Email Address: School: brettweiss@u-46 Home Email Address: brettteach@gmail

1. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 Email Address: School: brettweiss@u-46.org Home Email Address: brettteach@gmail.com School Phone–630-372-4700 ext. 4737; Cell Phone: 630-248-5405 Welcome to AP Macroeconomics!! You have chosen a class is very challenging, will require a great deal of analysis, along with serious discipline. I ask you to today commit yourself to this, as success in this program will require it. One of the goals of this class is to have each of you take either the AP Tests and/or the CLEP Tests for the chance of getting extra credit. If you have any problems or questions on this, please talk to me immediately.

2. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 Main Goals of the Class To turn out students who have a good start in understanding of the basics of Economic theory along with a basic understanding of the history and day to day realities of Economics. To have each student continue, for the rest of their lives, their Economics' education whether that is in the classroom and/or through the day to day events in the real world. Upon accomplishing all of this, each of you will go out into the world with the ability to improve the economy of the world and make the world a better place for everyone.

3. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 Expectations of Each Student Excellence: It is expected that each of you will strive for excellence each and every day in this class. Success will come from hard work and pushing yourself harder than you thought you could. Honesty: It is expected that at all times in this class you will be a person of honesty and integrity. Nothing less than 100% honesty and integrity will be tolerated.

4. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 AP Microeconomics: The purpose of an AP course in microeconomics is to give students a thorough understanding of the principals of economics that apply to the functions of individual decision makers, both consumers and producers, within the economic system. It places primary emphasis on the nature and functions of product markets, and includes the study of factor markets and of the role of government in promoting greater efficiency and equity in the economy. AP Macroeconomics: The purpose of an AP course in macroeconomics is to give students a thorough understanding of the principles of economics that apply to an economic performance measures, the financial sector, stabilization policies, economic growth and international economics.

5. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 Economics will teach you to think in a different manner from the way you have thought before. In the beginning it might seem a bit strange, but by the end of the semester, you will probably enjoy this new way of thinking. The amount of projects/papers is limited in this class, due to the great amount of day to day work. The bottom line is that we have a tremendous amount of material to cover in a very short period of time, and in order to be successful, you will have a great deal of homework most everyday. I want to make sure you are doing all the homework, so you will have a limited amount of projects/papers, which would make the workload unbearable, in my opinion.

6. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 Our capitalistic society, or mixed economy, is one where its success, or lack of success, is very much determined by the intelligence and knowledge of its people/consumers. A key part of that knowledge, is how well one understands our economic system and how it works. The more people understand about our economy works, the better our economy will be. Also, for you as an individual, the better you understand how our economy works, the more success you will have throughout your life on economic and business issues.

7. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 In this class you will learn a great deal about the principles and theories of Economics, along with the day to day realities of our complex economic world. You will learn about the real world of Economics in several ways: Most days we will start on the internet with the Economic news of the day Most days we will take a look at commodities prices and you will do some work with these prices Most Fridays you will turn in an article from the news about an Economic event in the world along with a summary We will have a special project addressing the worldwide financial collapse of 2008 to help you understand the economic causes This class will help you to be a better Economic Citizen of the World so you can make the world a better place for everyone!

8. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 Each of you will soon be entering a world that is far different than the world your parents or grandparents entered. It is a world of “globalization” where your neighbors, friends, enemies and competitors are not just the people in your community, but they are in every country of the world. You are entering a world of worldwide instant communications whether that be through email, blogs, texting, cell phones, etc. You are not just competing with seniors throughout the United States, but with every young person your age in the entire world. This class will help you to get a much better understanding of that world you are about to enter and how to be successful in it. In a few years the United States will lose first place as the largest economy in the world. Exactly how this effects you and the rest of the people in the United States will be determined by how ready you are to successfully compete in this world of globalization.

9. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 One of the main lessons I have learned from working in schools in Kenya and Rwanda is how committed each of the students in these countries are to their education. None of them would ever consider being late for a class; missing a class; talking while someone else is talking; being disrespectful in any way. It has made me realize that I should expect nothing less from my students here at Bartlett High School. Maybe they are just more lucky than you that they live in absolute poverty!!

10. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 Topics To Be Covered Sections 1 & 2 – Introduction to Economic Concepts – “Basic Economic Concepts” and “Supply and Demand” Microeconomics: Section 9 – “Behind the Demand Curve: Consumer Choice Section 10 – Behind the Supply Curve: Profit, Production, and Costs

11. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 Microeconomics (Continued) Section 11 – Market Structures: Perfect Competition and Monopoly Section 12 – Market Structures: Imperfect Competition Section 13 – Factor Markets Section 14 – Market Failure & the Role of Govt.

12. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 Macroeconomics: Section 3 – Measurement of Economic Performance Section 4 – National Income and Price Performance Section 5 – Financial Sector Section 6 – Inflation, Unemployment and Stabilization Policies

13. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 Macroeconomics (Continued) Section 7 – Economic Growth and Productivity Section 8 – The Open Economy: International Trade and Finance Final Exam

14. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 Day to Day Work: We will generally work thru a module or two each day. Your day to day assignment will be up on the TV Monitor and up on my web site. It is expected that before each day you have studied on line the module(s) we are going to cover. To help you understand the material you should also look at the Flash Cards, the Related Web Links and at the end of each Section take and submit the quiz. Quizzes will not be “graded” however I will be able to see who is doing them and who is not and that will tell me a lot. In class we will do a variety of things to help you further understand the material you have covered. If you have not done your homework it will make it hard for you to understand what we are doing in class. You will not understand everything in the homework, but it will give you the knowledge to help you learn more in our classroom.

15. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 • How Your Grade Will Be Determined: • My philosophy on grades. • Six Tests (100 points each – Possible Extra Credit) (if absent, must take test within two weeks or it will just remain a zero!!!) • Surprise in-class quizzes • Friday articles (25 points – partial credit if late) • Commodities paper (40 points) • Commodities predictions (Extra Credit – 4 – 40 points per student) • “Giving Back: Project – 100 points with option of Extra Credit • “Economics Movie Assignment” (100 points w/options for Extra Credit) • Categories will be weighted – see separate sheet.

16. Mr. Weiss AP Macroeconomics Syllabus – 2013 - 2014 Please don’t ever hesitate to contact me in person, via text, cell or email if you need some help. I am more than happy to meet with you one on one or in small groups to help you understand. I want each of you to be very successful in this class so you will learn a lot about Economics, became great Economic Citizens and go out and make the world a better place for everyone!