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Proposal
Abstract Project Title - “Seniors and Savings - A
Technological Look Backwards”
Total Budget: $9,970 Project Director: Tom J. Price
The goal of “Seniors and Savings - A Technological Look Backwards” is
twofold: involve the elderly in the community to bring alive financial stories
of the Great Depression and lifetime habits of saving money, and to actively
engage the students with technology to videotape, edit, and present a finished
production of these elderly.
Students would interview about 10 to 12 elderly people either in their
homes or at local nursing homes. Two local nursing homes would allow students
to interview some of their elderly about their financial backgrounds, especially
stories concerning the Depression. Personal anecdotes coming from these people,
who, by the way, are rapidly depleting in numbers, will have a much bigger
effect on students than just the classroom teacher. Instead of trying to have
them come to the classroom, the classroom will come to them.
An interview format of about 10 questions would be developed. After an
initial phone contact, a team of about 4 or 5 students would go over to the
individual’s dwelling place. Students would be trained on the video technology
before hand. A camera person, an interviewer, and two other “prop” or “tech”
people would spend 15 to 20 minutes asking questions in regards to the
Depression, banks, saving money, etc.
Once the footage is completed, students will bring the tapes back to school
and start to edit them. Different teams will start editing. Graphics will be
inserted to show introductory dates, times, people, etc. The goal will be to
have a finished, semiprofessional video about 8 to 10 minutes in length. Each
elderly person would probably be given about 30 seconds each, with transitions,
to cover the topics mentioned above.
Once finished, we will also take the videotape back to the nursing homes
for viewing (or other groups), plus show it in selected high school Social
Studies classes.
In the classroom, students will also experience economics by
participating in an economic simulation system and developing a personal
financial plan. Each student would develop a financial plan and start the
process of thinking about future financial matters. The math behind these
decisions, like compound interest, will be integrated so that the students can
see the value of the mathematical power of these decisions.
Rationale
One of the biggest topics taught every year in seventh grade math class
is percents. Most of the time students, up to this point, are only familiar
with percents because of their “average” in a particular class. After the
initial instruction about percents, decimals, and fractions, applications of
percents are covered, including such things as sales, sales tax, commission, and
saving money. Every year there is a “battle” on how to make saving money an
important part of their everyday life. “I just want to have fun” or “Why save
because we might die and not be able to spend it later” are common student
comments heard annually. Even after going over important topics like the simple
interest, compound interest, the rule of 72, and the power of annuities, most
students still shrug their shoulders and plan on spending every dime they get
their hands on. How can the importance of saving money have more impact? Our
answer: employ the use of the elderly!
One of the biggest advantages of “Seniors and Savings” is the interaction
with the elderly who experienced the Depression. Very soon we will lose a
valuable resource in our American community of those people who went through the
worst economic times in U.S. history. How can we capture those moments and show
the importance of saving money? How can their stories be recorded as an “oral
history” of the sights, sounds, and financial decisions with a unique link to a
historic part of American culture? The stories told by these people will also
probably show some amazing trends America has gone through with such things as
electricity, urbanization, wealth, government, and debt. Even the “little”
things like food and clothing will be presented in ways the kids, and my
generation, can’t even relate to, like using flour sacks to make dresses or
being thankful to have a nickel for a soda.
Is America known as a “saving” nation? The answer: not hardly! Just look
at our federal government over the last 50 years! What’s even worse about
financial debt is that now we have another way to easily spend even more than we
make: credit cards! On the Consumer Federation of America web site,
several important facts or trends will point this out. There are over 1 billion
credit cards in circulation in the U.S., with an average household debt over
$10,000. The credit card industry is growing and has an adverse effect on
low-income families and college students. Paying just the minimum payment will
take years and years of monthly payments before the total purchases are finally
paid off.
Even the amount of bankruptcies in the United States is an area of concern,
not because the people didn’t have the money, but because they failed to use it
wisely. Sometimes people are misled in the fact that some officer at some
financial institution agrees that they can “make the payments”, but the couple
does not take into consideration the long term effects on other items in their
budget, thus they get overextended on the credit side. “Live within your
income” does not have the effect it should. Before people get too far into an
unmanageable debt, we would like to give them the knowledge and tools to cope
with the finances.
