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Hello Teachers and Jump$tart Family,
My name is Kimberly Marks and I am a teacher at Evanston Township High School, District 202. I teach Personal Finance, Contemporary Adult Life, and Culinary Art to 9-12 graders. I have been a teacher for 27 years (22 at Evanston Township High School).
I try to make money matter by making students aware of their purchasing power, things they buy (how they can invest in the companies they purchase from) the importance of earning, and knowing how to read their paychecks. In Illinois, each high school student is required to take consumer education for 50 minutes per day for a period of 9 weeks in any of the grades 9-12.
I believe that everyone should leave a legacy, and that is what teaching is to me, leaving a legacy. When a student contacts me after taking my class or graduating and saying they loved my class and now have something to pass down to their children, it means I have touched their lives in one way or another.
Some of my favorite, go-to resources are Next Gen, MoneySkill, and Take Charge from the University of Arizona. All of these can be found in the Jump$tart Clearinghouse.
Over the past two years, our school district has gone from remote learning to hybrid, and now full in-person learning. It has been an adjustment because we not only have to address their academic needs but their social-emotional needs as well. This is, in addition, to dealing with our own issues as well. I am so grateful for the Jump$tart community and the support I find at the National Educators Conference. The NEC Conference has not only given me a wide variety of resources but various ways to teach my students. The workshop facilitators give new ingenious ways to reach our students in a way that they “get it” and buy into what we are teaching. The conference has taught me how to think outside the box and reach all of my students.
Thank you for choosing me as this month’s Teacher Spotlight!
Kimberly Marks |
