Final Reflection (200 points)

And now let's wrap this thing up. We did a lot of experimenting with technique and delivery in this class this year, and without question the class was graded differently than classes you've previously been enrolled in. I had you create an online persona, pretend to shop in a grocery store, buy a book for a penny, play Minecraft, track expenditures, operate a micro business, and basically choose your second semester grade. Now I'd like you to discuss it. You have 2 options here:

1) Choose a partner (singular, that means ONE other person), and conduct a video reflection using the iPad where there is a discussion of the relevant topics or,

2) By yourself type a reflection of the relevant topics, one paragraph per topic.

If you decide to video yourselves, then the video must include both of you. The best method of this would be to find a secure place on campus (I'd be glad to help if need be), set the iPad up such that you both are in the 'shot", and then discuss the topics I've listed. I'm interested in your OPINION of how this class was conducted in these specific topics, as this is a reflection. The BOTH of you should say exactly what you appreciated, disliked, loved, or found useless about what we did this year. Be specific. Give details. And be yourselves. I promise, no one will ever watch these videos other than me. They will be deleted once I've viewed them, so be brutally honest. I'm using this to enhance the course further, so also try to be productive. Don't just say something 'sucked', give constructive criticism. In the end, the video should last approximately 10 minutes, give or take. 

Don't want to record yourself? No problem.  Just type it up, but this you'll need to do independently and will probably take double the time, depending on your typing speed. Do the same, though. Detail what can be done to improve, what you liked, etc... And be specific. Consider each topic calling for one paragraph of discussion from you. If you choose this option, type up a Pages document and email it to me as a Word document using the iPad. 

This is a very valuable task for me and this course, so I appreciate you taking this seriously. My goal is to give an experience for the student that is valuable and in some way cherished; your input here will go a long way towards that always being the case. 

The topics:

1. Voting methods and Fair division (the first few things we looked at)

2. Expenditure tracking

3. Taxes

4. Maintaining a budget

5. The task list itself

6. Voice thread 

7. Being graded by obtaining points instead of percentage of total

8. Actually running a micro business

9. Point values of tasks

10. Shark Tank

11. What you feel you got out of the course personally

12. Anything you wish was present in the course

Marketing Ploy (100 points)

Here, you need to detail your marketing strategy and actually show your ad.
To complete:
1. Develop a strategy to market your product/service
2. Detail that strategy in paragraph form on a document in Pages
3. Show the actual ad on the same document

Physical Description (50 points)

On your iPad, you need to show a diagram of the 'work space' in which you will conduct business. This might be a very simple diagram if your work space is limited to a small central location. If you're developing a product, you'll need to show where the product is developed, and if all you're doing to distributing a product, then the work space is the distribution center. Are you delivering a skill? Then you'll need to diagram a typical 'sale' where you'll show what you do as the work space. This needs to be done on the iPad, and it cannot be drawn on a piece of paper, followed by a snapshot of the paper.

Market Research (150 points)

For any business to succeed, detailed market research is essential. Knowing 1) who your customer is and 2) how many of those customers are in proximity to your business are critical to the survival of the business. This is true for a micro business such as the one you've created as well. The task here is a bit complicated, and requires a bit of speculation also. You  need to identify your market both by literal definition and a quantifiable count. First, identify who trying to sell to exactly. Parents? Single moms? Friends? High school seniors? Whoever it is, exactly identify them. Then determine where you'll find them (on campus, neighborhood, Facebook...), and then determine, as accurately as you can, how many potential clients are in that range. You might have to count the houses in a neighborhood(s), know the number of graduating seniors, or your # of Facebook friends. This task is to be done on a Pages document on your iPad and then shown to me upon completion.
To complete:
1. Determine who you're selling to
2. Determine where you'll find them
3. Determine how many are available
4. Detail all this in a Pages document
5. Show me

Goals and weaknesses (160 points)

Two tasks here where you detail both your long and short term goals quantifiably, and then identify any weaknesses that may stand in the way of your success.
With the goals, you need to identify what you would like to see happen in the short term (the next two weeks) as far as number of sales and income is concerned. This goal should be quantifiable (measurable). Please be realistic.
The long term goal is one that extends beyond the course/assignment. What do you foresee in the future as far as this business is concerned? Is it one-and-done? Will you expand it over the summer? Will you utilize it in your small business-owning life you foresee? Will this just become/continue to be a hobby?