Many people do not budget their money. Looking at their finances is a shot
in the dark, let alone trying to talk the language of saving money, especially
when there are mathematical calculations involved. The most important step is
to first save the money.
In regards to retirement, sometimes people are misled about Social
Security. Many elderly might have been counting on “nice” Social Security funds
for their retirement, but obviously it was never intended to be a retirement
bonanza. The students we teach today, although too young to realize what Social
Security is, inevitably in the next few years are going to come into contact
with the withholdings from their paychecks. What is Social Security all about?
What could you really expect at retirement? What are the words from the
elderly, who, perhaps, even experienced the beginning days of Social Security?
Junior high students are at a critical time in their lives for many
reasons, with one being upcoming financial choices. If students can develop a
mindset of financial responsibility at this age, when they get their first
part-time job, summer job, or full-time job, the habits will already be in place
for financial stability. Knowledge to interest and ways to cut corners will be
in their minds from the onset. The general idea in this country of “shop til
you drop” or “spend, spend, spend” might be turned into a little more of
controlled or planned spending.
The power of this project will come when students have a mind set of
starting to do without in a few areas and putting that money aside. Even in
little increments, students will see how money can be accumulated over time,
which is one of the variables they definitely have in their favor. The
motivation and encouragement from the stories of the seniors should be a
powerful reminder during those times of leaning towards “spend, spend, spend”.
Timeline
---2004-2005---
June, 2004 Order first Dell computer, Sony Video camera, tapes,
computer desk, and chair.
July 2004 Teachers work to get things set up and materials produced, like
the
student questionnaire and the permission form for the elderly.
Training on the computers by the Norris computer technicians.
September 2004 financial questionnaire given to all students
September 2004 get groups of students organized, call nursing homes
October 2004 first video training and acquiring video footage
November , December 2004 edit video shots
January 2005 show final video to math classes
February 2005 show final video to nursing homes, finish economics unit in
classrooms, and make video available to other classes at school
March 2005 send parent letter as part of evaluation project
March 2005 present project at the Nebraska Association of Teachers of Math
conference in Grand Island, NE
--2005-2006--
June, 2005 Order second Dell computer, Sony Video camera, tapes,
computer desk, chair, and projector
July 2005 Teachers work for a two days editing materials
and setting up the second computer
September 2005 get groups of students organized, call nursing homes
October 2005 first video training and acquiring video footage
November 2005 edit video shots
January 2006 show final video to math classes
February 2006 show final video to nursing homes, finish economics unit in
classrooms, and make video available to other classes at school
March 2006 send parent letter as part of evaluation project
2006 Present this topic either at the NCTM Annual Meeting in St. Louis
(April) or
at the NCTM MidWest Regional in Chicago (September)
Budget - first year
1 Dell desktop computer $1,600
1 Digital Camcorder...... (DCR-TRV350 Digital8(r)
Handycam(r) Camcorder with Free Carrying Case) $600
1 Dazzle DVC 150 Hi-Speed USB Interface Video Converter $150
1 computer desk, electrical cords, power strip $200
1 nice office chair $150
Training for one person on video productions $500
5 Videotapes $50
5 tapes for the video camera $50
Summer stipends (3 teachers, $100 a day, 2 days) $600
“Mathematics and Economics: Connections for Life $120
Grades 6-8” NCEE publication (3 copies)
“Financial Fitness for Life: Shaping up Your Financial $120
Future, Grades 6-8 Teacher Guide” publication
(3 copies)
Storage shelves for storing videos, booklets, etc. (1) $100
Subtotal $4,270
Budget - second year
1 Dell desktop computer $1,600
1 Digital Camcorder...... (DCR-TRV350 Digital8(r)
Handycam(r) Camcorder with Free Carrying Case) $600
1 Dazzle DVC 150 Hi-Speed USB Interface Video Converters. $150
1 projector $2,300
1 computer desk, electrical cords, power strip $200
1 nice office chair $150
5 Videotapes $50
5 tapes for the video camera $50
Summer stipends (3 teachers, $100 a day, 2 days) $600
Subtotal $5,700
Total Budget $9,970
Description
Before any knowledge or announcements about this project actually takes
place in the classroom, students will take a survey (developed by the teachers)
in the first few weeks of school in regards to saving money. General questions
about the habits of making money, saving money, and spending money will give a
baseline of data about financial attitudes. At the end of the project, the same
survey will be given and results compared to the initial survey.
