class evaluation

Just to make it clear I totally understand that this was the first time the class was offered and it was experimental. That said, that was one of the things that I disliked about this course and I fully understand that future classes probably would be much better organized (I hope).
I liked the idea of the class, I just wish it had been better implemented. I felt at times that I wasn't really learning anything. I had hoped to learn more economics and have that backed up with ways to teach it, instead of the other way around. I felt that the lack of economics background hindered me on the assignments. Because when writing lesson plans or doing book reviews I didn't know much economics to help me achieve what I hoped to learn. I have to say though, that this did improve some during the end of the semester.
I felt that the assignments were helpful(most of them at least). The lesson plans did help in the way that they geve me a better understanding of what I would be doing as a teacher. The book reviews helped with this also, except I think it would be better to just have one book for all the students in each of the reviews. That way we could have bought them in the bookstore on campus and things would have been a little more streamlined. I thought the peer reviews were good, but a little tedious. But I did not think the JA was that good of an idea. I was only able to go once, and prepare for another, but it seemed a little time consuming. I heard people complain about it a lot, because they either had to take time off of work or other scheduling problems. It would have been better just to have presentations in class, like what I did on the Great Depression ( I enjoyed that and thought it was very helpful).

this is my blog entry for the week - please give me credit

LIFE IS COMPLICATED.

I will be so relieved when the semester is over and I am one step closer to moving on with my life. It will just be one other thing to get through, and I'll be happy when it is.

Econ - my presentation was aweful, but hey! I made it there. That's saying something.

what do I have to say

Happy Thanksgiving!

What can I say...hmmm...my group for econ got together last weekend to work on our last class presentation. I'm glad I decided to work in a group because I had the opportunity to work with people I didn't talk to before. At the same time it is difficult to work in a group sometimes. You all have ideas, all have your own styles of doing things. But collaboration is key...I mean we are going to be doing collaborative stuff for the whole rest of our lives, at work, even with our families. So overall it was a good experience and I hope we do well.

That's about it, I guess. I'll be glad when this semester is over. It has been way more than I expected.

class presentation

For my econ for teachers class I did a lesson plan on the great depression. In my lesson I went over the possible causes for the great depression. In doing the lesson i gained a greater understanding on how greatly things are affected in the economy by other events - it really is a ripple effect. For example, I did an activity that showed how different jobs were effected by other jobs, how people being laid off in steal affects people who sell cars, and how people losing jobs affect restuarants and clothes, etc. It totally makes sense. When i was doing this I thought of my cousin, she works at a restraunt, and was talking about how less peole were coming in, and how people at the restraunt were losing jobs. Same thing as in the lesson. But seriously don't take this as a recession scare. There's really no way we could have another depression as bad. I really wish there wasn't so much doom and gloom in the media about it.

macro

In my Economics for Teachers class we've been going over macroeconomics.Doing the overview in class makes me realize how much i don't remeber from when I took a specific macro class.I understand the concepts of GDP and why stability is important. I remebered how GDP was calculated and the different types of unemployment. But there was one thing, specifically, that was over my head.The Professor showed us a calculation to figure out the equivelency of gas prices in the1950's and today; and showed how if gas prices are about $2.40 that that's equivelent to the 1950's price of $0.27. I saw the calculation I saw how it was done, but how does that make sense??? I don't care if gas prices are equivelent to a price in the 50's it doesn't make me feel any better. The other thing that bothers me, although not totally related in hopw women's work at home doesn't figure into GDP. I get it- you can't put a price on it really... blah, blah, blah. But it should be. Because belive me, I stay at home,...IT'S WORK!

Book reviews and campaigns

The book review was ... interesting. I don't know about these Marshall Jevons books. I was reading it and thinking that it was just way too far fetched. Who uses economics in practically all their thought processes? Who applies economics to all facets of their lives? In the book I read, A Deadly Indifference, he said how he used the concept of utility to date his wife. And to that I said: Who would date this guy? This is ridiculous? I hope there's no real person who would actually do that.Kind of corny, kind of cliche, and it took two people to write it. Oh well.