Next you need to identify what weaknesses are present in your business. This could listed, detailed in a paragraph, or graphically shown. What is standing in the way of your success? Procrastination problems? Effort? Lack of funding? Impossible to market to the correct group? Whatever it may, everyone has something standing in their way. Detail it.

To complete:
1. In the comment section of this blog post, detail both the goals and the weaknesses, separated by a bullet point of some sort.

Keynote Presentation (350 points)

The end result of the business project, as far as points are concerned, is the portfolio and presentation. You will be required to 'present' the project to your classmates and there needs to be a write-up/summary. The summary consists of 6 distinct elements:

1. A cover page that has business name, logo, and slogan.

2. An executive summary that includes all the details on the template you've previously been given.

3. A detailed list/description of how the business operates. Describe the process from beginning to end of a sale.

4. A diagram of the process.

5. A financial sheets that details the receipts and outlays, shows how this business is profitable.

6. A marketing strategy shown with both an actual example of how you're expressing your business and a typed detail of how that will be noticed by potential customers. 

It must all be put in Keynote as a presentation, so you'll need to practice with the app a bit to master it (it's not that difficult). 

This task is spread out over 5 categories in IC, so it's critically important to do well.

Business/Payroll Quiz (25 points)

In the world of business/economics, there is a thing called "payroll" where employees are paid in terms of hours worked, direct salaries, or commissions. Car salesmen work on commission (industry standard is about 30% or total gross profit on each sale in case you're interested in becoming one). Labor intensive jobs usually pay hourly, a certain amount of money per every hour worked. And professional, degree-requiring jobs tend to pay on a salary basis, as these jobs are ones that go home with the employee and hours are difficult to define. These questions test your understanding of how such pay works, and what it would result in. As a member of the work force or an entrepreneur paying out or a white-collar professional, you'll need to be able to evaluate your own pay. Right down to the penny. Take this quiz and literally hand it in to me. I can provide it on a piece of paper for you (just ask), or you can figure out a way to transfer it from here to your iPad for you to work on there and then email it to me, whatever floats your boat.

 1. Bill Burke worked 46 hours last week. If he earns $8.75 per hour and

gets time and a half for all hours he works in excess of 40, find his gross

pay.

________________________________

2. Mary Carlson worked the following hours last week:

Monday—8; Tuesday—11; Wednesday—10; Thursday—8; Friday—2;

Saturday—5.80

If she gets $12.60 per hour and time and a half for all hours she works

over 40, find her gross pay.

____________________________________

3. If a person’s gross pay for a week is $618 and the person worked 40 hours,

find her hourly wage.

____________________________________

4. Sean Young earns $6.50 per hour and gets time and a half for all hours he

works over 40. If his gross pay last week was $318.50, how many hours

overtime did he work?

____________________________________

5. Su Lee earns $9.60 per hour and gets double time for all hours over 40

that she works per week. If she received an $80.00 bonus last week and

worked 47 hours, find her gross pay.

6. Maura O’Riley receives a commission based on the following scale:

5% on all sales up to and including $10,000

7% on all sales over $10,000 up to and including $20,000

9% on all sales over $20,000

If she sold $24,300 worth of merchandise, find her gross pay.

____________________________________

7. Ti Lu receives a regular salary of $500 a week plus a 61/2% commission

on all sales. If she sold $2623 worth of merchandise, find her gross pay.

____________________________________

8. Shawn McMurry earns a 5% commission on all sales. Last week his

gross pay was $326.15. How much merchandise did he sell?

____________________________________

9. Tiffany Jenkins sold a home for $64,875. If her commission was

$1816.50, find the rate.

____________________________________

10. Jose Hernandez earns a commission of 121/2%. If his gross pay was $7227.50, how much did he sell?_____________________________

good luck. This task is points awarded for correctness, so take your time and get them right!

Organization

Where would the appropriate place to locate your business be? Many factors have to be taken into consideration.

