Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Podcast #63 - Talking about Economic Activities in the American History Classroom with Author Suzanne Gallagher


Hello. As an 8th grade American History teacher much of the curriculum I teach is guided by my state grade level expectations. In Missouri a majority of the 8th grade social studies grade level expectations focus on American History but there are several economic components as well. It has always been a task to find interesting and engaging activities that combine economics and my primary content area. Last year I discovered "Adventures in Economics and U.S. History" by Suzanne Gallagher and Martha C. Hopkins. This resource has two volumes - Volume I is Colonial America and Volume 2 is A Young Nation - with a total of 31 ready to use classroom activities. These activites are designed with the teacher in mind and easy to incorporate with blackline masters, listings of economic concepts discussed and step by step directions. Earlier this year we used a lesson named "A Colonial Marketplace" which had my students moving around the room, bartering and using colonial currency in a scene similar to a colonial town square on market day. It was a great activity which addressed several of our required economic standards and the students had a blast. This podcast is an interview with Suzanne Gallagher about the economic activites and resources she created. Be sure to check out the show notes below for information about this resource, sample lesson plans and other activities for teaching economics to various grade levels.

Direct link to Podcast #63 - Talking About Economic Activities for the American History Classroom with Author Suzanne Gallagher - MP3 file - 26:47 minutes

Podcast #63 Show Notes:

1 comment:

  1. You have a very interesting activity, I'm wondering why we don't have something like that back then.

    ReplyDelete