I’ve got such a backlog of “things I’d like to read” that I started putting 3 per week on my “to do” list and “assigning” the readings to myself. This article from EdSurge made its way into last week’s reading list — What Does a ‘Modern Classroom’ Look Like — and What Should Educators Leave Behind? While I’m not sure I agree 100% with ALL of their ideas, the introductory questions answered by the panel of “experts” had me thinking — NGPF has this! NGPF does this! NGPF is this! — over and over again. Here are a few excerpts:

“It has to do with who is controlling the information in the classroom. Truly embracing student agency… To me, the modern classroom really is a shifting of roles and responsibilities and control.”

“Amplifying under-represented voices is incredibly important, and technology helps us to do that.”

• NGPF makes it a priority to find and create diversity in our resources. Admittedly, it’s hard in the finance world, which still tends to skew toward white men in business suits, but we jump at the chance to add videos hosted by female and/or nonwhite speakers. Skim our Video Library, and you’ll see what I mean.
• All of the worksheets you see on our website are created in-house, and we know that representation matters: As a result, we use a diversity of names in our hundreds of scenarios. One of my former students, Danaisha, was thrilled to hear she’s buying organic produce in one of our budgeting assessment questions

About the Author

Jessica Endlich

When I started working at Next Gen Personal Finance, it's as though my undergraduate degree in finance, followed by ten years as an educator in an NYC public high school, suddenly all made sense.