I’ve always enjoyed teaching 12th grade Economics. I have thirteen total years of experience as an educator, ten of them spent teaching this subject. I teach both the general and AP classes. Although the pacing and level of depth is different between these two classes, the experience is the same. The students are at the point where they are looking ahead to the next stage of life, more aware of the world around them, and are more mature and sophisticated in their way of thinking.
The class demographic is diverse and the students bring a broad range of experiences and backgrounds to our community.
They are enthusiastic and eager to learn because what I teach in these classes, economics and personal finance in particular, are very relevant to their lives. It’s easy to connect content to what’s going on around them. This is what makes teaching these classes enjoyable and fun!
My Project
My Economics class, which also dedicates part of the Spring semester to personal finance and literacy, relies heavily on the use of graphs, models, and diagrams. These are central to any economics and personal finance course. In a live classroom I use whiteboards, a document camera, and the traditional pen and pencil to teach and model these things for students as well as have them practice both in groups and individually. In our current distance learning environment, I have found it very difficult to replicate what works for me in the live classroom as I do not have access to my materials at home.
An iPad would supplement, or even replace, traditional materials I rely on.
I can use this as a digital whiteboard. I can also load documents and practice problems we can work on and annotate together. Furthermore, I can record lessons and share with students for them to review and study on their own. Recording also ensures that students who miss class or cannot attend consistently will always have access to our lessons afterwards.
From examples I have seen when researching iPad use I've learned there are many ways to apply and integrate this into my course and that I should make it a permanent addition to my toolbox. This upgrade in technology will result in more efficiency, increased productivity, and improve the overall quality of my class during distance learning and beyond.
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