Summary
In this lesson for personal financial responsibility and career exploration, students will evaluate the costs and benefits of renting versus buying a home. They will explore the differences between a mortgage document and a lease agreement. Students will read and identify the benefits and challenges of renting compared to homeownership. As an extension of the lesson, students will watch an interview with a loan officer to determine what is needed when purchasing a home.
Essential Question(s)
What are the differences between homeownership and renting? What are the responsibilities and benefits of owning versus renting a home or apartment?
Snapshot
Engage
Students share what they know about renting or homeownership through a sticky note activity.
Explore
Students investigate sample mortgage and lease agreements to begin identifying the elements of homeownership and renting.
Explain
Students read an article to deepen their understanding of homeownership and renting. Students create charts to graphically organize the benefits and responsibilities of each.
Extend
Students watch an interview with a bank loan officer and complete a 3-2-1 summary of the interview.
Evaluate
Based on the information learned in the lesson, students choose whether they would prefer to rent an apartment or own a home. An optional project, where students describe their ideal home or apartment, can also be used as an evaluation of the lesson.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Chart tablet, poster paper, or similar (2 separate pieces)
Sticky notes (2 per student)
3-2-1 handout (attached, 1 per student)
Benefits and Responsibilities Chart (attached, 1 per student)
Benefits and Responsibilities Chart—Teacher Answer Key (attached)
My Ideal Home or Apartment Rubric (attached, optional; 1 per student)
Sample Mortgage Statement (attached, 1 per student)
Sample Rental Agreement (attached, 1 per student)
What Does It Take to Be a Homeowner or Renter? reading (attached, 1 per student)
Engage
20 Minute(s)
Use the attached Lesson Slides to guide the lesson.
As students walk into class, display the essential questions on slide 3. Pose the first essential question to students: "What are the differences between homeownership and renting?" Allow students a moment to think about this question.
Display slide 4. Have students turn to an Elbow Partner to discuss what they may know about renting an apartment or home and homeownership. Pass out two sticky notes to each partner. Ask partners to come up with one fact each of homeownership and renting as they discuss, writing one fact on each sticky note. Allow 5 minutes for partner discussion.
Have students place their sticky note responses on the appropriate chart tablet paper displayed around the room. Once all sticky notes are posted on the appropriate chart tablet paper, read aloud most or all of the responses for each.
Display slide 5. Read aloud the second essential question on the slide: "What are the responsibilities and benefits of owning versus renting a home or apartment?" Read aloud the explanation of benefits and responsibilities. As a class discussion, ask if students heard any benefits about renting when the sticky notes were read aloud. Additionally, ask if they heard any benefits about homeownership. Next, ask if they heard any sticky notes that mentioned responsibilities of renting; then, of homeownership.
You may have to repeat your reading aloud of several sticky notes from each chart tablet. Call on volunteers that may have possible responses to this second essential question.
Explore
30 Minute(s)
Combine partners into working groups of no larger than three or four. Tell students that they will be looking for more information about the differences between renting a home or an apartment and homeownership.
Distribute a copy of the attached Sample Rental Agreement to all students. Display slide 6. Tell students that, as they read through the rental agreement, they should use the Thinking Notes strategy to notate. This means they should star main ideas, put an exclamation point by important information, and add a question mark by any words or ideas that are confusing, new, or unknown. Give students 5-10 minutes to complete this task.
When students are finished, invite them to discuss their Thinking Notes with their groups. Ask students specifically to give special attention to the words or concepts they did not know or were confused by—in doing so, have them ask if anyone in the group can clarify their questions. Next, ask groups to define or summarize what a lease agreement is based on their observations and discussion.
After groups have had time to discuss, ask for groups to share with the class how they would define a rental or lease agreement. Then, with students' participation, address the information students annotated with a star, exclamation point, or question mark. Ask student volunteers to share their main ideas and then important information. Finally, ask students to share anything that they found confusing or new that they could not clarify within the group.
Display slide 7. Distribute a copy of the attached Sample Mortgage Statement to all students. Give students 5-10 minutes to read through the mortgage statement on their own using the Thinking Notes strategy once more. Students should again star main ideas, put an exclamation point next to information they think is important, and put a question mark next to any new, unknown, or difficult-to-understand words or concepts. When students finish reading and annotating, invite them to discuss their Thinking Notes with their groups.
