Look for this new column, "In The Trenches," to become a regular feature on Tuesdays for the NGPF Blog. Teachers will share their experiences in the classroom and how they apply what they learned at NGPF PD events (FinCamps, FinCamps PLUS, Summer Institute and Summit). This week, we focus on how two NJ educators applied what they learned at the recent NGPF Summit.

Kay Paolucci: Barringer Academy of STEAM (Newark, NJ)

I wanted to share my experience with the 1040EZ activity. The activity supplies four W2’s and I started everyone with as a “dependent” filer so they would need to do the worksheet for line 5. My students needed support and we ended up doing the entire 1040EZ together whole class.

However, many of my students work and were not going to file because they were convinced it would decrease their parent’s refunds. So like a dog with a bone I taught the case study “W-2, W-4, Refunds, Oh My!” to convince them they could file. I hope they were able to convince their parents! Then I went back to the 1040EZ activity and made everyone complete the form using the W-2 as an independent filer.

Guess what? My students were able to complete the form correctly. I truly felt I had taught them something they needed to know. As a side note-my supervisor popped in for an unannounced observation and I was rated “Highly Effective” for the lesson! I am so grateful for your resources. Thank you.

Barbara O'Neill: Distinguished Professor, Rutgers Cooperative Education

I’m planning to use Kahoot (part of the NGPF Quiz Games Library) and NGPF case studies and simulations at Financial Education Boot Camp in New Jersey and am reading Jonathan Clements’ book "How to Think About Money" on a plane trip to Florida on Sunday. Also enjoyed learning about Stockpile [one of the panelists on the FinTech panel] and will share information about it with others. Finally, I got to meet Brian Page and enjoyed the fellowship with him and the other teachers.

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Want to be included in this column? Send along your story to tim@ngpf of how you applied what you learned at an NGPF PD. I look forward to hearing from you!

About the Authors

Guest Post

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.