Sunday, January 30, 2011

Economics Assignment due 2/3 or 2/4

An illustrated Economics Textbook assignment is due the last period this week. This assignment is 1/12 the value of your 5 week progress report and NO make-up of the assignment will be allowed if you choose not to complete it.

The assignment has a number of requirments;
1) Your book MUST be covered in a paper bag. No, you may not use the Trader Joe's bags from Leadership. Use the underside of the bag so the maximum free area of the craft paper can be utilized for your illustration(s).

2) Illustrate your book cover either in COLOR, or the absence of color (pencil, or single color).

3) Your illustration(s) must include these components -
a. Your selection of a California Content Standard in Economics (click the link) or The National Council of Economic Education Basic Concepts in Economics (from Pages xxviii- Page1 in our book)including your interpretation of which Principles of Economic Reasoning are applied.
b. A cut-and-paste Economic Political Cartoon, or an original drawing you produce which carries a premium of 50% credit for this assignment.
c. Your selection of a Publicly Traded Company stock symbol for a company you would consider obtaining a career with. Include the current price per share, the 52-Week high and low price, and the current marked capitalization - All available of google.com/finance
d. A cut-and-paste Wordle of your preferred Chapter of focus, including key vocabulary in that chapter, plus enough additional vocab terms from within our book to total 25 VOCABULARY TERMS. This printout should be simple, mostly BLACK text on White background so you can print it from the classroom printer. Please ask permission before using the printer. SEE EXAMPLE TO YOUR LEFT

I'm highly confident you could also double-dip (get two things accomplished with one activity) this assignment and convert at least half of your investment into an Event!!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Economics "Event" Opportunity

By watching the video below, you should easily come up with 2 or 3 key vocabulary words within the Economic Reasoning Principles with which you could complete an EVENT. Watch the State of the Union tonight, write a 750 word narrative analysis of what you learned from viewing the address and how you can learn more about certain vocabulary during the semester and turn it in either Thursday or Friday for 1 Event Credit.

The State of The Union Address is on all network channels tonight beginning at 6:00 pm.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Economics - What is an "Event"

Look at "Events" as an individualized study opportunity where you, as the student, take nearly FULL control over your learning for up to 30 percent of your grade. Remember these specific components are necessary in order to complete an "Event".
  1. It should take you about 120 minutes per event. This includes the initial discovery process, the compilation of your response, and the final construction of your event. An example will be at the bottom of this post.
  2. Your "event" should be specific to material that is covered in our textbook in order that you are complimenting your learning and can apply what you have learned to possible topics that will be covered in class AND on a possible assessment in the future.
  3. You must complete 15 individual and DISTINCT events. There should be NO REPEATS. While it would be ideal if you could just replicate a successful event and apply it to a different topic, the whole point is to expand your learning and improve overall success as a LIFE-LONG LEARNER.
  4. You MAY partner or team up for an event with one or more fellow students, AND the students may belong to ANY of the Economics periods. EACH student should invest the same amount of time completing their event. It is entirely possible that different students would come away from the same experience with a different learning. Again, look at the examples at the bottom of this post.
  5. An event may be completed in less than 120 minutes. The event MUST be thorough and complete and address at least TWO glossary terms that are linked logically. Using vocabulary from the same chapter, or section within a chapter will help you accomplish this. You could complete a shorter time-length event if you previously invested more than 2 hours on a single event that took more time.
  6. Use your creativity and imagination and I am confident you can discover numerous possible events. You only need to complete 15 throughout the semester.
  7. Events are due on the last day of the week and earn up to 2% of your semester grade. If your event is weak or demonstrates a lack of detail I may challenge you to perform additional duties in order to accept the event for full credit. You could possibly earn 1% with the option of completing the additional work that you will negotiate with me.
  8. Events turned in ONE block day late will be discounted 50 percent to a maximum of 1% credit. Events submitted after this time will not earn credit for that week. It is better to submit some evidence that you were working on an event than to miss the event entirely. Expect me (the government) to challenge you if your work appears suspect. I will not accept any academic work that is disingenuous (cheating). Do not submit work that I can perform a simple google search and locate your source material.
  9. Take pride in your education and enjoy the opportunities of harvesting new learnings by taking control of your education outside the classroom.
EXAMPLES -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  • Chose an area of interest within the Economics book and conduct a google book search. Read about that topic for about 1 hour, then invest the other hour in composing a 750 word document on what your learned and how you could apply this learning to your future. Consider how you would improve career prospects. This example is "Supply and Demand" and you will find it in our textbook.
  • This next example comes from a student - Play a game of monopoly outside of classroom. The game could take several hours to complete and may in fact take a few days. Record economic concepts your encounter during the game (monopoly - of course, money exchange, greed, savings, financial literacy, math, etc.) Compose a narrative of your experience and what you learned.
  • Produce a Prezi on a chapter, or several key economic terms.