E.g.:

• Close to home
• At home
• Access to fast internet broadband
• Close to shopping centre or public transport
• Access to well-educated staff
• Access to unskilled workers
• Close to airport, highways or harbour
• Low crime
• Close to market
• Other

Business policies are a set of rules you have decided upon in order to make your company run smoothly.

A customer or business partner asks you for discount or length of guarantee and if you have to answer 'Well I don't know, I have to think about it' then it will not make you look professional.

Make your business policy
Make up your mind and formulate policies for at least the following issues:

• Pricing
• Discount
• Terms of payment
• Guarantee
• Customer service
• Environmental issues

Business policies are a set of rules you have decided upon in order to make your company run smoothly.

A customer or business partner asks you for discount or length of guarantee and if you have to answer 'Well I don't know, I have to think about it' then it will not make you look professional.

Make your business policy
Make up your mind and formulate policies for at least the following issues:

• Pricing
• Discount
• Terms of payment
• Guarantee
• Customer service
• Environmental issues

Marketing

A way to tell the world you have great products or services to sell is to use advertisements and signposts.

Advertisement
There are many places where you can put in an advertisement. It is normally rather expensive for a new business to use advertisements because the response is usually poor. One advertisement doesn´t make a response. You have to put in several advertisements before the reader starts noticing it.

An advertisement can´t stand alone so you have to combine it with other marketing activities.

An advertisement can be put in a national newspaper, the town´s newspaper or the suburb paper. A telephone book or the town´s official web site might be a place. Also trade paper, trade magazine and other focused papers are an option.

Photocopied advertisements to be placed in shops, light posts, cafes and office buildings is a cheap way to tell about your company.

Signposting
I you have a restaurant, a shop, a car or other public show possibilities, these have to be used to its optimum. They will be free of charge and hopefully attract the customer.

You could also hire a man to carry a sandwich sign showing the way to your restaurant or to a web site. 

Market Description

Before you start any sales and marketing activities you should establish a solid knowledge of the market by making a market description.

If you don't have a feeling of whom your customers are it becomes difficult to choose the right way to approach them.

Who are the customers
There are a lot of questions that could be asked in order to establish a picture of your customer.

• How many customers can there potentially be?
• Do they live in the neighbourhood or in the urban area, in the province, in the country, in Asia or all over the world?
• Are they men, women, old people or children?
• What do they do in the spare time?
• What is the limit they are willing to pay for the product?

You should know as much as possible about your potential customers. If you know the name and address of the customers then you have come very far in your marked research.

Know your competitors in the market
In the market you also find competitors. You have to find out what you are up against. On what level is the quality of the competitor’s product? What is the price? How big is their turnover? How is their marketing and web site? How is their product development? Where are their weak points?

Iceberg
If you look at an iceberg, 90% of it will be under water with just 10% visible to the human eye. This you can compare with the description of the market and the marketing material. You need to spend a lot of time researching the market and thinking about the best way to approach the customers.

After weeks of researching you might end up making a five page web site and 300 business cards. 90% was spent on research, and 10% on appearance.

Mission Statement

(Step 1: Business Concept)
A mission statement captures your new business`s purpose, customer orientation and philosophy.

Often will an entrepreneur’s mission statement be:

• "I have an idea and I want to create a business, support my family and earn a lot of money".

If you have bigger plans for your business and want to communicate this to a wider public it might be a good idea to develop a mission statement.
When starting a business there is a tendency of basing it on specific knowledge or on a specific product.

Making a mission statement
If you like cooking you may want to open a stand and serve hot chicken soup at fair prices, and if you are educated within IT and software you may want to establish a company specialising in relational databases. 

By basing your business on one specific product or service you make your new business vulnerable. If its foundation crumbles away, the market will lose interest in your business. You will have nothing else to offer the market.

Look behind the product
What you need to do is look behind the apparent features of the product. That is: how long and wide the product is, the colour of it, the durability, how many rotations per minute and so on. Try instead to determine which human, business or society related challenges the product meets.

More than a product
If you like cooking and sell “chicken soup” your mission statement could be

• “To serve tasty and healthy takeaway food for the public at fair prices"

By choosing this statement you will be able to continue your business even if the public should stop liking chicken soup. You will also open your mind to new ideas and new commercial ventures by widening your business statement. 

