Thanks to the Royalton Education Foundation, the business classroom at Royalton Middle/High School has a stock ticker display sign. The installation of the sign this fall created buzz and excitement for the business department and conversations around the stock market. This sign has been incorporated into class as a discussion and competition facilitator, and personal finance education tool.
The stock ticker display sign displays the stocks and companies with the most movement for the day. The sign, and use of the Financial Visualizer, allows students to monitor stock performance and witness the impact of world events, the monthly consumer price index reports, and the monthly jobs reports. Students as young as 6th grade are introduced to these topics, and will continue to be exposed as they take business classes.
In addition to the sign, new this year is a competition between the business classes. Students are asked to select a stock at the beginning of the semester. Students then track the performance of their individual stock. Individual stocks are combined by class, so performance as a ‘mutual fund’ can also be tracked, with hopes of having the best performing mutual fund. In addition to tracking stock prices each week, students track their return on investment and average cost per share. Individual stock and class mutual fund performance is also compared to the S & P 500 Index Fund performance and interest earned in a savings account. As a result, students experience the emotional rollercoaster that comes with monitoring an investment so closely. This also creates time each week to talk about current events that may be impacting the market and/or their individual company.
In personal finance specifically, the sign and mutual fund competition is used to demonstrate lessons in investing and saving. We start conversations around the stock market at the beginning of the semester, and cover investing specifically at the end of the semester. This creates opportunities for conversations and lessons throughout the semester instead of only during a two-week unit. As a result of these activities personal finance students are learning more about investment options (individual stocks, mutual funds, index funds, etc.), the benefits of diversification, the power of compound interest, the essential role that time plays when investing, the impact of risk, return, and inflation, and the benefits and risks of dollar cost averaging versus lump sum investing.
Thank you Royalton Education Foundation, the Innovative Schools Project and the Initiative Foundation
Ms. Stephanie Burg
Business Education Teacher
Royalton Middle and High School