Mr. Chris Swanson

(This page includes staff biography, schedule and syllabus for the classes that they are presently teaching.)

Born and raised in Georgia, attended Columbus High School.

Earned his Bachelor's Degree in History from Brigham Young University in Utah, earned MEd from Columbus State in 2005,
beginning doctoral work in economics at Georgia State the fall of 2008.

Taught for 5 years at Manchester High School in Meriwether County.

Hobbies include horses, river rafting, woodworking, and reading.

Teaching Civics, Economics and AP Economics.

Schedule 2009-2010

First Term:

First Block- A.P. Economics

Second Block- Civics

Third Block- A.P. Economics

Fourth Block- Plan

Second Term

First Block- A.P. Economics

Second Block- Plan

Third Block- Civics

Fourth Block- A.P. Economics

Syllabus- AP Microeconomics

INSTRUCTOR: Mr. Swanson

The AP Microeconomics class is a one-semester college level study of how households, businesses, and government make economic decisions. The primary purpose for this course is to prepare students to take an AP Exam administered by the College Board in May and pass the EOCT in November or April. The study of economics can be fascinating, fun, confusing, and frustrating all at the same time!  Participation, study, and guided review will prepare the students for the challenging exam. It must be understood at the outset that this AP course is more challenging and time-consuming than a regular high school course.  You are using a college text for college level material, and will take college level exams. In addition, this course meets the high school graduation requirement.  But don’t panic, quality of work counts more than quantity.  I am here to teach you so you learn not work you so you die.  More will be expected of you than students in regular classes, but none of it is work for work’s sake.

 Course Outline:

The class covers all topics required by the state of Georgia but explores in depth the following economic subtopics:

Fundamental Concepts

The Nature and Functions of Markets

Theory of the Business Firm

Factor Markets

The Government and the Economy

Study of those topics will proceed in the following order.

UNIT I- Fundamental Economic Concepts

• Overview of economic principles
• Scarcity, Opportunity Cost and allocation
• Circular Flow—economic decision makers
• Money and markets—economic exchange (Absolute and Comparative Advantage
• Investment and economic growth (production possibilities)
• Marginal Analysis and graphing

 UNIT II- The Nature and Function of the Product Market (3 1/2 Weeks)

• Demand
• Supply
• Equilibrium and Shifting of the Supply and Demand curves
• Market interaction-- Surplus/Shortages and Price controls

UNIT III- Market structures—costs and competitive environments firms face

• Overview of the Market Structures—long run/short run and profit
• Production Function and the behavior of output- TP, AP, MP Costs and how they behave- TC, TFC, TVC, ATC, AFC, AVC, MC
• Perfect Competition- Revenue Curves; Profit, Loss, Breakeven, and Shutdown; Long Run vs. Short Run; Firm vs. Market
• Monopoly- Sloping demand curve, consumer and producer surplus, and price discrimination
• Monopolistic Competition
• Oligopoly- Game Theory

UNIT IV- Factor Markets-labor and capital

• Labor markets—Derived Demand, Marginal Revenue Product, Marginal Physical Product, and Marginal Revenue Cost
• Capital markets
• Perfect Competition v. Monopsony
• Economic Rent

UNIT V- The Role of Government

• Public Goods (Chapter 11)
• Market Failures and Externalities (Chapter 10)
• Taxes (Chapter 12)
• Income Inequality and Distribution of Income (Chapter 20)

Materials

Information gathering/utilizing

• Textbook
• Internet resources—WSJ.com, etc.  Students will not be required to access the Internet at home, such work will be done primarily in class and made into hard copies for home use.
• Calculators—every student must have at least a 4 function calculator, one that can perform exponents is preferred

Notebooks—A 3-ring binder divided into 6 labeled sections, corresponding to the 5 topics of the class plus a section devoted to EOCT practice.

• Fundamentals—all materials from unit 1
• Product market—all material from unit 2
• Market structures—all material from unit 3
• Factor markets—all material from unit 4
• Government—all material from unit 5
• EOCT—all material related to the EOCT not covered in depth in class as well as practice tests we take.

Testing

• Tests are a blend of multiple choice, graph interpretation, short answer/essay
• All tests after the first one will have a CUMULATIVE SECTION, meaning material from prior units will be tested again on subsequent unit tests.  Students must study all material prior to a given exam and not just material from that unit.  They will be given specific notice beforehand regarding what cumulative material will be tested again.

Grading System

40% = Daily grades-homework, class work, quizzes, notebook checks

45% = Major grades-tests and response papers

15% = Final Exam (EOCT for 2^nd nine weeks)

Swanson’s classroom rules

• No one leaves class for any reason other than the bathroom/water fountain.  No one leaves even for those reasons during the first or last 15 minutes of class.
• Food & drinks are allowed but you must clean up your trash—the day I get ants is the day this privilege is revoked.   

NOTE ON EOCT: By nature this class has two competing goals.  They are (1) give the student college level depth into one branch of economics in order for the student to pass the AP exam, and (2) give the student a broad overview of all economic fields in order for them to pass the EOCT.  Because of goal #1, goal #2 is difficult.  Two topics covered on the EOCT that are not part of the AP microeconomics curriculum are personal finance and macroeconomics.  Time is built into the semester for us to cover these topics prior to the EOCT.

Syllabus- Economics

COURSE: Economics

INSTRUCTOR: Mr. Swanson

Course content

The state of Georgia has determined that in order to pass economics, a student must demonstrate mastery of certain concepts or standards.  The breakdown of the standards into units will proceed in the following order.

