Week Sixteen - Podcast Project

This Week (and Last Week)

I apologize I didn't get an update posted last week, but I was in Washington DC with my JCOWA students for the annual Academic WorldQuest Competition, put on by the World Affairs Council of America. We had a lot of fun, and you can check out our picture album on our Dayton JCOWA Facebook page.

This is our team with the European Union Ambassador David O'Sullivan! We got to visit the embassy.

Throughout this short week (no school for students Friday!) students have been working on their podcast projects. You canfind stories and links to our continuing podcast on our Facebook Page and listen to them on iTunes. The exciting thing this year is that we are continuing their work from their Government class from last semester as many groups are researching what the economic impact of Matthew's Bill will be on families, small and large businesses, and the greater economy in Ohio. I'm excited to have students working on this project and to be able to have Ms. Helton in the classroom to work on this with the students! Please check out their Facebook page and Website to learn more about the legislation that they wrote!

Today we were also very lucky to have with us Lewis Wallace of WYSO, NPR's only news station in the Miami Valley. I'm a big WYSO fan, so it was an exciting visit for me! He is an economics reporter for WYSO whose stories on the rollout of the Affordable Care Act won two 2013 Public Radio News Directors Incorporated awards for continuing coverage (first place) and best news feature (second place). We can't thank him enough for speaking to the kids today and sharing his "tricks of the trade" with the class!

Students today had an awesome opportunity as they listened to Lewis Wallace of WYSO (91.3) speak to them about how to turn their podcast ideas into stories. Thanks so much to Lewis for coming in and sharing his knowledge with our class!

Students also had to submit their long-term and short-term portfolio trackers (Parts I and II) today and their essays (Part III) to my Dropbox or turn-in tray today. This will wrap up our stock market simulation.

 

Upcoming Week

Next week students will continue working on their podcasts and scripting what they're going to say. Lewis also gave us some insight into research that I've not previously known to tell students about, which is the American Community Survey from the US Census Bureau.

As we are continuing our research, please consider filling out the form below if you're willing to talk to students about an Economics topic. Students are encouraged to talk to experts, but I'm also looking for people who have experience in a variety of ways, including people who have been (or are) unemployed, have gone through the process of purchasing a home, have experience working in a certain sector of the economy (like service industry or manufacturing), or some other experience that might be useful in their stories. The most important thing is that you're willing to talk with our students. I can't guarantee the students will choose to reach out to you, but it's always helpful knowing who they could talk to about something they're interested in. So please fill out this form if you're willing to be interviewed.

You can find the help form here. You just need to be willing to talk to students. We all have had some kind of experience with Economics.

Have a great weekend!

~Mr. Grieve

Week Fourteen - Macroeconomics

This Week

We covered a lot this week in our unit on Macroeconomics, looking at the Federal Reserve, GDP, Unemployment, Inflation (and the Consumer Price Index), and the supply of money. More importantly, however, today is the final day of our stock market simulation! As of noon, Mr. Grieve was behind many teams, although still beating a few. Markets close at 4:00PM. Those students who end the simulation with a higher return on investment than Mr. Grieve will receive donuts, which I will pay for, because THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH!!!

Here's where we're at around noon today ~

Upcoming Week

Next week the portfolio assignment will be due on Friday. This is what students will be working on during their Plan E time on Monday (don't forget there's no school Monday, 4/20/15!). When we return, we'll finish up macroeconomics on Tuesday by looking at the Balance of Payments, then we'll have a review period on Wednesday and a test over the unit on Thursday.

After we end Macroeconomics, we'll have our final project, which is the Local Economics Podcast Project. For this project, if you're interested in helping our students out I would love for you to fill out our volunteer form here. You don't have to be an economic expert - that's the task of the student! We just want to know what you do so if they have an idea of a question they want to research (like the WPAFB, or US Military Employment, or manufacturing in Dayton, or anything really) they'll know people who work in that field who are willing to be interviewed. Honestly, the only thing that matters is if you're willing to be interviewed, as we have an actual podcast (which you can download and listen to here), so you have to be willing to let us post it online. Be sure to subscribe as well!

Please check out the project Facebook page too and 'like' us so that you'll see when your son or daughter's podcast is published.

Also, I'm excited to announce that I'll be gone (that's not why I'm excited) next Friday because my students placed 1st for the second year in a row in the annual Junior Council on World Affairs competition, so we'll be traveling to Washington DC next week!  Here's the team, wish them luck and 'like' our Facebook page if you want to follow our travels next week/weekend!

Have a great weekend!

~Mr. Grieve

Week Thirteen - Finishing up on budgeting

This Week

Students today submitted the essays about their budgets. Yesterday they turned in their actual budgets, which should be graded by the end of next week. I'm letting students revise up to 100% on the budget portion of this project for the full 20 points possible.

With just one week to go, this week's stock market simulation is starting to look like a race! Unfortunately it's a race I'm losing right now to many, as my portfolio value is only -.33%. One more week to go!

Group 7 is running away with it on the final stretch!

Upcoming Week

Next week students will begin our final unit on Macroeconomics as we seek to understand the larger economy and how it works and is measured. We will also wrap up our stock market simulation and see who the winner is. Don't forget too that next week is tax day!

Look out for an email soon on registering for parent/teacher conferences. I'm making myself available during the day and after school since we have 10th grade job shadowing on April 15th, so if that's more convenient for you then you can schedule a time to meet with me then.

Have a great weekend,

~Mr. Grieve