Merry Christmas!

Although it's been said many times, many ways... Merry Christmas to all my students!

I have the greatest job in the world, thanks to you guys.

Have fun with your family and friends this Christmas break, and enjoy your fellow student Juan singing the Ave Maria at our recent assembly.

See you next year!

Some of you definitely have a future in advertising.

There were some excellent presentations in class today.  Lots of good research, some terrific PowerPoints (plus a Prezi!), and some fired-up speakers (I'm talking to you, Ben).

We are just two class days, a weekend, and three exam days away from Christmas vacation.  You can make it!

For your information - the exam schedule:

Monday, December 17
     English, Social Studies
Tuesday, December 18
     Math, World Languages
Wednesday, December 19
     Religion, Science

Projects due in class tomorrow

Tomorrow you are going to present your projects, and you are going to help me with the grading.  I will ask you to keep these factors in mind as you honestly assess your classmates’ projects:

·                     Did they do a good job convincing you to buy their product?

·                     Did they give a professional presentation to the class?

·                     Were there facts and figures to back up their advertising claims?

·                     Did they produce an effective "magazine ad" advertising their product?

·                     Did they do thorough research in making their project?

·                     Did they have a proper Works Cited list?

·                     Was their report largely mistake-free (spelling, facts, etc.)?

·                     Did they apply what they learned about Economics to their report?

fun facts about your project

You need to know these things about your project:

• it is worth 100 points
• it is the main method of assessment for our Economic Geography unit
• it is to be completely ready to present at the start of class Wednesday
• it should reflect concepts learned during the video and class discussions
• it will be graded by me, but with some peer-review input from you
• its first slide should include the title and the names of the entire group
• its last slide should be your Works Cited list
• your Works Cited list should include articles you researched 
• your Works Cited list should not include images you used
• one slide will be a full-page "magazine ad" advertising your product

As always, let me know if you have any questions.

More info on your project

Let's make sure we're all "on the same page" regarding this project.  All sections will work on this project together in class on Monday.  All sections will present their projects in class on Wednesday.  Thus, you will have had Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday (in class), and Tuesday to work on this assignment.  Therefore, it should be fantastic.  When you created this Google presentation in class on Friday, all group members provided their Gmail addresses so you could collaborate and contribute to the project over the weekend.  If you decide to only work on this project during class, it will probably not be as fantastic.  The assignment is worth 100 points, so it is worth giving it your best shot.

Please email me at rschick@johncarroll.org if you have questions.

project time

You work for a marketing company and you have been assigned the task of convincing people to buy things that are made in America.  There’s a catch!  Another team in the office has been given the task of convincing people to buy cheaper goods made outside of the United States.  May the most convincing team win.

Each team is responsible for coming up with an original slogan. You need to then come up with the statistics that back up your group's main ideas.

The team needs to create a PowerPoint to be used in advertisements promoting the team's ideas.  Your job is to be persuasive.

Each team needs to have at least one person do some shopping research.  Your presentation should include the price comparison of at least three products: at least one must be made in the USA and a similar product made outside the USA.  Is there any difference in price, quality, material, etc.?

JOBS:
1. Chief Researcher
2. Researcher / Presentation Creator
3. Researcher / Poster/Newspaper Ad Designer
4. Product Researcher

nice work

All three classes has excellent discussions today.  As we watch People's Republic of Capitalism, we need to understand such terms as capitalism, communism, free enterprise, and free market.  This should make it more meaningful as we follow the events in the video.

Post your definitions on tonight's blog.  If you are able to add to your definitions with information you got in today's discussion, that would be even better.

What?!? Jobs coming BACK to the US?

It's true - at least for General Electric.  You can read about it here, in an excellent article in The Atlantic magazine.

But beware: this is an article written for adults, and it may force you to actually think.  Good luck!

(Also, the second installment of People's Republic of Capitalism can be found here.)