Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Economics Lesson

We have been studying economy in social studies for the last few weeks. I personally find economy pretty fascinating however the boys seem to rather have their eyes plucked out than sit through an economy lesson. I know that they just didn't have much to relate to when it came to our discussions... so I decided to do a simulation in class to demonstrate the idea of supply and demand.

First, I rounded up all the pencils in the school before the boys showed up. I cleaned out the drawers, their desks, and even my desk to make sure there was not chance of them finding a pencil anywhere. Then when it was time for social studies class I asked all the boys to grab a pencil and head to the main table.

Of course they didn't think twice when they couldn't find a pencil at their desk so the meandered over to the big drawer to get another one and... HARK! There was none to be found!

I then told them that I was now the supplier of all the pencils and that for them to be able to complete the lesson in social studies they would need a pencil for their work... therefore the demand was great.

We had a long discussion about supply and demand and what would happen if I started charging for pencils or if there was another location in which they could get pencils at school.

We then talked about the idea of collateral and that is when I got to have some fun.


I told the boys that they could either pay me to have a pencil or give me collateral for the use of a pencil during class. Quinn decided to give some collateral.

Collateral at the Monhegan School = A shoe.

Quinn's response to this lesson on supply and demand and a mini lesson on collateral... "This is absolutely ridiculous!"

I bet he won't forget it though. Ah, I love being a teacher.

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