Working for Beans

Last week we discussed the economy: the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services.

Early this week we'll be discussing how that happens.  I teach that there are 4 basic economic systems: command, market, mixed, and traditional.

A command economy is controlled by the government.  Maybe they force people to produce specific goods - or severely limit what people may buy.  If you're familiar with The Hunger Games, you know what I'm talking about.  The Capitol forced District 12 to produce coal.  District 12 didn't have a choice.  Command economy.

A market economy is based on supply and demand.  (Demand being something people want or need... this always confused me as a kid...)  In a market economy, if someone thinks they can make money selling something, then they should sell it.  Again, from The Hunger Games, Peeta's dad was a baker.  He wasn't forced to bake bread, but he thought he could make ends meet by doing so.

A traditional economy is based on need and, well... tradition.  When Katniss went hunting in... yeah... The Hunger Games... she didn't know what she would bag.  If she shot 3 squirrels and a rabbit, that's what she traded.  The hunting skills were passed down from her father.  There is still an aspect of supply and demand, but it's based on availability and necessity rather than profit.  And generally, the skills are passed down by tradition.

In all actuality, the only true economic system is a mix of these three.  And it's uninspired name is a "mixed economy."

We looked at the different types of economic systems today using beans.  In one scenario the government highly regulated what students could produce.  In a second scenario, there were no limits, profit was the only motivator.  (And it proved to be a big motivator.)  The third was a mix of the previous two.

If you want extra credit for reading and discussing the blog with an adult, write a sentence about your discussion.  Include which method of putting the beans in the cup worked out best and why.  Have the adult sign the paper.  Make sure your name, date, and hour are on it and turn it in tomorrow.

Some pictures:

Economics

The test grades were sent out.  Shazaam!  (They were a little late... I had some issues with technology.)

I'm impressed by the report though.  If you didn't sign up to have your grades emailed to you, you should next time: tre cool.

We're in to economics now.  This is the definition I gave the kids:

After that, we simplified the definition.  (I also added services in after goods...)

So, we could say, "the economy deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services."

Or, we could say, "the economy deals with the making, selling, and buying of stuff."  

I prefer the former, but for 7th graders the latter is easier to understand.

We discussed the difference between a good (or healthy) economy and a bad (unhealthy) economy:

And of course, we discussed Black Friday just a little bit.

I'm not a big fan of rampant consumerism.  I'm worried it's destroying our country.

But, of course, I'm glad people buy things.  If they didn't, where would we be?  It's because people buy that allows us to have jobs and a higher standard of living.  The problem comes in when "stuff" becomes more important than people.

To get the extra credit today, you should read and discuss the blog with an adult.  On a sheet of scrap paper, write a paragraph about your discussion.  Write your thoughts about the paragraph from above.  Do you agree?  Do you disagree?  Why?  What should we do about it?

Some classes also watched some videos about this topic.  Watch if you want to, but you don't have to for the blog credit if that's what you're here for:

Fear and Tests

Students took the test today.  I think it was pretty easy.  I'll put the grades in Monday, although I might grade it tonight.

If you were absent today and need to make up the test, email me about it, or ask me about it on Monday.  If you are absent - say you went to visit relatives in some far-away country or something: make sure you email me.

While the students are taking the test, I've gone through and graded a lot of their writing assignments from the past couple of days.  If you recall, we read an excerpt from The Epic of Gilgamesh.  (Click the link if you want to read it.)

*EDIT*  By the way, as with all ancient texts, there are many, MANY translations out there.  If you've never read The Epic of Gilgamesh before, may I suggest that you try Stephen Mitchell's translation?  It's very good, although this note is more for the adults reading the blog than the students...  *END EDIT*

If you remember from the excerpt, Gilgamesh is looking haggard, desolate, and emaciated.  He has begun to fear death because of the death of Enkidu.  (Spoiler alert, sorry.  You've had 4,000 years to read the thing, don't blame me too much...)

I know this was my point from the last blog post, but it was really hit home for me when I read what the students wrote.  I asked the question, "what are you afraid of?" to the students.  Four of the most common answers I received were death, loss of someone they love, being alone, and clowns.  (That last one doesn't really have anything to do with this post... it just showed up a lot...)

When Gilgamesh lost Enkidu, those are the same fears he had: he now feared death, he was now alone, and he had lost someone he loved.

I asked my students to answer that question before they knew anything about Gilgamesh.  For how far humanity has advanced, we are still people, after all.

If you want the extra credit today, talk about the blog post.  But also tell the adult you're reading with how you think you did on the test.  Write a sentence or two about the discussion, and have them sign the paper.  I realize it's not too different from Wednesday's post... but there was no lesson today.  Just an assessment.  I hope they all aced it.

*Extra: Some of the student writings about what they feared are really good.  I asked if I could post a couple up here, and they said yes.

"My fear is to be alone. I am alone all the time and it is not that big of a deal.  I am not afraid of being alone, I'm afraid of being alone for a long period of time.  Sometimes I babysit my sister while my mom and dad go shopping.  They usually take about an hour, but if they take longer I start to get worried.  Or when my mom is working and I have to watch my sister.  She always comes at the same time for lunch.  Sometimes she has a meeting and forgets to tell me, so she's late."


