Your Experience
Your experience with the Financial Literacy Community Project will be both challenging and extremely rewarding. You will learn what it takes to lead a classroom of students to success as you work to bridge the financial literacy gap in America. You will encounter difficulties that you and your teaching team had not planned for and your leadership skills will be tested. But you will also experience the joy of achievement when you see your students making progress and grasping new concepts.
You can expect to:
- Develop your leadership skills in an objective, measurable way, as you create a vision, manage a classroom of students, and motivate them to success. These “soft” skills cannot be taught through a class or a textbook, but only through experience. They will be invaluable to you later on, no matter what your career path, be it academia, business, law, politics, medicine, or anything else.
- Hone your communication and interpersonal skills by learning what it takes to keep a classroom together and on track. Working and interacting with people of different backgrounds is important in all aspects of life.
- Polish your critical thinking skills and ability to solve problems on the spot. You’ll be put into difficult situations that will require you to think on your feet and come up with solutions to complex situations.
- Be compensated, either through a stipend or through course credit (all of our teachers can teach for a Management 353 – Wharton Field Challenge credit). We know that the experience is difficult, and we want you to be compensated well for it.
- Develop relationships with your students. Teaching is an immensely rewarding experience, especially when you see how you are contributing to the growth and development of a child.
With that said, the Financial Literacy Community Project is a serious commitment that should not be taken lightly.
During your experience, we expect you to:
- Dedicate at least 4-7 hours per week to the project, with 2-4 hours teaching in the classroom (depending on your placement) and 2-3 hours in discussion, reflection, blogging, and curriculum preparation.
- Show up to every class. Teaching is mandatory, because your students are waiting and expect you to be there.
- Prepare for your classes and always look out for what could be done better, making your own edits to the curriculum. It is your classroom and your experience, so it’s in your hands!
- Blog once a week and take turns with the others on your teaching team in taking photos. You are going through a unique experience, and we’d love for you to be able to share it with others!
- Participate in discussion debriefs once a week with all the teaching teams, sharing what difficulties you have encountered, what successes you’ve experienced. Share what you have learned, so everyone can become a better teacher!
