Mr. Kotrodimos AP Macroeconomics

Transcription

1 Mr. Kotrodimos AP Macroeconomics Mr. Peter Kotrodimos School: ( is the most efficient way to contact me) Grading Procedures: Your grade will be determined from your individual point accumulation on problem sets, quizzes and exams. Any changes in grading will be done at the end of the semester. The grading scale will be as follows: 100% to 90% of total possible points = A 89% to 80% of total possible points = B 79% to 70% of total possible points = C 69% to 60% of total possible points = D Less than 60% of total possible points = F There are 1,000 points in the class. Problem sets, exams, and quizzes are worth 800 points (80%). The mid-term and final exam are each worth 100 points (20% combined). Book/Article Review: 160 points (see below) Activities: 0 points (used to enrich class and learning) Quizzes: 80 points (8 x 10pts.) Problem Sets: 160 points (4 x 40pts.) Exams: 400 points (4 x 100pts.) Mid-term & Final: 200 points (2 x 100pts.) Total Points: 1,000 Macroeconomics Book/Article Review: Students are required to do an end of the year reading and write a book review. If you do not choose a book, you can do two article reviews. You may choose from the list below. If you do not find any of the titles below to be of interest to you, you may choose your own book. Any book not on this list must be approved by Mr. Kotrodimos. The review must be between words. It must be single spaced. You may use MLA, APA or Chicago formatting. I will grade content, grammar, and English stylistics. Make it good. If you choose to do the articles, they must be a page each. These are not book reports! You are to explain what you thought of the

2 book, i.e., what you agree with, disagree with, interesting propositions, etc. Try to tie your knowledge of economics into the review. Yes, you can critique a famous economist I encourage you to do so! List of Books: Red Ink: Inside the High-Stakes Politics of the Federal Budget, by David Wessel 23 Things They Don t Tell You About Capitalism, by Ha-Joon Chang Economics: The User s Guide, by Ha-Joon Chang Saving Capitalism, by Robert Reich Freakenomics or Super Freakenomics, by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science, by Charles Wheelan Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist, by Kate Raworth Economics in One Lesson, by Henry Hazlitt Articles: You may only use articles from the site below. It is from the Library of Economics and Liberty. It is definitely a neo-liberal (Look it up if you don t know!) site and has numerous articles from a large range of economists. The reason for only using this site is for management purposes. Continue to next page.

3 Course Outline Unit 1: This was covered in microeconomics. To make it easy, we will start with unit 2. Unit 2: Macro Measures This unit will discuss the three main economic measurement tools: Gross Domestic Products (GDP), unemployment, and inflation. Unit 3: Aggregate Supply & Demand, and Fiscal Policy This unit will discuss Congress use of fiscal policy and its effects on society (aggregate demand). Unit 4: Banking and Monetary Policy This unit will discuss money, banking and the FED s use of monetary policy to manipulate interest rates. Unit 5: Trade and International Economics In this unit we will discuss terms of trade, comparative advantage and trade balances. Materials Needed Daily: Pencil and/or Pen (blue or black ink only) A notebook/folder for notes Graph Paper (this is optional but many students find it beneficial) I would highly recommend you purchase a 2 or 3 three-ring binder for your class materials. Assignments and Understanding: Most work in class will need to be completed before the test. Make sure I get it by then. If you need more time, take it. If you need MORE TIME you MUST tell me prior to handing it in. Please remember, any work assigned to you that is not handed in/completed will be given a zero.

4 If you turn it in after the assigned unit. It will be given a zero. In extreme cases where I do accept an assignment after the due date, it will be graded and awarded half the points. TESTS: If you have an unexcused absence on any test or quiz day, you will be given a zero for that assignment. If you are caught cheating, you will be given a zero for that assignment. If you miss the first day of testing you will not be able to do the group portion of the test corrections. The incentive of group test corrections is to get every student to testing. If you miss this for ANY reason, you will be given the score you earned on the first test. I will explain this more in class. Attendance & Tardy Policy: The Importance of Attendance Student attendance closely matches and nearly always mirrors academic achievement. Students who are absent from school miss the introduction of new material as well as the benefits of interacting with their peers in discussion, activities and presentations. Our attendance policy is designed to involve you as the parent through communication from the office and individual teachers, as well as to teach students to be responsible and academically accountable. Students who are chronically or habitually absent may be asked by their grade level administrator to provide documentation for excessive absences from medical personnel. Ideally, all attempts should be made by parents to schedule orthodontist, dentist and doctor appointments before or after school. Family vacations should be scheduled during school breaks. Extra- Curricular Activities Students who are excessively absent, failing courses or have grades below a D, may be denied the ability to participate in field trips or other extra-curricular activities. This includes all athletic events as well as performing arts and other club events. Make Up Work Students with unexcused absences may not be given the opportunity to make up missed work, based on individual teacher classroom policies and may even be denied credit for the course once they have missed more than 10 days in a semester. School excused activities (field trips, athletic, performing arts events, etc.) do not count toward a student s absences. Our goal is to help your student be successful by encouraging them to attend school whenever possible. Please work with your child s counselor and grade level administrator should circumstances arise which impact their ability to attend school.

5 Tardies Students who arrive to class late are a distraction to the students in class as well as to their teacher. After looking closely at where tardies were the highest we decided last year to implement a sweep program. This has had a tremendously positive impact on getting students to first hour on time. As a result we will continue the sweep program this year. Students who are tardy to first hour will be swept (sent to the cafeteria) and will not be allowed to attend class unless they have a test that day. They must see their teacher during lunch or after school to collect any work they may have missed the same day as the sweep occurred. After 5 sweeps the administration will assign additional consequences ranging from detention to Saturday School. Classroom detention may be assigned to students who are tardy during hours 2-7 upon the 4th or 5th tardy. Once a classroom detention has been served, students with additional tardies may be issued a referral to an administrator who may assign additional detention, campus work detail or Saturday School. Please encourage your child to leave the house early enough to account for traffic and get to school on time. Behavior: I expect you are all adults. The following behavior will be expected of you: 1. Bring required materials daily. 2. Be in your seat when the bell rings and begin the assignment on the overhead/board. 3. Respect one another. 4. Have fun (as much as you can at school) and put forth effort. Class Schedule: estimated time does not include testing days, breaks and release days Unit 1: Economic Concepts (approx. 1.5 weeks) Unit 2: Measuring Economic Performance (approx. 2 weeks) Unit 3: Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand (approx. 2.5 weeks) Unit 4: Monetary Policy (approx. 2 weeks) Unit 5: International Economics (approx. 2 weeks)

6 Join Remind: Sample text message, Students, don t forget about your AP unit 2 test tomorrow. Good luck! Text messages will be brief and few. I am anticipating two or three every other week.