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Econ Alive! Samplers to First 100 Educators

We are so excited to release our newest high school program Econ Alive! The Power to Choose that we want to get it in the hands of educators across America as soon as possible. If you are one of the first 100 educators who contact us, we'll send you a free sampler. You'll receive a Student Edition and all the materials you need to teach one lesson in your classroom (an $89 value). Contact Customer Service at info@teachtci.com or 800-497-6138, ext. 0, and request your Econ Alive! sampler (item number 37-3).

Developer Spotlight: Julie Cremin, a Teacher Behind Econ Alive! The Power to Choose

At TCI one of our core philosophies is that the best curriculum is created by educators with real-world classroom experience. That's why every TCI program we publish is created by teachers, for teachers.

We want to introduce you to one of the teachers behind our newest high school program, Econ Alive! The Power to Choose. Meet Julie Cremin. Julie began working with us in August 2004 as a Lesson Developer. Before joining TCI, Julie taught middle and high school U.S. history, government, law, and modern world history in Massachusetts for five years.

Julie's role as a developer is to create lessons that correspond to the chapters in the Student Edition. She developed three lessons for Econ Alive! The Power to Choose. Julie's favorite lesson to create was “Chapter 3: Economic Systems.” In this Experiential Exercise, students work in groups to produce bracelets from paper. Half of the groups represent command economies, and half represent market economies. The two groups have slightly different instructions and access to different supplies. Throughout the first three rounds of the activity, students experience the benefits and drawbacks of production in each system and begin to draw comparisons between the two types of systems. In the fourth round, students sell their bracelets at a “market” where they can truly examine some of the differences in production and consumption patterns for these two types of economic systems. The debriefing session for the activity draws powerful parallels between the classroom experience and the economic realities of command and market economies.

Here's what one twelfth grade student had to say about the Chapter 3 activity:

“I thought this activity was fun and a good learning experience. Ours was a centrally planned economy. While we had quantity, there was no quality. We could not adhere to our competition's changes on the free market side. We wasted more materials and gained no proportional profit. In the end we could not compete. Our bracelets ended up in the trash, along with our lives!” (Cue the sad music.)

We hope that your students enjoy using Econ Alive! The Power to Choose as much as Julie and the rest of our staff enjoyed creating it.

To read more about some other TCI lessons, visit our discussion groups. Share with us some of your favorite lessons.

TCI Blog: Preparing for the Next Academic Year

In the latest TCI Blog, Ellen Hardy, TCI's Director of Business, reflects upon how her division is getting ready for the next academic year. Ellen asks, “What are you doing to prepare for the 2009-2010 academic year?” Join in the discussion.

Planning for Summer and Beyond: Think TCI Academy

A year ago, we launched TCI Academy, a new professional development division of TCI. With over 40 sessions and a host of all-new topics, TCI Academy became an instant hit with districts and teachers. At TCI, we've always believed that the best way to learn is to discover information, so TCI Academy sessions are active, immersion-based trainings. We also built in flexibility with TCI Academy sessions, which can be mixed and matched to build a training that's just right for any group of teachers.

Districts with Teaching American History Grants have gobbled up the course Enhancing Teachers Understanding and Appreciation of American History. The sessions in this course have practical, active strategies that bring eras of American history to life in the classroom.

Our summer schedule is quickly filling up. Call us at 800-840-2698 or visit www.tciacademy.com today to begin building a training for your school or district.