Period 6: What is Economics? Day 3

Three cars in Bogota, Colombia in 2009. The colors of the Colombian flag! 
I wonder if they all have gas tank doors on the same side?

Hi everyone,

Wow, a LOT of talking from me today in class. I hope that it helped you understand what the learning targets to Chapter 1 are, because if it didn't, I'm pretty sure I just bored everyone out of your minds. Let me know how I might be able to improve in the future, if possible!

Soundtrack: “Tell Me What You Want (And I’ll Give You What You Need)” by The Doobie Brothers. Chosen for today because of our looking at how a market economy works, with the "want-satisfaction" chain. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/11/13:

Warm Up/LT Check

Chapter 1 PowerPoint

The Story of Stuff

Homework: Read the blog (comment if you have not already), review Chapter 1 learning targets.

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Warm Up/LT Check: Today's warm up (#2) was answering this question - Why do cars have gas tank doors on different sides? 

Lots of good opinions here. Here's the answer to the question, from an economist's perspective: PBS.org - Why Do Cars Have Fuel Doors on Different Sides?

During this time, I went around the room to check and see if students had completed the chapter 1 learning targets. If you did complete this by today, you will get to use a note card on the chapter 1 test. If you did not finish them yet, you will still need to have them done by the notebook check.

Chapter 1 PowerPoint: Wow, again, so long. I would have had the class take a break in the middle if I had known it would take that amount of time to go through. I really appreciated all of the responses, possible examples, and questions! One question that was brought up was the difference between "Opportunity Cost" and "Marginal Cost." Here's a better explanation than what I was able to give in class.

Here is the Chapter 1 PowerPoint to review again for your upcoming test. If you did not complete your learning targets, this contains the answers.

Google Drive: Chapter 1 - What is Economics? PowerPoint

I think this section went well, even if it was really lengthy. Thank you for hanging in there with me!

The Story of Stuff: We made it about halfway through this controversial film. Again, I am not saying that the video is right or wrong. I do think it is an interesting perspective that is worth listening to and discussing. We will come back to this next class. If you missed it, we were able to get to about 9:47 in, and the class is taking notes on the five stages it addresses: Extraction – Production – Distribution – Consumption - Disposal

Here is a link to the video: YouTube.com - The Story of Stuff (2007)

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We will come back to this next class, then begin the Chapter 1 review. Some of you asked when the Chapter 1 test would be. At this rate, it will be next Wednesday (remember that there is no school on Monday).

Period 6: What Is Economics? Day 2

The warm up today was about soda and newspaper vending machines. This is a picture from a supermarket in San Jose, Costa Rica that I took in 2011. Apparently Coca-Cola is in abundant supply there!

Dear class,

I really appreciated the focus and effort today, especially during the reading time for Chapter 1. You are off to a great start! Remember that if terms/questions do not make sense, we will be going over them again and again in the upcoming classes.

Soundtrack: “That’s Life” by Frank Sinatra. Chosen because there is an element of "that's life" with this class, simply because we are going to make sure what we are learning is gone over multiple times in multiple ways. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/7/13:

Warm Up/Letters Back

Miniature Earth

Read Chapter 1

Homework: Finish learning target questions for next class (for notes on test).
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Warm Up: The first warm up question of the year was: "Why are newspapers, but not soft drinks, sold in vending machines that allow customers to take more units than they pay for?" As with every class from now on, I had you get out your economics notebooks (it was part of your homework to get one) and respond to the warm up question. There were some interesting responses! The main concept I wanted to make sure we went over was Marginal Utility (in this case, the diminishing marginal utility of extra newspapers vs. extra sodas).

Miniature Earth: Next, I showed the class this short film about some interesting statistics in regards to world inequality and had students respond to the prompt: "Why is this relevant to economics?" Here is the video that we watched:

The main concept here was "scarcity" - basically, that there are almost unlimited human desires for resources and a limited (or scarce) amount of them.

Read Chapter 1: After discussing the video for a while, I gave the class the first learning targets to read and know in Chapter 1. The rest of the class was devoted to quietly reading and writing the answers to these. Here is the learning target sheet, if you lost it or missed class:

Economics Chapter 1 Learning Target Questions

Again, if you have these questions done by the start of next class, you will get to use a note card on the chapter test. Next class, we will be going through a PowerPoint very thoroughly (I know, I know, but necessary so that everyone understands the terms) to continue preparing for the first chapter test.

Period 6: What Is Economics? Day 1

As part of my letter to the class, I mentioned that I went to the Olympics in London last summer. This is a picture of my view for the Opening Ceremony. I have this framed on my wall. :-)

Hello everyone!

Thank you for a great first class. Obviously, we had quite a lot to go over. I appreciated your attention during the syllabus and letter reading, and I hope it was somewhat interesting! I am really looking forward to learning all of your names and getting to know you a bit better. On to the recap:

Soundtrack: “Changes” by 2Pac. Lyrics here. I always use this song for new classes, because I hope that my classroom is at least a little bit of a change from what you are used to.

AGENDA 2/5/13:
Introduction to Class
Course Syllabus
Letter to Class/Mr. Fritz
What is Economics?

Homework: Have your syllabus signed by parent and returned. Get a spiral notebook for class. Check the blog, post a comment!
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Introduction to Class: I went over how the class will run, including the fact that you will now have second lunch after our period meets. On most days, that means you will come directly to N116 after Period 4, and our class will start at 11:30 AM. We made this change because many of you have early release from school - meaning you will be free to go after our class meets. That saves you a whole 32 minutes. It also means that Economics is harder to skip. :-)

Course Syllabus: I read over the course syllabus, which we would like you to have signed by a parent/guardian. Especially have them note the blog address, so they can follow along if they want to. If you somehow lost the paper, you can download and print off another here:

Google Docs: Economics Semester 2 Syllabus

Letter to Class/Mr. Fritz: I always start my classes off with a letter from me, so you can get to know a little more about who I am as a person and a teacher. I also had you write back to me - I asked for around a page. As I said above, I am really looking forward to reading these and responding! I really appreciate your effort here.

What is Economics? For the last part of class, I had you respond to this question: "Why are there more students in each class this year?" I really enjoyed the brainstorming of responses. We did not quite have enough time to talk through it all, but I did mention that economics can be divided into two main areas of study: microeconomics (smaller in scope) and macroeconomics (bigger). The study of both of these provides the answer to everyday questions such as the one I posed. Look forward to more of this type of questioning during our warm up time.

Please remember to bring a notebook, your signed syllabus, and post a comment here on the blog for next class! Let me know if you need help with any of these. Thank you again for a great first day!