1) Students as Experts by Nancy Coffey and Dulany Alexander Operation Bootstrap

This approach to learning is one that we returned to again and again during the course of the homebuying curriculum unit. It is based in the notion that as teachers, we are not the authorities on a given topic, but rather facilitators meant to help students learn how to engage in the process of formulating, researching, answering and then revising their questions.

The following two activities utilized students as resources. At the same time it asked students to take risks in either one of two roles, either by sharing their experiences and expertise or by having to ask questions of their peers.

In preparing to teach the "Navigating the Homebuying System" unit, we had many questions about the topic and what it would mean to teach it. Because we had earlier shared our processes and methods of inquiry with the students, we modeled how we might begin to tackle a new problem. For most of us, talking to family and friends is a good starting point. So, before we began the first of the lessons that dealt with the complexity of financing a home, I wanted to validate the wealth of knowledge already gained by the students' experiences and to emphasize the value of sharing those experiences. I divided the class into small groups to discuss these three questions:

1. What do you already know about buying a house in the United States?

2. What questions do you have already?

3. Who do you already know that you could go to for more information?

Each group wrote their responses on a sheet of newsprint, which they posted on the classroom wall. As part of our final assessment, we will return to these posters to see how the students' questions and answers have changed, and hopefully, reflect new homebuying information that they have gained.

In our efforts to employ the expertise of our students, we set up a panel of home owning students to answer their classmates’ questions about home buying. A former student who had bought a 3 family house, a level two student who had bought a 3 family house, and a level three student who had bought a condominium made up our panel.

Prior to the panel, students generated questions on three topics on large pieces of newsprint: 1) Deciding what kind of house to buy and finding the house 2) Financing the house from mortgage to closing costs 3) The problems, pleasures and surprises of home ownership.

Our distinguished panel sat behind a table with a little bouquet of flowers and glasses of water. The students were on the edges of their chairs vying with each other to get their questions answered. It quickly became clear that we had not left enough time. The financial questions were left for our planned session at a bank with a mortgage lender. The panel was reconvened at our next class meeting.

Over and over again, our panelists were realistic and articulate in their responses to their classmates questions. "Why did you decide to buy a house?" brought interesting answers.

A 56 year old Azerbaijani woman and her husband had bought an inexpensive one bedroom condominium because they wanted something they could own outright by the time they reached retirement age. They also wanted something that would require little maintenance on their part.

A young Dominican family had bought a three-family house requiring no rehabilitation as a business venture. They wanted to be able to live in the house rent-free and build up equity so that they would have something saved up should they choose to return to their own country and buy a house there.

A 40 year old Guatemalan woman had bought a three- family house so that she and her husband could build up equity. She hoped to one day sell the three-family house and purchase a single family home.

The panelists also shared their experiences with real estate agents and their methods of financing their homes. All had used real estate agents. One Spanish speaker had started with a Spanish speaking Realtor but switched to an English speaker who she found to be more helpful. The two people who had purchased three-family houses financed them through a mortgage company suggested by the Realtor.

The Azerbaijani couple had borrowed money from friends so they had no mortgage. Later we learned that many people from the former Soviet Union choose not to use banks and are willing to lend money to friends for such purposes.
 
 

2) A Guest Speaker by Ashley Dumas, Project Hope

I asked LaWanda, the shelter manager at Project Hope, to come to the class as a guest speaker. Almost ten years ago, LaWanda and her son were guests at Project Hope. Now she was in the process of buying a two-family house in Mattapan. I felt that LaWanda would be a good guest speaker in my class because she saw the students everyday, and her background is similar to that of my students. Further, as someone who is fulfilling her dream of owning a house, she provided a model for the class. Before she came to class, I had the students brainstorm questions to ask her. The following questions were generated by the students:

How much money do you have to have saved up in order to buy a house?

Why do you want to buy a house?

Is the process stressful?

What kind of house do you want to buy?

What bank are you using?

How much of a down payment will you have to pay?

How long did it take to find the house?

What are the advantages of a buying a house?

What are the disadvantages?

Are you happy now that you're going to own your own house?

How much are your monthly mortgage payments?

How many people are going to be living with you?

How much is your interest rate?

How big is the house?

Where is it?

How many rooms does it have?

Will you rent out part of the house?

Is there a garage?

How did you find out about the house?

What made you want to buy a house in the first place?

LaWanda shared her story with us, and then answered the students' questions about her experiences as a first time home buyer. She touched on all sorts of topics that we had been reading about in our homebuying readiness curriculum books, including the process of getting a mortgage and how to build a non-traditional credit history. After LaWanda left, I asked the students to review material in the FannieMae Foundation's Adult Literacy curriculum, How to Buy Your Own Home. The information in the curriculum asked students to think about the advantages and disadvantages of buying a home. Then, I had them write a letter to La Wanda sharing this information with her and thanking her for coming to our class.