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Through my experience as an educator, I have learned that kids learn best through doing. It is because of this that I create a realistic, adult-like classroom economy for my 12th grade economics classes. Through this project, my students learn the value of money for work (wages), the business cycle of obtaining and providing goods and services, and basic economic concepts, such as inflation, supply and demand, scarcity, personal finance, budgeting, and responsible saving. Since our high school is located within a food desert, my students and I have decided to build the "perfect" economy together -- an economy where healthy food is cheaper and more accessible than junk food, everyone is able to save at least 20% of their income (Birgenheier Bucks awarded for various forms of academic and social-emotional behaviors), inflation only applies to luxury items, and supply and demand works exactly as it should. On Wednesdays, we reward ourselves by opening the student-run classroom store once our work is completed. Students are able to spend Birgenheier Bucks for both necessities (hygiene items, healthy foods, school supplies...) and luxuries (games, candy, chips, gum, homework passes, gift cards...), and may make withdrawals from and deposits to their accounts (a spreadsheet I keep) to budget and manage their money. Students are learning so much from this simulation, and their learning goes beyond simple economics, stretching to civic responsibility and household management, for starters. Currently, all the supplies for this project come out of my pocket, as our annual teacher stipend cannot be used for items like food, gift cards, or hygiene products. Your donations through this wonderful organization will help me to help my students keep learning in this hands-on, contextual way.
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