Drought and the Free Market

Thanks to Phil Cox on the AP Economics Teachers site on Facebook for this one.  Here is an article that discusses the fact that alfalfa growers in the West get to use water beyond what is necessary and if the free market were instituted for water use, we would see far less drought conditions among our western states.  

Elasticity and College Textbooks

Thanks to Rich Hoppock for this one.   Planet Money has a lot of great stories that can put teaching economics squarely in the real world.  Here is a story on how students are buying far fewer new textbooks in college,  It would be a great exercise to address with your students as to the in-elasticity of new textbooks and the growing elasticity of other ways to get books.  

Quizlet Review for AP Microeconomics

After the coming week my students will be half way through AP microeconomics and so I am giving them this set of review cards from my favorite review guide, 5 Steps to a 5.  While we haven't hit the last fifteen vocabulary words, the rest will be a super review for the kids.  

Very Short and Clear Explanation of ATC, AVC, AFC and MC

Mr. Clifford has a plethora of short super explanations to help you teach economics.  I particularly like the one above on marginal cost, average total cost, average fixed costs and average variable costs as it is the concept my students are learning about tonight via a flipped video and tomorrow we will review and over which we will complete our problem set.

Price Controls and Freakonomics

If you want to make economics relevant to your students one site to see if Freakonomics.  Above is a podcast from the site which discusses "fitness apartheid" in New York City.   It looks at rent control, rear doors for people paying less and even asks if having first class airport seats is discriminatory.

The Federal Reserve's Lesson Plans

The Federal Reserve of St. Louis has a number of lesson plans completely written up and ready to go including podcasts that explain key concepts as well as are written out.  You can find them here. 

Personal Finance Simulator Units for Your Students

Two of the courses I teach are AP Micro/Macro and Economics and Personal Finance.  The latter is online and one of the tools we use is EverFi to make sure the students are both learning and practicing personal finance.  It is a nice tool that is free and gives the teacher student scores as you go through the unit.  Scores are on a 100% basis so it is easily transferable into a grade.  Above is an overview, here are videos on how to set it up and use it.