Summary: Weekly outline for teaching Microeconomics.

This week I covered Morton activities, 13, 14, 15, 15, 17, and 18 in microeconomics. I use Virtual Economics for easy electronic access to the activities. I have found that the discussion on each activity reinforces the textbook concepts. As a wrap-up to Activity 15, Demand and Marginal Utility, I explain marginal decision making. A pencast of my wrap-up is here. If you use Capstone: Exemplary Lessons for High School Economics, Unit 4, Lesson 23, "Do the Math" emphasizes using marginal decision making in all activities.

What acronyms do you use to help students remember demand and supply shifters? In the next blog, I'll tell you mine.

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About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, IA. He is an EconEdLink.org author, and also publishes the Mikeroeconomics and iMacroeconomics VB blogs.

Resources for Educators

Summary: A site link with economic resources organized by category.

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A comprehensive list of resources for teachers of economics can be found here. On this site you will find news media, organizations and associations, Internet guides, software, teaching resources, blogs, commentaries, and podcasts and more. The site is edited by Bill Goffe Dept. of Economics, SUNY Oswego. If you want a game to simulate or illustrate an economic concept, you'll find it on this site.

About the Author: Mike Fladlien is an AP Economics teacher from Muscatine High School in Muscatine, IA. He is an EconEdLink.org author, and also publishes the Mikeroeconomics and iMacroeconomics VB blogs.

Jason Welker's Blog

Mr. Welker challenges his students to read and comment on economic topics. Here is a perfect example how he uses computers to enhance classroom learning.

Week's Lesson Plan

How does the pace of your class compare to mine? I start building fundamentals with reinforcement. I believe that when a student is frustrated on an exam question, they will start making mistakes. When a student starts to break down, I want them to fall back to fundamentals that the student knows is absolutely true. I hope students can predict right answers because they are thinking in line with generally accepted economic fundamentals. With that philosophy, I covered demand this week. The topics I covered were:

1. Diminishing Marginal Utility
2. Income Effect
3. Substitution Effect
4. Change in Quantity Demanded
5. Change in Demand
6. Accurate graphing of the demand curve on a white board
7. Law of Demand

I reinforced concepts 1 through 7 with Morton activities, 13, 14, and 15. I also assigned textbook reading from my text, Krugman-Wells, and workbook activities that accompany the text.

A typical week includes three days of lecture and two days of class time work. My class also meets on Wednesday night on a volunteer basis to extra work.

How does your schedule differ from mine? What are your thoughts on giving students class time to work on assignments?

FRQ

Social networking is a way of learning from some of the best. On his website, David Mayer, provides many resources for all levels of teaching expertise on economics. A rubric of both micro and macro free response questions is on his site here.

I have found that the best teachers who signal their passion often make a long-lasting impact on their students. Signaling might include using different resources and multiple learning channels. I recommend Virtual Economics in addition to the textbook.

Mr. Tim Schilling maintains a blog devoted to ancillary resources with many valuable links to articles and videos. His blog is valuable for all levels of economics.

Free Response Questions

The free response questions on the AP test are an application of economic concepts and not a long normative expository. Many of the "essay" questions involve short sentence answers, interpretation of graphs, and explain graphs and concepts. The CollegeBoard provides generous examples of free response questions along with scoring guidelines and suggested answers. Questions from all macro tests from 1999 until 2009 can be found here. Microeconomics is here.

It has been my experience that the free response questions integrate the entire semester's content, so I leave two weeks at the end of the semester for working on the essay part of the test. I make sure that students can draw graphs that include directional arrows and accurate labels. I went to Menards and bought white paneling and had the industrial tech department cut the paneling into 2 X 2 sections. I use those sections as whiteboards for students to practice graphing. This is how I make sure that students use the appropriate labels, arrows, and curves.
Students like to be able to erase mistakes immediately. I have also found that working on the essay questions solidifies content and allows students see the relevance of the course structure.

If you use the free response questions, make sure you do not post the questions electronically. Also, you can apply to be a test reader too!

Princeton Review

The Princeton Review is an excellent source for AP Micro and Macro review. The content is explained clearly and can be learned and relearned quickly.

The Amazon product description reads in part,

All you need to study and prepare for the AP Economics exams is in this test-prep book — Cracking the AP Economics Macro & Micro Exams, 2010 Edition includes:

•2 full-length AP Economics practice tests with detailed explanations
•Proven test-taking strategies from the experts to help you score higher on your AP
•Review of all Economics AP topics covered, such as systems of government, economic decisions, firm production, costs, revenues and aggregate demand
•AP review questions in every chapter
•Tables, charts and diagrams to help you understand and retain even more for the test
•And much more!

I have used earlier versions of this guide with great success over the past 9 years.