Cantu Chapter #10

For chapter 10 of Cantu's book we continue dissecting the core areas of social studies, and for chapter 10 it is economics. There were many standards presented in this chapter that offer very unique perspectives. I think the standards help make economics seem simple and less scary to someone who does not have particularly the best skill set within economics. I know when myself and others hear the word economics they think politics, numbers, and scary terminology, but it really does not have to be that way!

I believe economics is an extremely important core of social studies, and unfortunately is often overlooked when high school students chose a social studies elective. There was always a joke between my friends and I that, "I may know the biological make-up of a cell, but I do not know how to do my taxes or make an investment". The frustrating part of economics for me is that I think it is very interesting, but I struggle with it. I was not given a proper economic education growing up and I believe that is to blame. I believe an economic education should begin as young as possible, so when graduation comes along teens can make positive economic decisions and have a great understanding of how the Global and U.S economy works.

My big question for this Monday is: even you are teaching in a school without an economic course, how will you integrate it into the classes you teach?

An unfortunate yet great tool we have as future history teachers is living through a recession. In most cases we will not be able to reach that far into history, we do have the Great Depression. A wonderful lesson you could teach would be to do an assignment or some kind of  project comparing and contrasting the two.

Some funny cartoons (:
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This link provides unique lesson plans and interesting information on economic education.
http://www.econedlink.org/