Week Four - Personal Finance continued

This Week

Monday of course was a Plan E day, and students were provided with a video that I had actually made on the exact same day a year ago for another Plan E day going over how compound interest works. Students were asked to turn in this assignment on Wednesday after we heard from Gabe Landes on Tuesday. Mr. Landes is a local insurance agent who speaks to my students each semester about auto, home, life, and disability insurance by explaining that the purpose of each of these wealth-protecting tools is to collect a small amount of money from a lot of individuals in order to pay for the unexpected claims of a few. Students asked lots of questions and he had an answer for all of them. Thanks for coming again, Gabe!

This was Gabe Landes' 8th time speaking to my Econ class - thanks Gabe!

On Wednesday we continued our look at personal finance. Because students have had so many great questions, we are taking things slowly as we work through the unit, so we are still talking about credit and what it is, how it works, and how to increase your credit score. As two teachers verified for the class on Thursday, this is the kind of stuff they didn't hear in high school that they wish they'd known before entering college!

Upcoming Week

Next week we will be continuing our look at personal finance before eventually moving onto our dream vacation project.

Have a great weekend!

~Mr. Grieve

Week Three - Personal Finance

This Week

Students are continuing their study of personal finance after having taken the first test over the basic concepts of Economics. Students did well, with an 85.33% class average (and no failures!) Nice work to everyone. I also explained how to do revisions for future tests and urged students to take advantage of the review sheet opportunities in the future, which only one student did this time. 

Our studies this week have included human capital, personal taxes, and checking. The homework assignment today focused on how to keep a checkbook and how to reconcile your checkbook register with your bank statement. Students may need help with this over the weekend, so it would be a great "bonding" opportunity for the two of you!

Today's homework (front side)

Upcoming Week

Next week we'll be continuing our discussion of microeconomics with more personal finance topics, looking at things like how credit, credit cards, and credit scores work. It should be fun!

Have a great weekend,

~Mr. Grieve

Week Two - Economics Basics

This Week

This week we wrapped up the "Basics of Economics" unit, finishing up by explaining how market equilibrium works and how "ceteris paribus" is rare in the real world - the economy changes rapidly and different parts of the economy affect one another. Students saw this today by graphing supply and demand for their own product and creating scenarios in which supply and demand would shift one way or another.

For those who are still having trouble, I would recommend checking out the website linked under the picture below.

Check out this website for a place where you can go to see an interactive supply and demand curve.

Upcoming Week

On Wednesday, we will have our first "Quest," which is what I call my quizzes/tests, as they're generally longer than quizzes but shorter than tests. This one will cover everything we've learned to date, and there is now a review sheet posted online for students to study. When I return students' work next Tuesday, they will be able to review that as well before we begin.

Aside from that, we will begin our study of microeconomics by beginning to study personal finance next week. Students will be learning how to balance their checkbooks, boost their credit score, and more during this unit.

Have a great weekend!

~Mr. Grieve

Week One - (Semester Two)

This Week

This was a unique first week for my Economics class! I admit to struggling with figuring out what to assign students given that they only had one day's worth of class time with me to introduce the course before having three days' worth of successive Plan E days, but I hope that the assignments provided helped them practice the skills they would need to be successful in the class (such as learning about how to make up assignments) and that they were able to get an understanding of some new concepts, like Opportunity Cost and the Production Possibilities Frontier.

Today, we went back over both of these topics in class before moving on to what I had initially had planned for Tuesday, which was talking about different types of economic systems, how economies answer the "three essential questions" differently, and how to create a demand schedule and a demand curve. Students had a fun homework assignment that they may need to interview you for in order to complete it (if they didn't do so while in class today).

Upcoming Week

Due to the Plan E confusion that always happens as a result of Plan E, I am not counting anything late until next Monday so that students have time to make up assignments that they may not have had given the high work load assigned by many teachers. I hope this helps.

In terms of content, next week we will continue with our unit on the "basics of economics," looking at how supply curves are formed and how shifts in supply and demand curves are different from movement along those curves. In short, we will learn the foundational concepts of the study of Economics.

Depending on how quickly we move through the material, we may have a test next Thursday. Otherwise, it will likely be the Tuesday after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as I need to re-assess how my plans were impacted by the weather. Hopefully the bitter cold is over, *knock on wood*!

If you have any questions, as always, please feel free to email me at arch.grieve@wright.edu.

Have a great weekend!

~Mr. Grieve

Plan E Day Announced (Early!)

Students and Parents,

If you'd like to get a head start on tomorrow's assignment for Econ, it's already been posted. Check out my Pilot Page. You are not required to attend my Pilot Live session, but if you have questions I will do my best to make sure I can make it work this time! I've worked with Mr. Slone today to try and troubleshoot the problems I've been having with it and I think it will work now.

Either way, have a great Thursday!

~Mr. Grieve

1/7/15 - Pilot Problems

All,

I am having Pilot Live problems. As a result, there will be no Pilot Live session for class today. Please complete the assignments as listed on my Pilot News Feed today. Please email me if you have any questions at arch.grieve@wright.edu.

Have a great day,

~Mr. Grieve

Plan E!

Students and Parents,

Please check my Pilot Page for Plan E instructions. I did not have a Pilot Live session, but assignments have been posted since 5:30AM.

Thanks, and enjoy the "day off"!

~Mr. Grieve

Welcome to 2nd Semester!

Welcome to Mr. Grieve's Economics blog! With our class sizes growing at DRSS, my goal for the 2014-2015 school year is to update this regularly with some of the cool stuff we're doing so that parents have an idea of what is happening in our Economics class. I also hope to use this blog to give some shout-outs to students who have done a great job on assignments or in their demonstration of comprehension throughout the year.

We have an exciting semester planned. For those of you don't know anything about me, allow me to provide a brief bio:

• I've been teaching at DRSS since 2010 and am in my fifth year of teaching.
• I also teach Modern World History, so many of you already know me from last year.
• I teach the STEM On Wheels (biking) STEMmersion with Mrs. Curran. 
• I've been married now for 10 years to my wife, Amanda, and have a dog named Jetti.

  

  I'm on the left, next to wife Amanda. My dad is in plaid, who is also named Arch. My mom Tammie (also a teacher) and brother Patrick are also pictured along with their pugs.

• I'm an advisor for JCOWA, the Junior Council on World Affairs, which is a student organization that learns about world affairs and competes in two annual competitions. Last year we got to go to the national competition in Washington, D.C.! The quiz bowl is coming up soon in February, so hopefully we can go back. I hope some of you will consider joining next year, as we have a lot of fun. Check out this student-produced video to see why others have joined!

  

  The 2014 Dayton JCOWA Team in DC for the national competition

• I'm a graduate student at Wright State, where I'm pursuing two master's degrees, one in International and Comparative Politics and another in Public Administration.
• I'm a member of the Xenia School Board.
• You can learn more about me on my digital portfolio.

I encourage you to reach out to me with any questions or concerns you have throughout the year regarding your student's performance and/or the class in general. You can reach me at arch.grieve@wright.edu, and I am very responsive to email. I also hope you will subscribe to the blog so you can get the updates whenever I put up a new post. It's a two-step process, starting with the "Follow me via email" box at the top right of this page. If done correctly, you should receive an email asking to join and then a confirmation email letting you know that you've done so correctly.

I'm looking forward to an exciting year!

~Mr. Grieve