Period 6: Free Enterprise, Day 5

Here's a big symbol of the US free enterprise market economy: the statue of the bull by Wall Street in New York. A good stock market is called a "bull market" and a bad one is a "bear market." I took this picture in September of 2009.

Hi everyone,

We did not end up with as much time as I would have liked to finish the review packets for Chapter 2 today. You should have PLENTY of time to do them over the long weekend, though, as I only see you once next week - on Wednesday for your Chapter 2 test. Read on for review help and prep!

Soundtrack: "Confessions, Pt. 2" by Usher. This album came out when I was in high school, haha. Selected for today because we are working with Chapter 2 of the textbook. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/8/13:

Warm Up
Swap Cops
Review Packet

Homework: Finish Chapter 2 review packet. Study for Chapter 2 test on Wednesday! Check the blog and ask questions if needed!
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Warm Up: #10: Why does Taco Bell sponsor 20,000 Free Chalupas for the Blazers crowd if they go over 100 points, for every game?

Loved the responses here, as usual. I created this one myself. It is fun to use economic reasoning with what is going on around us!

Swap Cops: I wrote a diagram of what we had learned through the NPR podcasts so far, with the mortgage situation leading to banks defaulting, and then all of these impossible to pay out bets/insurance on whether or not those banks would fail. Yeah, it is complicated. Hopefully, we are starting to make some sense of it in class. If you want to check out the podcast again, here it is: ThisAmericanLife.org - Another Frightening Show About the Economy.

After listening to the end of the episode, I posed a simple question: how do you feel about the bailout? You wrote a short response (a paragraph) to this, then we talked as a class for a bit. Again, a very interesting discussion!

Review Packet: The rest of the class was spent (or should have been spent, in some cases) working on completing the review packet. I will try to go through it briefly on Wednesday before the test. If you did not complete this in class, it is homework to be turned in next class! If you somehow lost your packet, here it is to download again:

Google Drive: Chapter 2 - "Free Enterprise" Review Packet

Please let me know if you are at all confused on any of the concepts in the packet or in the chapter! Here is the Chapter 2 Learning Targets PowerPoint, if you want to review that again:

Google Drive: Chapter 2 LTs PowerPoint Presentation

Have a great long weekend. Study up and be ready for Wednesday!

Period 6: Free Enterprise, Day 4

The Statue of Liberty (with lower Manhattan in the background) is a symbol that many Americans see as representing freedom.

Hi everyone,

I enjoyed the conversations today in class, as usual. It is nice to have a little bit of balance between all of the freshmen (who I love, don't get me wrong) I have and you all. Read on for the recap!

Soundtrack: "Free Fallin'" by Tom Petty. Chosen for today because of the connection to our look at the financial collapse in 2008 (when our economy was free falling) and because of the chapter title of "free enterprise." Lyrics are here.


AGENDA 3/6/13:
Warm Up
Out of the Hedges
Chapter 2 LT PowerPoint
Review Packet

Homework: Read the blog. Work on review packet so you can finish in class on Friday.
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Warm Up: The question (#9) for today was: Why do the keypad buttons on drive-up automatic teller machines have Braille dots?

I heartily enjoyed the few responses we had on this. The real answer is that 1) it would cost more to change the keypads for specific drive up ATMs and 2) the US government requires that all ATMs have Braille dots for blind people, regardless of where they are located.

Out of the Hedges: We continued listening to "Another Frightening Show About the Economy" from NPR/This American Life. Today, we heard Part 2 of the podcast, which was titled "Out of the Hedges and Into the Woods." As usual, I scrolled through the transcript as we listened to the reasons behind why the economy crashed in 2008.

This time, however, your assignment was to make a graphic representation (a picture of some sort, for instance, or a political cartoon) of what the section was about. You could have drawn a ticking time bomb, a pyramid, or anything that you could connect to what you were listening to. I will check this off in your next notebook check.

Chapter 2 LT PowerPoint: I finished up with the Chapter 2 PowerPoint. If you do not have the learning targets written out, they are here for you to review and complete for credit:

Google Drive: Free Enterprise - Chapter 2 PowerPoint

Please be sure to ask questions if you are confused! Be very familiar with the pillars of free enterprise and the circular flow of the economy, for sure.

Review Packet: For the last bit of class, I passed out this review packet and we started it. Next class, you will finish it and we will review for your Chapter 2 test next Wednesday (the only time we meet next week, so treat it like a final, or something).

There are multiple copies left in class, but if you want to get a start (if you missed class or lost your copy), here is the packet to download:

Google Drive: Chapter 2 Review Packet

That is it for today! Next class, we will continue with the podcast, finish the review (and go through it), and prep for the Chapter 2 test. See you on Friday!

Period 6: Free Enterprise, Day 3

Today's warm up had to do with flights to and from Hawaii. Here's a picture I took from the top of Diamond's Head crater, looking out on Honolulu and the Pacific Ocean. Why would you want to leave this, if you didn't have to for business? That was a main reason why airfares are higher from Hawaii to the mainland.

Hi everyone,

Another good class today - I'm sort of glad that we did not finish the PowerPoint, because it meant less talking by me during class! We will pick back up next class. If you would like to review, the presentation is below.

Soundtrack: "Regulate" by Warren G and Nate Dogg. Picked for today because the regulation of Wall Street and the mortgage backed securities was sorely lacking before the financial crisis. Lyrics (somewhat dirty, but not too bad) here.

AGENDA 3/4/13:

Warm Up/LT Check

Another Frightening Show

Chapter 2 LT PowerPoint

Homework: Read the blog. Finish learning targets if you did not already!

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Warm Up: The warm up question for today (#8 overall) was: Why are round-trip fares from Hawaii to the mainland higher than the corresponding fares from the mainland to Hawaii?

I talked a little bit about this above, but the reason is because vacation travelers have all sorts of opportunity costs at play with where they select to go to. Thus, airlines need to be competitive for the vacation travelers from the mainland, where the most frequent passenger from Hawaii to the mainland are business people, which really HAVE to be on a flight (there isn't much choice there).

While you were writing the warm up, I was checking off completed learning targets. If you did these for today, you get to use a note card on the Chapter 2 test. If you did not complete them, you still need to get them done ASAP!

Another Frightening Show: We listened to the first part of this podcast: ThisAmericanLife.org - "Another Frightening Show About the Economy" Here's the transcript and definitions that we looked at in class: 

Google Drive: "Another Frightening Show" Definitions and Part 1 Transcript

You need to have these definitions written down. At the end of this section, I had students write in your economics notebooks to put the podcast in your own words. We will continue doing this in future classes, too.

Chapter 2 LT PowerPoint: We were able to get through about half of the presentation. Next class, we will finish this. Thanks for taking notes and paying attention. Here it is if you want to preview next class, or review what I talked about in class:

Google Drive: Chapter 2 - Free Enterprise Learning Targets PowerPoint

See you on Wednesday!