This post is part of a series that highlights ways to teach financial literacy with executive function strategies. It’s never too early to teach your students financial literacy and EF strategies that can have a lasting impact(link opens in new tab/window) ↗.
Goal Setting Continued
In the second post of this series, we covered tips for encouraging students to set goals for life beyond high school. Once students set their goals, it is important to self-monitor and self-check to track their progress over time. When it comes to long-term goals, we can’t just set and forget!
Self-Monitoring and Self-Checking for Personal Finance
Because each financial situation depends on myriad factors, we can teach students to approach their personal finances flexibly. Employment, medical expenses, inflation, and interest rates are just a few examples that can affect one’s budget and spending.
With multiple financial factors to manage, self-checking and self-monitoring are keys to success. For example, students may need to complete financial forms or loan applications with a careful eye for details. Setting aside time to check their forms for accuracy can ensure a smooth process. Likewise, students can use self-monitoring strategies to assess how their actions and behavior are affecting their spending and aligning with their budget goals.
SMARTS Strategies for Self-Monitoring and Self-Checking
Self-monitoring and self-checking are two executive function areas that are often overlooked and not explicitly taught in school. In the SMARTS curriculum, these areas are clearly defined and modeled for students.
- Self-monitoring is an ongoing process of noticing what one is doing.
- Self-checking is the process of finding and correcting mistakes in one’s work.
By learning to monitor and check themselves, students can develop essential skills for successful goal-directed behavior. To learn more, visit our SMARTS videos on Self-Monitoring and Self-Checking.
- Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate
SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org
Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org
The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org
