Who is this program for?

Our Curriculum
The Winning Play$ full program consists of 13 lessons.

Core Strengths and Goal Setting
Lesson 1: What You're Made Of - "Signature Strengths"

• Skills we are born with to help us navigate through life - our ability to make choices, our ability to learn, intuition, etc.
• Throughout the program, students will come back to what they learn in this lesson to help identify techniques and strategies to move beyond challenges

Lesson 2: Goals! Who You Want to Be

• Students learn how to identify their financial goals.
• Students are introduced to Dr. James Prochaska and his Pro-Change group's behavior-change model.
• Students will be able to identify their "stage of change for changing financial behaviors, generate a list of personal priorities, and analyze their priorities in order to create short-term and long-term goals.
  
  

Conditioning: Scripts & Social Messages
Lesson 3: Social Messages - Keeping Up

• Students examine how messages from advertisers and the media affect their beliefs and financial behavior.
• Students are introduced to the concept of Money Scripts: Unconscious conditioning.
• Students will see how advertisers and the media script us to believe we need certain products and condition us to believe we need certain things to be "cool", "accepted", or "special".
• Students will create strategies using their own "signature strengths" to stand up to these powerful influences.
  

Lesson 4: Social Messages - Gender

• Students explore how gender plays out in their financial experience. They will discover how men and women have different financial beliefs and behaviors, and how the world treats them differently when it comes to money.
• Students will identify strategies to stand-up to internal and external pressures to conform to gender stereotypes. They also develop strategies and techniques for having healthy conversations about money in relationships.

Lesson 5: Social Messages - Ethnicity & Race

• Students explore how race and ethnicity play out in their financial lives.
• There are different stereotypes associated with different racial and ethnic groups. Students will see how these "labels" affect how they are treated by society, lenders, and other financial institutions.
• We also examine why we often fit our stereotypes and identify our "signature strengths" and strategies to help get past limiting beliefs we may hold because of our race or ethnicity.

Lesson 6: Social Messages - Childhood Messages

• The ways in which we see our parents or primary caregivers relate to money has a tremendous impact on our own beliefs and behaviors.
• Students explore how these childhood "money scripts" affect their financial experiences.
• Young people who grow up in homes where there are not healthy conversations about money tend to have poor communication skills about financial issues.
• Students will create a profile of their financial attitudes and behaviors about things like saving, investing, and debt

Financial Lessons

Lesson 7: Your Financial Budget - Budgeting Basics

• Students will create a budget that will allow them to identify and organize their finances.
• Students will examine their spending, and determine which expenditures are fixed, variable, and discretionary.
• Students will connect their "signature strengths" to financial behavior that will help them realize their goals. These signature strengths will be applied to student budgeting decisions as well as their understanding of income, banking, and taxes.

Lesson 8: Savings and Banking Basics

• Students learn the importance of saving money as a means to achieve their goals and as a way to create security in the event of unexpected circumstances or emergencies.
• Students will explore the benefits of starting their savings plan early in order to save money for long-term goals, like financial well-being in retirement.
• Students identify signature strengths and strategies to transcend "money scripts" that may have a negative impact on their ability to save.

Lesson 9: Investing

• Students learn why it is important to invest, or grow their money, in order to meet their financial goals.
• Students will learn about different types of investments and different ways to grow their money.
• Students will discuss gender differences in investing and will examine how other "money scripting" - due to factors such as ethnicity or race - may be playing out in their attitudes about investing.

Lesson 10: The 411 on Credit and Debt

• In addition to learning the basics of credit, credit history, credit reports, how credit cards work, etc., students also learn how their credit history impacts their ability to get a job and own a home.
• Students will gain an understanding of the "true cost" of debt, and develop strategies for maintaining healthy debt levels and credit histories.

Lesson 11: Loans

• Students examine how loans can help (or hinder) their financial goals, and learn how to shop around for the best loans.
• We also examine predatory lending practices, such as pay-day lenders and check-cashing operations.

Lesson 12: Insurance

• Students examine how insurance can help protect their financial and physical well-being and help ensure that they meet their financial goals.
• They learn the different types of insurance, and how to shop around for the best policies.
• Students will also gain skills to help them read insurance claims and inquire and advocate for better coverage.

Lesson 13: Paying for College

• Students will learn how to make the best choices when it comes to paying for college.
• Students will learn how college is relevant to their economic future. They will learn how college funding works, improving their chance of successfully navigating the financial aspect of their education.
• Students will also learn key terms regarding financial aid, how to critically read a financial aid offer and how to look for scholarships.

Corporate Sponsors

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