Our Education Advisory Group 2015

We’re delighted to have brought our Education Advisory Group for 2015 on board!  Twenty-two teachers from diverse personal and professional backgrounds will be with us through November, and their work will include providing feedback on content ideas, teaching activities, SF Fed economic education resources, the use of technology, and best practices related to teaching about the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy.

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17 of our 22 EAG 2015 members

The group includes five community college and seventeen high school educators from both public and private schools with 1 to 24 years of experience teaching economics (of course!), government, business, marketing, and mathematics.  There is representation from nearly all states in the 12th District.

Early last month, the EAG kicked off their work by attending a professional development conference at our Head Office in San Francisco.  The conference agenda included an in-depth discussion on the purposes and functions of the Fed, an economic outlook from Senior Outreach Economist Liz Laderman, and a tour of cash operations, the Fed Center, and our American Currency Exhibit.

The group also dove into economic education content with a feedback and brainstorming session around our soon-to-be-launched Chair the Fed game on monetary policy (currently known as The Fed Chairman Game).

All that serious learning and hard work was capped off with a lively networking reception so that everyone could get to know their fellow EAG members and the SF Fed Econ Ed staff!

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Apply now for the 2015 Education Advisory Group!

EAG-iconNow accepting applications for the 2015 Education Advisory Group (EAG)!

We invite you to apply for a position by submitting the information listed below by December 8, 2014. Selected members will attend a 2-day conference in San Francisco and work with SF Fed Econ Ed staff through December of 2015 on content ideas, teaching activities, the use of technology, and best practices related to teaching about the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy.

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Teacher Spotlight: Jennifer Antrim

2014.11.07 Teacher Spotlight - Jen Antrim2Our Spotlight series continues this week, where we talk with teachers who are making a difference in the field of economic education.

In today’s installment, we’re talking with Jennifer Antrim, who teaches with the Scottsdale Unified School District’s eLearning Department in Arizona.  She teaches American/Arizona government, economics, and American/Arizona history, including AP courses.

Here is what she had to say:

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College and Career Readiness Theme for Financial Education Day

Karen Schwartz-Decker from our communications group contributed to this post.

_IMG_9260Last week, almost 100 students and their teachers from five Bay Area high schools and one adult school convened at the San Francisco Fed to learn about the importance of personal finance skills in planning for college and careers. This was the second annual Federal Reserve Financial Education Day, which was established as a day of workshops at Feds around the System to provide tools for making wise choices when investing in education and planning for the future. The SF Fed Economic Education Group hosted the event.

_IMG_9222In a series of morning breakout sessions, the students participated in a hands-on personal finance workshop facilitated by Lorraine Thayer and learned about the purposes and functions of the Fed from Steven Fisher. They also attended a session to learn about ways of financing college though scholarships.  The presentation was delivered by Rema Oxandaboure, but was developed by Joel Bervell, a Yale undergraduate from Seattle who collected over $200,000 in scholarships before graduating from high school.

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Teacher Spotlight: Amy Evers

TeacherSpotlightEvers4Our Spotlight series continues this week, where we talk with teachers who are making a difference in the field of economic education.

In today’s installment, we’re talking with Amy Evers, who teaches AP U.S. government, AP economics (macro and micro), US government honors, and “We are the People” at Clark High School in Las Vegas, NV.

Here is what she had to say:

How long have you been teaching economics?  What do you love most about it?

This is my sixth year teaching economics. Initially when I was told I would teach the class I not excited at all! I struggled with economics in college and was concerned that I would only confuse students since I was quite confused as well. However, I saw it as a challenge that I had to overcome.

I spent the summer teaching myself economics and went to an AP Economics Summer Institute for additional help. The first year was difficult at times but I had a very understanding group of students and things gradually got easier.

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Teacher Spotlight: Greg Blandino

Our Spotlight series continues this week, where we talk with teachers who are making a difference in the field of economic education.

Blandino-GregIn today’s installment, we’re talking with Greg Blandino, who teaches AP economics (micro and macro) and college prep economics at Monte Vista High School in Danville, CA.

Here is what he had to say:

How long have you been teaching economics?  What do you love most about it?

I’ve been teaching economics for 27 years.  I love when students connect their day-to-day behavior to economics ideas, theories, and principles discussed in the classroom.

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Educators “Meet the Experts” in San Francisco

What happens when you mix brilliant economic minds and keen educators? An enthusiastic day of discussion, questions, professional development, and yes – even some fun! We recently hosted 70 educators from throughout the 12th District at our head office in San Francisco for Meet the Experts (MTE), a speaker series designed to provide secondary and post-secondary educators with an opportunity to interact with leaders from throughout the Bank.

MTE brand bannerWith MTE, our objective is to highlight emerging issues in the economy and foster greater understanding about the roles and responsibilities of the Federal Reserve. See how we strove towards that goal with the day’s agenda.  Remember to return to this blog in the following weeks as we’ll be providing tips for discussing this year’s MTE topics with your students.

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Kevin Lansing presented on asset bubbles

The day started off with a dive right into economics content and a very timely topic: asset price bubbles. Kevin Lansing, Research Advisor for our Economic Research group, took the audience through a brief history of bubbles (notably the Tulip Mania bubble from 17th century Netherlands), then touched on three points that explain bubbles: forecasts based on past price movements, social dynamics and human emotion, and market structure. Kevin also discussed policy implications of lessons learned from price bubbles. His presentation slides are here.

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Teacher Spotlight: Stan Herder

Our Spotlight series continues this week, where we talk with teachers who are making a difference in the field of economic education.

In today’s installment, we’re talking with Stan Herder, who teaches economics, government, and history at Hawaii Baptist Academy in sunny Honolulu, Hawaii.

Stan didn’t mention it in his responses below, but we’ll brag for him:  He was awarded the 2013-2014 Smart/Maher VFW National Citizenship Education Teacher Award, which is offered by the Hawaii Veterans of Foreign Wars.  The award recognized educators who are active in citizenship education, including topics such as government and economies.

2014.08.14 Teacher Spotlight - Stan Herder 1Stan teaches economics (12th grade), government (9th grade), ancient world history (9th grade), and Hawaiian history (10th – 12th grade).

Here is what he had to say:

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