Campains. Campaign proposals. Taxes. Campains and proposals are seriously interesting stuff. From my point of view candidates promise way too much, things that are unattainable, things they might not be able to do in actuality, things they might want to do but once in office it either isn't a priority or just doesn't happen. So, I guess what I'm saying is that I don't take too much of it seriously. Taxes, are so much more interesting, not really. There complicated, for my mind, I just don't deal with them. But they're there. And you have to pay them, whether you like it or not I don't see it as an option. And this whole marriage penalty/subsidy. I have friends who claim they don't want to get married because they'll be penalized in taxes. Seriously, suck it up. If that's how it works, that's how it works. It just doesn't seem fair to have people who are pretty much married, living together and such, be treated differently in taxes. There should be a tax law for that. If I were queen (president)...you get the drift.

class

So I'm totally a week behind, but that's what happens when you don't have the internet ... you kinds lose contact with the world and such (at least I do).
Class...Honestly, like I said before, everything would be so much easier if we were learning more economics stuff. I totally apprechiate that we have been covering more of it in class, but I really feel like I either don't know or don't remeber anything. So over my head. In doing the lesson plans I was dying for a text book. It would have been so much better than scrambling around looking for defenitions and such. Not really looking forward to the next one.

to Prof. Imazeki

thanks for covering more econ stuff in class

ugh...JA and stuff

So this Junior Achievement project...great idea in concept, but unfortunately it's not working out. Andrew and I went to our classroom last week and were informed when we went to the office to check in that our teacher no longer taught there! Seriously! We taught there before,we arranged it with her the week prior, and no one told us...ugh. So I don't know what's going on. It's unfortunate, because I actually enjoyed doing it.
My other 'ugh' is in regards to class. I really like all the ideas for teaching a class. But I don't like that I have no economics knowledge to back it up. In my other courses for teachers, i.e. history for teachers, we learned the subject and then the teaching aspect was a sidenote. In assignments we had to think about ihow we could teach it (like in book reports) and did lesson plans and presentations. I honestly prefer that format better. I don't know about other people in my Economics for Teachers class, but I really don't remeber what I learned in micro and macero econ. So how am I supposed to potentially teach it, either as an econ class or as part of a history course, if I don't know it?

first lesson plan and presentation

Ugh, the lesson plan. I've only done one before, and it was for a 2 week period and not that detailed, so needless to say I felt a little lost. I was originally going to do a lecture on scarcity and choices, but figured that might be a little blah. So halfway through I changed to property and resources ( for 12th grade econ)and decided to do an activity. I've said before that I haven't had the greatest experiences with active learning excercises so I figured I should give it a whirl. The whole thing was way out of my comfort zone. I'm not an economist. I haven't made lesson plans before. I'd rather listen to a lecture. But once again, it's an experiment. And seeing what other people did I would definately do things much differently next time. For me direction and structure goes a long way.

first JA

For JA (Junior Achievement)I went to this eigth grade class at Roosevelt Middle. The teacher, Ms. Noakes, is so nice and really laid back, which really helped a lot. As my first experience 'teaching' a classroom I feel it went pretty well. The students were great, I was surprised at how involvoled some of them were. There was about 8 or 10 kids that consistently participated. It was really nice, and I thought that maybe teaching might be the thing for me. The best part was interacting with the students. I was totally against teaching middle school before, but now it might be an option. The only downsides,some of the kids were genuinely bored to death and the lesson seemed to drag on in parts. The whole thing with talking about the jobs as a class, and then in seperate groups, and then as a class again - a little much. It could have been formatted differently and streamlining would most likely have cut the boredom. Overall it was a good lesson and I feel the students did get something out of it. But it's an experiement, and a pretty fun one.

active learning

okay, active learning...I'm sure that there is the ability to have successful active learning, but most of my experience says 'not so much'. I find that active learning, as in scenarios or activities, have the propensity to be a little cheesy or a waste of class time. Maybe it's just me, but I would usually rather have a tired lecture and feel like I actually spent the most of my 1, 2 hours of class time. PLus, I don't usually learn that much with those types of things and most likely forget what it was even supposed to teach. I totally sound pessimistic right now but it's just not my thing. That doesn't mean it's not worth a try though.

About me

Hi, I'm Ali Coombs. I'm a full time student at San Diego State University and am majoring in Social Science. I will be graduating within a year and then will go on to get my teaching credential and then teach high school. I hope to teach world or American history. I had a really great world history teacher, who somewhat inspired me to be a teacher myself. Maybe I will be able to do that myself someday. I've always been really interested in history, and even as a child enjoyed watching documentaries and roaming around museums the most. Maybe, eventually, I will go back to school to get my masters and doctorate -it would be really fun to teach at a university - but right now I want to see what it's like to teach high school. I also really enjoy traveling, although I haven't been as many places as I would like. Being able to travel was a big consideration when I chose my career and I hope to at least take one vacation every year. I also am really into the arts and crafts. I have been drawing and painting from a very young age and later started doing ceramics and mixed media. It would be nice to be able to finish an art project someday.
Well, that's it for now.