Are you able to write down your mission statement? If not, wait and come back to this item later. When working with the business plan the right mission statement might just pop up.
 

Mission statement template/ Mini Business Plan - example

This business statement template will help you formulate the 7 key questions you should ask yourself in order to pursue your plans of being a business owner. You could also call the statement a small business plan.

Get inspired from the examples and write your own statement.

1. My line of business:
E.g.:

1. IT-company with JavaScript as the core business area
2. Design and sale of children`s clothes
3. Travel agency specialising in costumers of 60+

2. I want to sell these products:
E. g.:

1. Applications that connect a company`s web-sites with the company`s administrative system
2. Dresses for play, pleasure and party for girls from 2 to 6 years old
3. A travel agency that organise guided tours to historical sites in Asia for senior citizens

3. My costumers are:
E.g.:

1. Production companies within the state boundaries with more than 150 employees and a need for receiving costumer information from the web site
2. The three biggest retail chains in children`s clothes in the country and selected independent children clothes retailers
3. The well off senior citizen in the country that have the time and money to spend on a exclusive and cultural vacation

4. I will find and get in contact with my costumers this way:
E.g.:

1. We will from the national database of registered companies buy addresses of companies in our target group. Afterwards we send a mail/letter to the company and phone them two days later.
2. I have personal contact to two of the three national children`s clothes chains and I have already a list of the top 200 independent children`s clothes retailers
3. We contact the senior citizens through advertisement in senior citizens magazines and by creating a comprehensive web site describing the historical sites and the tours in a professional way.

5. I am different from my competitors in these ways: 
E.g.:

1. Our service is price effective because we have developed five standard components which fit 80 % of the costumers` needs
2. My good contacts among the retailers of children`s clothes give me an advantage
3. My strong historical and web site expertise and my wife`s 10 years in the travel business make us unique for this line of business

6. The three biggest resources I give my business:
E.g.:

1. ITC education, five years in a similar company and a strong professional network
2. Network among retailers, love to design clothes and access to dressmaker`s workroom
3. Visited many historical sites, inside business knowledge and web site professional

Completing Missions in Gen I Revolution (25 points)

Straightforward task here:
Complete and 'pass' three missions, get 25 points. It's not enough to just complete it, you need to also pass it. If, however, passing becomes an issue, then 10,000 points acquired will also suffice for the completion of this task. My recommendation is for you and a partner to sit next to each other and figure the missions together on separate computers, both completing the missions individually but working together to solve them. Remember, lots of points available in Gen I Revolution if you want them.
To complete:
1) Log on to Gen I Revolution
2) Complete AND pass 3 missions (at least), or break the 10,000 point threshold.
3) Your scores/results are automatically sent to me, so you don't need to do anything further!

Gen I Revolution Contest (225 points)

Here's a unique opportunity for not only points, but something that could go on you resume as an aspiring adult. The makers of Gen I Revolution (The Council for Economic Education) are accepting submissions to create a sixteenth 'mission' on their impressive website. The submission will include a written application and a 60-second video, and must be completed by April 18th. This is no small task, and it has prizes for the winners! (gift cards and cash to the classroom)
Interested? 225 points would go a long way, and y'all can team up as groups of 4! Everybody can submit, although I do ask that the entries be slightly different from each other if that happens. Furthermore, if the entry is considered in some fashion (or actually wins!) then a bonus of 110 points will be added.
An overview of the contest can be seen here.
Please be sure to read all of the page describing the contest, and then read the written submission example and watch the sample video. I'll be involved in every team's submission, helping with details and planning. This task will go a long way towards receiving an 'A' this semester, and with some solid teamwork, it should go fairly smoothly. There should be no need to work outside of the classroom on this one. We have a lot of classes between now and April 18th.

