At Thurston High School in Redford, Michigan, business educator in Ferris combines her 23 years of educational experience with passion and openness for innovation (such as integrating AI into class) to ensure that its students graduate with trust and skills in practice. A recent panel member with our Learn smarter with AI Conference session, learn more about Erin and its approach to teaching personal finances.
What makes you passionate about personal financial education?
I am passionate about personal financial education because it is something that everyone needs to know. It’s life. It may not always be ‘fun’, it may not be ‘flashy’, but it is something that everyone uses their entire lives.
I want to expose my students as much as possible as I can because you cannot always earn more money and sometimes there is not enough at the end of a week. I want to prepare my students to know that there are options and they can make the best choice for themselves at that time.
I have taught a version of personal finances all my career, but I have become more intentionally about what I am dealing with in my lessons in the past 7 years.
What is one of your earliest money memories?
Sitting at the kitchen table with my mother while she paid bills. I saw her checks write, record things in the ledger and sent. Money was never a secret in my house. I may not always have had the struggles she had, but she made sure that I was admitted.
How did the NGPF network have been helped personally? Professional?
NGPF has honestly changed me as a teacher. I have never given a course where I had a content partner. I was always alone.
NGPF gave me a real PLC: a group of people who could help me plan, help me find problems and people who got me! I have never felt connected to a group of educators throughout my career.
When did you start using AI for the first time in the classroom? And how did you get confidence with it?
I did a PD with Tim when he first introduced chatgpt. I signed up for my account that day and I didn’t look back. I am not afraid of technology, so with AI I jumped in and tried it.
In the beginning it didn’t always give me what I wanted, but I kept trying and I keep trying. It is a skill and not something that is mastered in a class. It is something that you continue to experience.
What advice do you have for other teachers in the field of personal finances?
You do not have to know every possible financial situation for every person, but the more realistic you can be, the more students connect. Be authentic and keep pointing to the real world connections.
Is there anything else about you, your school or your personal financial journey that you want to know?
My rule in my class is that students can ask me everything about personal finances. I don’t share my real numbers, but I do my best to tell them as open as possible about my journey.
I lived things and my financial journey was not always easy, so I want them to know they are not alone.
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