Student volunteers will then be solicited for this project until several
groups of 5 students are organized. Two groups of 5 students will be trained
on the use of the video cameras. Two other groups of 5 students will be trained
(one by Mr. Price and one by Ms. Coe) on each Dell computer using the software
package, Movie Maker II, after school. However, one teacher will
attend a video training seminar during the summer, probably in Omaha, to get
training on better techniques of video making and video editing. Topics that
students will need to be made aware of are lighting, camera angle, voice,
background, etc.
The local activities’ directors from both Gold Crest in Adams (Janet Trout)
and Lakeview in Firth (Flo Warriner) will then be contacted along with any
grandparents/relatives of students in the class. The elderly be selected based
on input from these activity directors. Students might be able to videotape
their own grandparent(s) or neighbor using their own camera if it is not
possible or convenient to capture them with the school’s equipment. Once the
elderly are selected, permission forms will be signed by the residents so that
permission is secured to film and present their stories.
Students will take one or two nights after school and travel over to
videotape the elderly, asking questions on a format already predetermined during
the summer work by the teachers. The main topics will revolve around the
Depression, saving money, the importance of a dollar, possibly stories from
World War II, and heart touching stories of families trying to survive when an
entire economy is in shambles. How did they survive? What specific strategies
did they employ?
Students will also travel to a local bank, and possibly into Lincoln to a
financial planner/stockbroker, to interview and capture some video of their
perspectives on saving money. This will allow one or two more sources of
knowledge to be brought into the classroom. Since our seventh grade has a
rotating block schedule, it is difficult to bring one speaker in to speak to all
the classes since not all classes meet every day. Instead of taking their
significant time a couple of days in a row, these special speakers can be
captured on film and then shown to all groups via the TV.
Once both groups of students have their footage, the next set of students
will edit the the rough footage to make an 8 to 10 minute finished video. A
student(s) will be selected to be a “host/hostess” for the opening and closing
scenes. Introductory information, pictures from the Depression, transition
music, opening/closing scenes, and closing credits will also have to be
inserted. Since we will have stand alone computers, no other school classes
will be interrupting our schedule for editing video. One group of students can
work on the opening and closing scenes, with the other group works on the other
computer with the actual interviews. Once they are both done, the video can be
combined on to one tape. The computers will not need to be hooked up to a
network nor need a printer. The rooms where they will go are big enough for one
desk and about 4 or 5 students around it. A computer desk and one nice chair
will be purchased so that the long, after-school hours of editing will be
comfortable. The “Dazzle DVC Interface” will allow regular video to be put into
the computer for editing. The computers come preloaded with the software
package, Movie Maker II.
When the classes have reached the application part of percentages in the
math class, each class will be shown the videotape their classmates made and
produced using these elderly people right in their own school district. The
students will thus hear basically the same message from the math teacher, the
social studies teacher, several elderly people, and a financial officer but with
different emphases. In the math class, the themes will be simple interest and
compound interest; in the social studies class the themes will be financial
planning and budgeting; the “Seniors” video will bring out the personal
decisions that took place during stark financial times; and the financial
officer will tell of current trends and/or pitfalls to avoid.
Among the math topics included in class will be interest. Students will
start with simple interest, build to compound interest, and use the TI-73
programmable calculators to explore annuities. Three examples of regularly
saving money and how much it will accrue to will be given: saving a bottle of
pop a day ($1 will bring home over $100,000 at age 65), saving the money from
cable TV ($40 a month will yield another $100,000), and not smoking cigarettes
(a pack a day will yield $300,000). For most people, the hard part of saving
money isn’t the earning of the money, but actually NOT spending it and putting
into a bank. Here in America it is way too easy to find things or places to
spend one’s money.
After all classes have seen the video, another group of students will take
the video for showing to the two nursing homes involved, including any of the
other grandparents filmed for the project. A special meeting will be setup at
each facility with the kids leading the activity, talking about the project,
plugging in the technology, and interacting with the residents. A special
projector will be purchased so that the videotape can be shown on a screen to
large groups.