Again, ask students to give special attention to the words or concepts they did not know or were confused by, and to see if anyone in the group can clarify. Next, ask groups to define a mortgage based on their observations and discussion.
After groups have had time to discuss, ask for groups to volunteer and share how they would define or summarize a mortgage statement. Then, with students' participation, address the information students annotated with a star, exclamation point, or question mark. Clarify any confusion about terms or ideas.
Explain
35 Minute(s)
Display slide 8. Tell students that, depending on your lifestyle choices, renting and homeownership offer both benefits and responsibilities. Address these terms again by reading slide 8 aloud. Remind students that they just reviewed a lease agreement and mortgage statement—did anyone recognize a benefit of renting? Of owning a home? Did anyone recognize a responsibility or requirement of renting? Of homeownership? Call on any volunteers for their thoughts.
Pass out a copy of the attached What Does it Take to Be a Homeowner or Renter? reading and the Benefits and Responsibilities Chart handout to all students. Instruct students to read the article using the Stop and Jot strategy. Display slide 9.
As students read, have them "Stop and Jot down" any sentence or phrase that might contain benefits or responsibilities of either homeownership or renting. These should be recorded in the appropriate section of the chart. Give students 20-30 minutes to complete this task.
Once students have individually read the article and completed the chart, move to slide 10, and allow students to return to their previous groups for discussion. Students should compare their charts and add any missing information provided by the group.
Students should still have their Sample Mortgage Statement and Sample Rental Agreement. Have groups reexamine these documents. Ask groups to list any further benefits and responsibilities in their charts observed in the lease and mortgage samples, discussing this as a group.
Once student groups have completed their lists, have each group volunteer one statement with the class until one to two statements for each section of the chart have been shared as examples. A Benefits and Responsibilities Chart (Teacher Answer Key) is provided in the attachments to support this discussion.
Extend
35 Minute(s)
The previous reading contained information about renting and homeownership. Explain to students that, to buy a home, a home buyer must ask for a loan from a bank or credit union. In this part of the lesson, students will watch a career interview with bank loan officer Cameron Brewer. Pass out a copy of the attached 3-2-1 Video Chart handout to each student. Explain the 3-2-1 strategy to students, and ask them to use the strategy to fill out the 3-2-1 Video Chart as they watch the video. Once students are ready to begin, move to slide 11 and view the ICAP video on the slide, "Banking - Cameron Brewer - Zoom Into Your Career."
After students watch the video and complete the handout, conduct a class discussion about what they learned. Call on volunteers first to share facts they learned in the video. Next, ask students to share one of the banking careers discussed in the video. Finally, call on volunteers to share any questions they still have. Try to answer all questions or call on students to research questions raised on their own, then share with the class.
Evaluate
15 Minute(s)
Move to slide 14. Designate one side of the room as "Renters" and the other side of the room as "Homeowners". Ask students to reflect on all they have learned about both and ask students to choose the best reason to be a renter or the best reason to be a homeowner. Have students move to the side of the room that reflects their choice.
Have students discuss their choice with like-minded students in their groups. Call on one representative from each side to share a summary of the group discussion.
Additional assessments for this lesson include the Thinking Notes, Benefits and Responsibilities Chart, the 3-2-1 Video Chart, and the optional My Ideal Home or Apartment project.
Resources
K20 Center. (2020, July). Banking - Cameron Brewer - Zoom Into Your Career [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/myF01pusOi4
K20 center. (n.d.). 3-2-1. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/117
K20 Center. (n.d.) Canva. Tech Tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/612
K20 center. (n.d.). Elbow Partners. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/116
K20 center. (n.d.). Thinking Notes. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/178
K20 center. (n.d.). Stop and Jot. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/168
Raygun. (2012). Residential Lease Agreement (NY). Indocracy.com. https://www.docracy.com/5647/residential-lease-agreement-ny
Regulation Room. (n.d.). Periodic statement 3 [Image]. Home Mortgage Consumer Protection. http://archive.regulationroom.org/mortgage-protection/files/2012/08/h28c.png