            Economic Fundamentals 

Unit 1

• scarcity, resources and allocation—the economic problem

• consumers, firms, the circular flow—economic decision makers

• money and markets—economic exchange

• Investment and consumption—economic growth

            Microeconomics

Unit 2

• supply & demand

• elasticity

• price controls and interaction of markets

Unit 3

• market structures

Unit 4

• optimal markets and market failures

•  taxation, regulation, government spending and borrowing

            Macroeconomics

Unit 5

• measuring economic health: unemployment, inflation, & production

• the monetary system

Unit 6

• economic stabilization: the business cycle, aggregate supply & demand

• economic stabilization:  the US Federal Reserve and monetary policy,

• economic stabilization: fiscal policy

            International economics

Unit 7

• absolute and comparative advantage

• protectionism & free trade

• international money flow and exchange rates

• balance of trade

            Personal Finance

Unit 8

• personal budgeting and wealth creation

• insurance

• credit/debt

Materials

Information gathering/utilizing

• Textbook

• Internet resources—WSJ.com, etc.  Students will not be required to access the Internet at home, such work will be done primarily in class and made into hard copies for home use.

• Calculators—every student must have at least a 4 function calculator, one that can perform exponents is preferred

Notebooks—A 3-ring binder divided into 6 labeled sections, corresponding to the 5 topics of the class plus a section devoted to EOCT practice.

• Economic fundamentals- all notes, activities, assignments, and tests from unit 1

• Microeconomics- all notes, activities, assignments, and tests from units 2-4

• Macroeconomics- all notes, activities, assignments, and tests from units 5 & 6

• International economics- all notes, activities, assignments, and tests from unit 7

• Personal economics- all notes, activities, assignments, and tests from unit 8

• EOCT- this section will hold all EOCT notes and practice tests we take.

Testing

• Tests are a blend of multiple choice, graph interpretation, short answer/essay

• All tests after the first one will have a CUMULATIVE SECTION, meaning material from prior units will be tested again on subsequent unit tests.  Students must study all material prior to a given exam and not just material from that unit.  They will be given specific notice beforehand regarding what cumulative material will be tested again.

Grading System

40% = Daily grades-homework, class work, quizzes, notebook checks

45% = Major grades-tests and response papers

15% = Final Exam (EOCT for 2^nd nine weeks)

Swanson’s classroom rules

• No one leaves class for any reason other than the bathroom/water fountain.  No one leaves even for those reasons during the first or last 15 minutes of class.

• Food & drinks are allowed but you must clean up your trash—the day I get ants is the day this privilege is revoked.

Syllabus- Civics

COURSE: American Government

INSTRUCTOR: Mr. Swanson

Course content:

The state of Georgia has determined that in order to pass American government, a student must demonstrate mastery of 22 major concepts or standards.  The breakdown of those standards into units will proceed in the following order.

Foundations and origins of American Government

Unit 1—The Republican Experiment (Standards 1 & 2)

Philosophers of a new era

The colonial origins of American government,

The Declaration of Independence

Unit 2— the Constitutional Era (Standard 3 & 5)

From Annapolis to Philadelphia: the Articles and the Convention

Compromises and ratification

Federalism and the supremacy clause—then and now

The amendment process and the Bill of Rights

The Three Branches (Standard 4)

Unit 3— The Legislature (Standards 9-11)

Outline of the House and Senate

the legislative process

the powers of congress

Influencing congress

Unit 4— The Executive Branch (Standards 12-15, 20)

The formation of the presidency

The electoral college

Presidential qualifications, behavior, and impeachment,

Presidential leadership and the federal bureaucracy

Unit 5—The Judiciary (Standard 16)

Structure and methodology of the Supreme Court

judicial review

the dual court system

Civil Liberties (Standards 6-8)

Unit 6— The First Amendment

speech, religion, press, petition & assembly

Unit 7—Due Process (Standards 21-22)

Amendments 4,5,6, and 7

Unit 8—Civil action and civic duties

Lawsuits between citizens

Public opinion

Citizen participation

State and Local Government (Standards 17-18)

Unit 9— Georgia

GA constitution

GA government bureaucracy

International politics (Standard 19)

Unit 10—Governments of the world

Democracies

Unitary governments

Materials

Information gathering/utilizing

• Textbook

• Internet resources

Notebooks—A 3-ring binder divided into 5 labeled sections, each section corresponding with one of the major topics above.

·         Foundations and origins of American Government- all notes, activities, assignments, and tests from units 1-2

·         The Three Branches- all notes, activities, assignments, and tests from units 3-5

·         Civil Liberties- all notes, activities, assignments, and tests from units 6-8

·         State and Local Government- all notes, activities, assignments, and tests from unit 9

·         International Politics- all notes, activities, assignments, and tests from unit 10

Testing

Nobody likes these things but we must use them.  My promise is to make them thorough, challenging, and fair.  Your job is to pass them, which means paying attention, taking notes, doing practice assignments, and studying.  Tests are always a blend of multiple choice, analysis of charts and graphs, and analytical thinking/essay questions.  Each test day will be preceded by a review day but every student should make an effort to study at home for the test.  I do not try to trick students or go out of my way to make tests miserable experiences, however I do expect students to know and recall the material.

Grading System

40% = Daily grades-homework, class work, quizzes, notebook checks

45% = Major grades-tests

15% = Final Exam

Swanson’s classroom rules

1.      No one leaves class for any reason other than the bathroom/water fountain.  No one leaves even for those reasons during the first or last 15 minutes of class.

2.      Food & drinks are allowed but you must clean up your trash—the day I get ants is the day this privilege is revoked.

3.      During class time when I am leading the discussion remain seated unless you have permission to be up.

4.      You know the rule on cell phones, I shouldn’t have to explain it to you.   

"Bringing our subjects to life..."