The goal of the essay questions in this lesson plan is to determine the student's ability to produce accurate explanations supported by facts.  Students are required to use the correct terminology to explain concepts.  These should usually consist of one or two well organized paragraphs.  For this assignment, the essay question regarding bank statements also required a list.

Checking and banking is very "real life."  Many high school students work part-time and have checking accounts.  From random classroom polls, many students do not keep a running balance in their checkbook.  Many more do not understand how to read and reconcile a bank statement.  These are basic fundamentals of personal finance.

Once the material on checkbook balancing and bank statement reconciling has been covered in the Accounting I class, then the essay question is used to determine student understanding.  Some students can go through the process of balancing their checkbooks and reconciling the bank statements but it is a more difficult task to write the directions for reconciling from memory.  The Four-Column Method of pre writing was a useful tool for the students.  One thing that might be helpful for the students would be to review the Open Ended Response Analysis Example with the students before the essay question to be answered is given.

The question on the petty cash fund is somewhat more confined to business finance than personal finance and again requires more work to put into words to show understanding.

Although the questions in this assignment were used in an Accounting I class, they could also be used in a variety of other classes such as Business Math, Economics, Entrepurneurship, Finance and Banking, Introduction to Business, and Practical Living.

A special "thank you" to the students who allowed their work to be shared on this web site.

Additional Resource:
Guide to Writing a Basic Essay