Free on Craigslist! (20 points)

This classroom needs a couch! But will you sit on it? Second semester Discrete is all about financial decisions you'll be faced with in your early 20s. In the course, we discovered furnishing an apartment can be awfully expensive. How about free on Craigslist? Well, it depends. Are you willing to have furniture from a curbside give-away? Here's the task, and it's first-come-first-serve only! You need to find a local free couch on Craigslist, go get it, and put it in this classroom for us to utilize as seating. Then the question is asked: Are you willing to sit on that couch in here? Because if "No" is the answer, then you definitely wouldn't want the same for your own apartment in the future. If, however, you are willing to stretch out on it, then free couches it is!!

This task requires manpower and an appropriate vehicle. Please discuss with me if you're capable and interested BEFORE you embark on the couch search!!!

Insurance Quiz (25 points)

This one's pretty simple: Go to this link and take the insurance quiz on it. It is meant for you to consider the things that may affect your auto insurance premiums, and know what renter's insurance is. I'd like you to go through the quiz answering each question, and then post in the comments on this blog post how many you got correct. the site doesn't tally for you, so you'll have to keep a mental count as you go (or write it down), keeping in mind that your acquiescence is all that's necessary for the 25 points.

To complete:

1. Go to the given link

2. Complete the quiz keeping tally of how many you got correct.

3. In the comment section of this post, post how many you got correct on the quiz.

Billion Dollar Challenge (75 points)

Lots of billion dollars floating around right now. Warren Buffet offering a billion for a perfect NCAA bracket, U.S. government dropping billions like they're pennies, and H&R Block claiming U.S. taxpayers are leaving a cumulative billion on the table from not filing taxes professionally. Maybe a silly claim (and obviously a business promotion), but for fun they are offering for the best depiction of what one could do with a billion dollars several thousand dollars in cash for the classroom. Friday March 14th is the deadline, so let's give it a shot! Your explanation of what a billion dollars could do/get needs to imaginative, articulated with clarity, and mathematically correct. In other words, your example will be verified that it actually does equal one billion dollars (rounded of course), so be as precise as possible.
The entry you create needs to be digital, so use technology as best you can (iPad or laptop or off to a computer lab with ya) and email me the result. I'll then enter it.

*edit*
You can still do this for 50 points, even though the submission deadline has passed. All the rules above still apply, and I'd like to include that the project should be school-appropriate. thank you.

Classroom Simulation (100 points)

This task is limited to only a few efforts. The objective here is for you and a partner or two to create a lesson plan where the classroom itself becomes a financial lesson. The students in our class must experience an actual simulation of life lessons, including decision making and consequences. The lesson should last approximately one 'normal' class period (45 minutes), and have an end result where students feel as though there was achievement (or failure). Extensive discussions with me prior to initiating the lesson plan is essential. This cannot be done without my prior approval and guidance. Completion of the lesson plan constitutes completion of the task and points awarded.

Put a lot of effort into this one. This task is one in which you look to leave an impression on those that participate in it.

Credit Card Simulation (points based on performance)

This is another one going into the "assessment" category. Over a couple of class periods, we will simulate the experience of living on credit, and see what it would mean to purchase with revolving credit on a consistent basis. The costs may be out of control! Your acquiescence and following along should net full points for this quiz-task. Happy shopping!

Minecraft (100 points)

Sweet! Minecraft! Yup. The task here is no small one, though. It's not 5 minutes of messin' around, you have to build a small town that functions both logistically and 'financially'. Things to consider in a functioning town:
banks, police, fire fighting crews, hospital, government, schools, residences, roads, recreation, grocery, convenient stores, restaurants, lodging, import/export routes, and whatever else you may deem necessary. Obviously, there's no 'in-game' measurement of a successful town built as there would be in a Sims game, but there will be judgement passed on potential and viability of your established town. If it is lacking, you will be informed and allowed to improve. If it is adequate/tip-top, then full points. The final resulting 'towns' will be judged by a panel of Minecraft 'experts' with the winning land receiving bonus 50 points.
Minecraft isn't for everybody. You may find this 'game' exceedingly annoying. Then no need, plenty of other methods to get points. May be worth it for some of you, though, that find this an interesting endeavor. Good luck!

Budgeting Quiz (points based on amount correct)

I'm opening another quiz, one that questions you about what you may or may not have gathered from learning to budget. Simple quiz, should only take a few minutes. I'll open it on Socrative both Monday and
Tuesday this week. Points are based on your % correct.

