I had the pleasure of talking to educator Laura Falk recently on the NGPF podcast. Laura participated this summer in the inaugural NGPF Summer Institute and we met up again at the recent Jump$tart National Educator Conference. Laura has this infectious energy and passion for her work at Fairbanks High School in Milford Center, Ohio. In the podcast, Laura shares how she develops career readiness skills in her students through job shadowing, career exploration and a project-based learning method. She provides awesome examples of the power of developing partnerships in the local business community that go far beyond bringing guest speakers into the classroom. You will walk away with great ideas to bolster your career unit. Enjoy!

Details:

• 0:00~1:01 – Introduction
• 1:01~1:33 – Laura’s day job (it’s a busy one!)
• 1:33~2:31 – Describes her high school
• 2:31~3:01 – How she brings personal finance in the classroom
• 3:01~3:24 – Making personal finance a requirement
• 3:24~4:00 – College and career readiness focus
• 4:00~5:01 – Topics that students benefit from
• 5:01~7:13 – Job shadowing
• 7:13~8:46 – How to build career readiness skills in rural area
• 8:46~9:41 – Preparing students for job shadowing
• 9:41~12:22 – Guiding students to find interests
• 12:22~15:07 – Reflections
• 15:07~17:14 – What to do with limited time in the classroom
• 17:14~20:32 – Projects
• 20:32~24:20 – How she has participated in PLCs to make better projects
• 24:20~24:44 – A word from our sponsor, Next Gen Personal Finance
• 24:44~27:28 – Creating culture to enable high functioning group work
• 27:28~30:10 – Resources for projects
• 30:10~32:34 – Jump$tart and professional development
• 32:34~33:18 – First paid job
• 33:18~34:00 – Best thing under $10
• 34:00~34:43 – Best financial habit
• 34:43~35:00 – Advice to 20 year old self
• 35:00~37:11 – How to get students to think about the future
• 37:11~39:50 – Text to send to students/Billboard
• 39:50~41:19 – Conclusion

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.