Making the Course Relevant to Students

We all remember the best teachers in our past. They were those who could take whatever they were teaching and make it relevant to us. They could take the information out of the textbook and present it in a way that made sense for us as individuals. History teachers made dry dates and places come alive. Math teachers showed us the relevance of math to our daily lives. That is the job of the instructor or director of the Native financial education as well. You will make the idea of managing finances something that serves the individual and family every day and enables them to look toward a better-managed financial future.

Find out what’s going on in the communities in which you’re teaching and tie your topics to local events. Do the same with national events to give relevance to the financial information you’re teaching. Whenever you can link a piece of the curriculum to what’s going on in your participants’ lives, they’ll get that much more out of the information and be able to apply it more easily to their situations. Use local concepts, local scenarios, and if possible,  relate to your own experiences in your Native community or one like it. This approach will bring the topics to life.