The video will also be made available to any class, Math or Social Studies,
that would like to see it. Whether the topic is saving money, compound
interest, the Depression, or consumer debt, several Social Studies teachers
indicated that they would love to show it as a part of their curriculum. One
teacher even commented, “Maybe the Nebraska Educational Television would be
interested in doing a program on this topic”.
Either simultaneously or after the above activities are done, an economic
system will be developed. All students in grade 7 will be on a simulation where
they have some kind of job (income), have some kind of expenses (spending), and
hopefully some kind of investments (saving). The unit would last at least 4
weeks and have definitely Kristy Acton’s (resource), Shelly Coe’s (Social
Studies), and Tom Price’s (Math) classes involved in it on a daily basis. If
possible, the English classes, Reading classes, and Science classes will be
integrated in some way so that all students will see a “financial” impact in
every core class with regards to their decisions at school. “Play” or
“Monopoly” money will be developed. Jobs will be distributed and transactions
will occur. A weekly payroll will be established, and such things as
detentions, lost papers, or tardies to class will “cost” in the way of fines.
Some students can be hired to be a banker by the teachers to keep track of data
on a spreadsheet. Possibly some students could be hired to be a web master so
that week to week results (of some kind), could be put on Internet. Of course,
the teachers can have the power to tax as well!
The system will take some “tweaking”, but we know systems like this have
worked in several other schools. We will start out simple and revise as
needed. Students will have “random” financial situations come up, like an aunt
leaves them $10,000, or a car accident costs them several thousand dollars.
Such things as buying and selling the lights, desks, or pencil sharpener in
each classroom can be included. The three teachers will use some of the
school’s Palm Pilots to keep track of these pieces of data for this economic
system. We don’t want it to be a paper burden that takes tons of record keeping
time. At the end, the students that have positive balances might be able to
actually buy some actual rewards (candy bars, CD’s, etc.) or privileges (a
homework coupon) if we can get them donated or arranged.
At this point in the social studies classroom, the Great Depression will
be examined. The reasons for the depression will be a beginning point, and
tie-ins to the stories of elderly will be expanded. The Social Security Act
will be introduced and discussed. Saving money, saving material things, and
financial planning will be delved into. Topics like coupons, lowering the
thermostat, car pooling, wants vs. needs, recycling, reusing Christmas wrapping
paper, and television advertising will be discussed.
A financial plan will also be developed by each student. How can people
save money? In math class the students would have already explored simple
interest and compound interest. Hopefully the students themselves will come up
with ideas to save money they already employ or will plan to employ at their
current level. This personal economics unit will also hit the area of credit
cards. Annual percentage rates (APR), minimum payments, and the ease of
obtaining credit cards will be highlighted.
Tom Price will present this topic and project to the annual Nebraska
Association of Teacher’s of Math conference in the spring of 2005. Tom will
also apply to present at the nearest NCTM regional in 2006 or 2007 or possibly
the NCTM annual meeting.
During the summer of 2004, the three teachers will set up the first
computer and make sure everything works. Also, they will develop a
questionnaire about saving money to be given to the kids, organize the personal
budget or financial planner, and develop a timeline with the local nursing homes
for the dates on shooting, editing, and presenting the videotape. The
publications purchased will be a good starting point to develop a curriculum and
gather ideas for implementing this part of the project. Junior Achievement
materials will also be used and/or modified to fit the needs of the unit.
Potential Impact
The
impact comes in three forms. The interaction with the elderly and the use of
video technology will take the students back to a different time and world.
The importance of developing good financial habits, even at the age of 12 or 13
years old, will be stressed. The third impact will be the actual mathematical
manipulations using simple interest, compound interest, the rule of 72, and
definitely the importance of time in relation to saving money.
An assessment will be given before the unit is even started and then again
after the unit is finished. Topics covered in the assessment will be attitudes
towards saving money, credit cards, jobs, and spending habits.
All students will see the video, and the ones involved with the producing
of the video will have a greater experience with video technology.