"I'm afraid of poisonous things.  I'm afraid of poisonous things, because I don't want to die.  I'm not afraid of spiders or snakes,  I can even touch one, but if it's poisonous it will send shivers down my spine and I would scream so loud I could wake the dead.  I don't even know why I'm afraid!  All I know is I'm terrified of poisonous things.  I can pick up a daddy long leg and not be afraid, but if I see a tarantula in a pet store I run the other way.  I see a garter snake, and I'm fine, I see a rattlesnake at the zoo I run around the corner and cry."


"Personally, I'm afraid of losing all my friends, but that's a natural fear everyone has.  (Well, I take that fear a lot more seriously than other people, I think about that every day.)  My absolute worst fear though, is the stupidest fear you will ever hear.  You know the movie company THX, who helped make Bambi and The Incredibles, right?  Well when I was little I used to watch Bambi A LOT!  And every time that one stupid THX thing came on before the movie, I would scream, I'm still afraid of the THX trailer thing today!"


"My worst fear is losing my brother.  I realized that this was my worst fear over the weekend.  My brother was going somewhere to practice for a band competition.  This was with a bunch of people he didn't know.  He told mom that he'd find a ride home.  My friend was spending the night that night.  My brother was supposed to come home at 7:30 PM.  At that time he still wasn't.  I went to my mom's room to get something and she said, "**** isn't answering his phone.  I'm scared he got in an accident."  I walked out and cried on my friend's shoulder.  At 1:30 AM my mom went out to find him.  She came home and told me he was at a friend's and fell asleep.  This is my worst fear because I don't know what I'd do without ****."


*EDIT: 9:17 PM 11/21/2014*

Guess what just happened.  It was rough, but I made it.  Students, you can fill in your parents if you want to.  I was very brave.

Oh no... There are two bags...

Nothing to worry about.

What was that noise?

IT'S LA LLORONA!!!!

Maybe if I run back inside fast enough she won't be able to catch me!

*Whew*  MADE IT!

Heh... La Llorona.  ...I don't even believe in her.  And I'm not a kid, so... whatever...  I wasn't running because I was scared... I was just exercising. 

The Fate of Mankind; The Issue of My Friend

The Epic of Gilgamesh is almost always credited with being the oldest written story in the world.  It's a fantastic story, and if you've never read this - mankind's first piece of writing - I highly recommend it.

We've been studying ancient civilizations, so it's only appropriate that we take a peek inside Mesopotamia's most famous book - and their most famous super-hero.

Since the book was written in Cuneiform, it was written on clay tablets.  We only read a portion from Tablet 10, the translation of which comes from San Jose State University's webpage.  You can read what we read HERE.  It's only a page, and it will give you some context for this post.

In the portion we read today, Gilgamesh is afraid.  Gilgamesh - this EPIC warrior - is afraid.  Terrified.  The guy who challenged the gods.  The guy who killed Humbaba (the body-guard to the gods), the guy who killed the Bull of Heaven: he's afraid.  The text says his cheeks are emaciated, his expression is desolate and his features are haggard.  From fear.

We've all dealt with fear before.  Sometimes it's embarrassing, right?  I shared this picture with most of my students:

Most of us aren't as fearless as Gilgamesh.  Why is he afraid?  What is he scared of?  What is "the fate of mankind" that so terrifies him?  And why does it terrify him?  And if it's something that scares one such as Gilgamesh, is it something I should fear as well?

If you were in class today, you know your job: read and discuss the blog with an adult.  Tell them what we talked about in class.  What was it that Gilgamesh feared?  What was the fate of Enkidu, his friend?  Is it a legitimate fear?  Why or why not?  After your done discussing, write a short paragraph about your discussion.  Have the adult you discussed it with sign the paper, and turn it in tomorrow.

If you weren't in class, read the section of the story we read today: found here.  Then write me a paragraph telling me what it is Gilgamesh fears.  Give me 3 examples from the text that support your conclusion.  You don't have to do all this with your parents or an adult.  Just turn it in when you return to school.  

Not to show my hand too much, but this is what we'll be talking about tomorrow as well.  Part of the point I'm trying to get across (aside from teaching ancient texts from the civilizations we're studying) is the commonality humanity shares across both time and cultures.

The fears of Gilgamesh are the same as the Pharaohs.  The same as Emperor Qin, who drank the mercury and jade.  The same as Juan Ponce de Leon - or at least, the legend of him which says he was searching for the Fountain of Youth.  ...And it's the same as one of our newest heros: Augustus Waters.  This is one of the major themes of The Fault in Our Stars, right?  Raise your hand if you've read it.  The point is, maybe we're not so far removed from the Mesopotamians after all.

Again: Test Friday

Like I said yesterday, check to see if you're missing anything.  You can download assignments for my class HERE.  I put the date of the assignment as well as the name - so that should help make sure you're getting the right one.  Occasionally, some of the names get switched around because the online grade book gives me character limits.


I used all my blogging time looking at someone else's blog.  If you want the extra credit today, you should check it out.

To get the points for today's post, play one of the games, and write a note telling me what you think.  You only have to play it for 5 minutes to get the credit - though if you want to play it longer go for it.

In class we reviewed for the test.  I also asked students what they were struggling with, and what they knew.  This will help me know what I need to hit in the review.

Again, to get the extra credit today, you have to play one of those new online games and tell me what you think.  Make sure you tell me which one you played.

If you want to study for the test - and I hope you all do - (What else would anyone possibly want to do on a Tuesday evening, he seriously asked himself...) - I would definitely check out yesterday's blog post.