Gen I Revolution (50-100 points)

A while back I put you all in mysterious 'groups' on the Gen I Revolution site. Now it's time to play. Your task here is to as a group, achieve as many points as you can playing through the main part of the game itself, not the side bar games that we've done hitherto. You'll need to listen to the directions given through the tutorial on the game carefully, and avoid skipping any steps throughout impatiently. This will require you to be meticulous, and possibly go back and forth in the game, maybe even write things down as you go. No easy task for certain. Top team as per points means 100 for each to their grade in class. 2nd place gets 85, third gets 75, the rest get 50. Also, there will be a 75 bonus for the individual student with the most points.
Deadline for points is the Friday before spring break starts. Good luck!

 To complete:
1) Logon to the Gen I Revolution game.
2) Play the game as a team, solving the missions as best you can.
3) Accumulate as many points as possible.

Voicethread of Budget (100 points)

It's over! We completed the budget! Hopefully when you're 25-ish you'll feel more in control of your finances for what we did here this semester. Life is certainly expensive in this world, and in order to have all the 'stuff' you may want to be part of America's world, you'll need to be earning some decent income. The budget had a lot of components: rents, utilities, electronic needs, cars, and foods! Now it's time to finish it up and 'present.' You'll create a slide presentation using Keynote and enter the presentation into Voicethread (so if you haven't completed the task to sign up for Voicethread do that now) with a 6 slide requirement.
First, introduce yourself with a Title Page slide
Second, make a slide of your spreadsheet of your budget.
Third, a slide of your actual apartment you chose.
4th, a slide of your transportation decision
5th, a slide of your food choices.
And last, a  slide that represents a final reflection.
Wth each slide (and this is the beauty of Voicethread), you need to include spoken comments.
1st: Tell us who you are and what this is
2nd: Walk us through your budget, tell us the job, decisions you made, etc...
3rd: Detail your apartment, why you chose it (location, cost, amenities), and how you'll deal with your roommate. Also, mention the furniture decisions you made.
4th: Detail your car decisions, and describe your plan to handle gasoline, insurance, maintenance, repairs, and registration costs.
5th: Descibe your nutrition plan, based on what decisions you made at the grocery store. Got enough protein? Carbs? Water and bread only?
6th: Conclude by showing what you'll have left each month. What will you do with that cash? Save for emergencies? Invest? Open a retirement account? Impress others out on the town?
This Voicethread must include the spoken comments, otherwise it is unacceptable!

This task is considered complete when the aforementioned slides have been done on Voicethread, and then you email me (robert.letter@bvsd.org) the link to the actual Voicethread itself through the 'share' option on the Voicethread page. I need to have that sent to me in order for it to be accounted for!

Backseat Budgeter (20 points)

Colorado by law needs to have a 'balanced' budget, in other words the amount the state cannot be more than 4% more than what it takes in. Some legislators have felt handcuffed by this state law, and now it's your turn to feel the pinch. Go to this website: coloradobackseatbudgeter
Try to lower taxes, balance the budget, and trigger no "constitutional warnings". No small task for a legislator that represents a district that wants taxes to be lowered. When complete, write a one-paragraph, 100-word blog post detailing what you tried and how it failed/succeeded, followed by how you feel about our laws involving the raising of taxes and spending on education.

Tax Form 1040A (15 points)

Pretty simple task here, as we've done this in class already. Fill out a 1040A tax form for your actual 2013 income! It need not be the form that you send to the IRS, as you may go about it differently for your current needs (someone else does it for you, you use TurboTax, you filled out a 1040EZ...), but in order to attain the 15 points, it does need to actually be a 1040A form filled out. They are available online (Google it!) in order for you obtain one.

To complete:
1) Print out a 1040A form from the IRS
2) Fill it out using the actual values of what you earned in 2013
3) Turn in completed form
4) I'll shred it after entering into your grade.