Filming the prospective elderly: 20 students
Editing the videotape: 10 students
Taking the video to the elderly: 10 students
Introductory/Closing spokesperson 2 students
Focus groups: 20-30 students
Viewing the videotape all students in 7th grade
Participating in the economic system all students in 7th grade
The older students in other high school classes hopefully will be impacted
in a different way. Not being a part of the filming or editing crew, these
students will see the elderly in another way but still hear the highlights for
their particular class. Once this program has gone on for several years, high
school students will remember back to when their class made the tape, but of
course the interviewees and stories will be different every year.
The interaction with the elderly will also bring out a cordial relationship
with the elderly. Any cooperation exercises such as these with the local
nursing homes has added benefits to the students and the residents.
Students need to start thinking in long term goals for their
financial future. Although seventh graders still have a ways to go concerning
jobs, bills, etc., their age is a perfect time to plant some seeds in the hope
of germinating concepts in high school.
Hopefully parents will also be impacted as they interact with their
son/daughter.
Evaluation
The evaluation of this project will be triangulated between parents,
individual surveys, and focus groups.
There will be a letter sent home to the parents after the unit is
completed. Information will be gathered from the parents as far as the attitude
their son/daughter has expressed concerning this entire project and financial
matters. The parent’s perspectives collected from conversations over time with
their son/daughter will be interesting to see how things in the classroom have
changed matters at home, if anything, after the videotape and classroom topics
have been explored.
There will also be the survey given to the kids both pre-unit a nd
post-unit. All students will be given the survey early in September before any
news of the entire project has been disseminated. The survey will mainly focus
on attitudes towards saving money, spending money, acquiring material things,
and long range planning for their own financial future. There will also be a
question or two about the Depression and personal budgeting. After the unit is
over, or quite possibly near the end of the school year, the same survey will
be given to see if any ideas “stuck”. Results will be tabulated and areas will
be targeted to improve for the next year.
Focus groups will also be randomly selected. About once a week, six to
eight students will have lunch with either the three teachers or one individual
teacher. The students will be selected at random and bring their lunch back
into the classroom, thus no time away from class or school will be needed. The
teacher will informally discuss some of the topics going on in class and get
feedback from the students. Students will have an opportunity to express some
of their highlights/drawbacks about the entire project. Teachers will
informally gather information about students’ attitudes about saving money and
financial planning.
Feedback will also be received from the high school teachers as this video
is shown to their classes. Length of the video, topics covered or not covered,
or other comments about the interviewees will be gathered and used to make a
better video the next year.
Project Staff
Director:
Tom J. Price
Accomplishments/Activities
2003 Nebraska Association of Teachers of Mathematics (NATM), President
2002-2003 Became co-chair of the math department, Norris Public Schools
2002 One of five teachers selected for a special summer class teaching
Japanese exchange students as part of the “Bright Lights”
summer classes.
Class taught was “Lego Logo - Computer Robotics”.
2001 “Which One, America?” editorial published concerning metric
measurement for
the NCTM magazine, “Teaching Mathematics in the Middle School”
2000 Member of the program committee for the NCTM Regional held in Omaha
1999 Doane College Alumni Educator of the year, Doane College, Crete, NE
1999, 2000 Main organizer and presenter at “Math Splash”, a summer
conference
for math teachers at Doane College, Crete, NE. Instrumental in
getting
Johnny Lott to be the featured speaker in 2000.
1992-96 Core committee member for the NSF funded junior high video
project,
“MathVantage”, included in the Nebraska Math & Science Initiative
1992-94 Co-chair of the Norris School Improvement committee
1988-90 President of the Norris Association of Educators
1987-89 Nebraska Math Scholar, special NSF funded program for Nebraska
math teachers
Regular speaker at state and regional meetings on a variety of math topics
Education
1986 Masters Degree (Math Education), University of
Nebraska-Lincoln
1981 Bachelor’s Degree (Math) - Doane College, Crete, Nebraska
Teaching Experience
1981-84 Filley Public Schools, teaching 7th grade, 8th grade,
Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and Basic Programming on an
Apple IIe
1984 to present - Norris Public Schools, 7th grade math and Logo
computer programming, along with a variety of high school
math courses, including Consumer Math
Shelly
Coe
Kristy Acton
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