Summary
In this lesson, students step into the shoes of George Bailey from It’s a Wonderful Life as they explore different types of financial institutions and examine how changes in interest rates and salaries affect our willingness to make major purchases on big-ticket items such as cars and houses. Students will time-travel as they analyze vintage ads from the 1920s-1940s and read about home-buying in America in George Bailey’s time. Next, they will participate in a simulation where they will nab a job and salary that they will use while crafting a plan to buy a home within a budget. The lesson culminates with a One-Pager activity in which students will summarize what they have learned by answering the lesson’s essential question. This lesson is in collaboration with resources from The Capra/Bailey Project.
Essential Question(s)
What did it take to own a home during the booms and busts of the 1920-1940’s?
Snapshot
Engage
Students view a clip from It’s a Wonderful Life and complete a handout using the Looks Like, Sounds Like, and Feels Like strategy.
Explore
Students analyze a set of advertisements using the Painting a Picture strategy.
Explain
Students read an article about financial institutions and interest rates prior to discussion.
Extend
Students simulate the home-buying process by trying to find a home they can afford in today’s housing market using a given budget.
Evaluate
Students demonstrate what they have learned in this lesson about financial institutions and interest rates by completing a one-pager activity.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Looks Like, Sounds Like, Feels Like Handout (attached; one per student)
Painting a Picture Document Packet (attached; class set)
Painting a Picture Chart (attached; one per student)
Banking on Bedford Falls Article (attached; one per student)
Occupation & Salary Cards (attached)
Devices with Internet Access
Pen/Pencil
Notebook Paper
Engage
10 Minute(s)
Introduce the lesson using the attached Lesson Slides. Display slide 3 to share the essential question and slide 4 to go over the lesson's learning objectives.
Move to slide 5 and take a moment to describe the Looks Like, Sounds Like, Feels Like strategy. Distribute the Looks Like, Sounds Like, Feels Like handout to each student. Display slide 6 and explain to students that they will be watching a clip of It's a Wonderful Life House Welcoming for Mr. Martini from Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) film, which displays the profound emotions that come with home ownership. Once students have seen the clip on the slide, transition to slide 7, and have students analyze the image with the quote from the film and answer the questions on their handout.
Allow a few minutes for students to complete the handout. Once students have completed the task, invite a few to share out their reflections for both questions.
Explore
20 Minute(s)
On slide 8, take a moment to review the Painting a Picture strategy with the class. Make sure that every student has a copy of the Painting a Picture Document Packet.
Explain to students that they are about to view several images of advertisements that were published between the 1920s and 1940s. Have students independently write down their observations and inferences about each photo in the appropriate column on the Painting a Picture Chart handout. This should take approximately five to ten minutes. When the image analysis is complete, proceed to slide 9.
After you have shown all of the images, have students read through their notes and consider the following questions:
How do these advertisements compare to what you would see today if you were looking to purchase a home or vehicle?
How would you describe the buying process of homes and vehicles back then?
What are some ways that buying processes may have changed since?
Ask for student volunteers to share responses to these questions.
Explain
15 Minute(s)
Pass out the attached What Did It Take to Own a Home Article to each student. Go to slide 10 and introduce students to the CUS & Discuss strategy. As they read, they will complete the following:
Circle: Circle the main idea(s) of the article.
Underline: Underline the different types of financial institutions and concepts mentioned in the article and their definitions.
Star: Star any new information from the article that stands out to you.
Once students have finished, discuss as a class what everyone noticed or wrote down.
Extend
30 Minute(s)
Move to slide 11. Introduce students to the Historical Mingle strategy by reviewing the directions on the slide. Provide each student with an Occupation Card. Each card contains past and current financial information related to a specific profession. Tell students to use the salary information on their cards to try to simulate the home buying process by finding a home they can afford in today’s housing market using their given salary.
Display slide 12 and have students visit Zillow, Realtor, or another home-buying website. Students will need to calculate how much they can spend on a monthly mortgage and use that information to figure out a realistic house they could buy now given the salary listed on their Occupation Card. Remind students that their mortgage is recommended to be 30% or under of their monthly income.
After choosing their house, students will move around the classroom to “mingle,” with their classmates. Have students talk to one another about their individual home-buying experiences to help them understand the advantages and disadvantages of working in certain occupations.
Start the timer on slide 13 and when time is up, have students talk to a new student. Repeat this process until students have had a chance to mingle for ten to fifteen minutes.
Have students return to their seats and ask for volunteers to describe some of the challenges they encountered when trying to purchase a home using the salary they were assigned.
Evaluate
15 Minute(s)
Display slide 14. Share the One-Pager instructional strategy with students. Invite students to create their own One-Pager that includes the following criteria:
Title of your One Pager.
Border around the page that includes something related to the lesson.
Image representing the home buying experience.
Answer the following three (3) questions:
"What did it take to own a home during the booms and busts of the 1920-1940’s?”
Describe your ideal home buying experience.
What do you think the current home buying experience is like?
Display slide 15, which illustrates an example of what the students will create. Make sure that students know their One-Pager does not have to resemble the example, but like the example, it should be visually appealing and well-organized, and it should answer the prompt from slide 14.
Provide materials and have students create their One-Pagers. Alternatively provide them with Canva or a similar digital option to create the One-Pager. Once students have finished designing their One-Pagers, collect them and use them to assess student learning.
Resources
Keppel, B., & Carlisle, T. (n.d.). The Capra/Bailey project. https://caprabaileyproject.oucreate.com/
K20 Center. (n.d.). Canva. Tech Tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/612
K20 Center. (n.d.).
CUS and discuss. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/162
K20 Center. (n.d.).
Historical mingle. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/184
K20 Center. (2021, September 21).
K20 Center 2 minute timer [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcEEAnwOt2c
K20 Center. (n.d.).
Looks like, sounds like, feels like. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/88
K20 Center. (n.d.). One-pager. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/72
K20 Center. (n.d.). Painting a picture. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/133
Marchand, R. (1985).
Advertising the American dream. University of California Press.
Sara. (2013, July 23). It’s a wonderful life house welcoming for Mr Martini [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNQGmJbriHY