of the school year their average improvement in financial knowledge was 52%. This outstanding success led Danielle to prepare a report to send to the local newspaper and TV stations. She hoped to gain media attention and community support for her effort and to share with others how to teach kids about money.