America's economic crisis and the 700 billion dollar bailout is on everyone's mind, but most people do not understand it. Even veteran investor Vinod Khosla said that he doesn't understand it and if he doesn't understand the mess, how is the average person supposed to understand it?

That presents quite a challenge for teachers who probably don't understand it, either.

Few people understand the current crisis; we need to first understand it ourselves and then help students to understand what is happening. This is their future. They are the ones who will be paying for this mess.

Here are some resources that teachers might want to use: We are experiencing a national crisis, but this crisis is a teachable moment for all teachers -- especially social studies teachers, journalism teachers and math teachers. One of the major resources to use in the classroom is from the National Council on Economic Education. They have more than six hundred lesson plans for all grade levels, to help kids understand economics. Even students in elementary school can understand some of the basic concepts.

The main area in which we need a depth of understanding is how the banking system works and what changed under the Bush administration which allowed this crisis to develop. The University of Omaha has a great Web site called the Economic Education Web, which divides up the lesson plans and even correlates them to state standards.

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco also has a great Web site that includes a rich variety of economic education resources, also at various grade levels. 

Also, the Annenburg Foundation has free videos for teachers on many subjects, and here is the link to the videos about economics. You will need to download Windows Media Player to see the videos.

After giving the kids a little background, have students read this New York Times article that just appeared on Friday, October 2, entitled "Agency's '04 Rule Let Banks Pile Up New Debt." It does a great job explaining how we got into this mess and what we might need to do to keep it from happening again. It's a good article to use as the jumping off point for a multi-day class discussion about the ramifications of the economic crisis. 

In addition to the above article, there is also a multimedia slide show, "The Day the S.E.C. Changed the Game," which does a great job of explaining how we got here.  Click on the above link to give high school students a better understanding of the crisis.  It would be a good slideshow to present in class and then follow up with a multiple day discussion about the crisis.

Here is another article from the New York Times that may also be helpful: "Here are Some Answers to the Public's Questions About the Financial Crisis."

Another good link is this summary of all the New York Times stories on the financial crisis.

There are also multiple videos available on YouTube that not only discuss the bailout, but the political situation as well.  Here are some links to several of them:

• Understanding the Financial Crisis----for Kids and Grownups
• Examining the Financial Crisis---NY Times
• The Financial Crisis Simplified

Esther Wojcicki is the driving force behind the development of Palo Alto High School’s award-winning journalism program - the largest high school journalism program in the country. She focuses on assessing and improving student learning through low- and high-tech tools.

POSTED ON HOTCHALK.COM

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