*** No 2013 income to account for? Then this task probably isn't for you.***
**** Not interested in divulging income? Again, probably not the task for you****

Tax Quiz (points based on performance)

Yes, we do have a few  quiz tasks, where your amount correct will be your points. The first one is on taxes. Personal income tax is an oft misunderstood topic, where many Americans believe these monies are 'stolen' from them to line the pockets of 'guv-mint.' While the tax dollars that are gathered by our country should very well be appropriated in an acceptable fashion, this is not thievery. It is part of our system, and if done correctly, part of what makes us such a strong country.
the overall tax burden, however, can feel overwhelming at times. Here is a short, not complete, list of taxes you may/will encounter in your lifetime:
federal income tax
state income tax
city income tax
state sales tax
city sales tax
county sales tax
property tax
'sin' tax
gasoline tax
phone tax
Combine that with fees like car registration and gun ownership background checks, and the American citizen can start to feel a bit of a pinch in the wallet area. It is incumbent on our elected officials to keep these costs in check, and fully accounted for, and if they fail to do so appropriately, it is incumbent on us to vote them out of their position(s).
To complete:
1) Open Socrative
2) Complete the quiz, utilizing your resources
3) Finish quiz

Financial Lesson for Youngins' (100 points)

Financial literacy is a topic we'd like to see spread out over several years of academia for students, not just on their way out the door. Students in their younger years could use a solid base of understanding certain things to help acclimate to our financial world quicker. This task asks you to create a lesson plan for a 5th grade class that is interactive and lasts approximately 15-20 minutes. The recommended topic would be credit vs. debit, but if you feel as though there is a preferable topic you'd like to pass on in the realm of personal financial literacy, that's fine as well. Either way, I need to approve said lesson. The goal is to pass on what you've gathered these few months to a group of 10-year-olds such that they feel as though they've gained a bit of understanding on the topic you presented.
To complete:
1) Design a lesson plan for 10-year-olds about a financial literacy topic (credit vs. debit will work) such that you have an introduction (a teaser if you will), a body that includes interaction from the students in some fashion, a prop (or props) for the students to view/touch/explore, and a conclusion (closure) that wraps it up and ties to your introduction.
2) Present the plan to me at a time where we could discuss it for approximately 15 minutes.
3) I'll establish the classroom location and time for you to 'present'.
4) I'll excuse you from the necessary classes if applicable.
5) Do it!
6)*it needs to be videoed, so one of your group presenting needs to film the proceedings.*

Grocery Budgeting (30 points)

Often times, the young American adult neglects to consider groceries as a necessary budgeted item, and views it as "whatever I have left after I pay all my bills." A better way to handle your finances is to actually consider groceries as a 'bill' that you must attend to each month, much the same as a car payment or electric bill. You need to eat. You need to stay clean.Our trip to Wally World was intended for you to see what these groceries actually cost, and see it at pretty much the cheapest possible venue. The task here is to determine what amount of money should be budgeted for you in order to maintain proper hygiene and sustenance, in other words you need to eat something other than Top Ramen or Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.
Here's a link to my description of the budgeting project we're doing, for your viewing pleasure!

To complete:
1) Off to the grocery store with a shopping list!
2) Price it all for a month's worth.
3) Determine what you can and cannot have in order to stay in a budget. You'll need to determine what budget $$$ you're satisfied with, then subtract what you'll need to, if anything.
4) Put it in your official budget sheet as "Groceries."
5) Then, account for your vice as well. Put it your budget sheet right under groceries, and then make a determination if anything needs to be cut from either in order to afford. Your vice amount should reflect what you actually did spend on it during the first semester.
6) Show me personally both.

Gen i Revolution, Beyond the Mission (80 points)

The next Gen I Revolution task is Beyond the Mission, located adjacent to Murktide Invasion on the left side of the main page of Gen I Revolution. This task asks you to 'help' someone make good decisions in 6 different scenarios. The questions are very tricky, but if you follow carefully, your chances of answering them correctly are much greater. The task is to successfully point the 6 people in the right respective directions with what they are doing, and each time identify the 'double agent'. If you fail at the individual mission, you will be directed by the site to retry.
 To complete:
1) Go to Gen i Revolution
2) Choose the Beyond the Mission link
3) Complete all 6 missions, successfully pointing the operative in the right direction and identify the double-agent.
4) Screen shot every success
5) Post all 6 success shots on a blog post entitled "Beyond the Mission"

Gen i Revolution, Murktide Invasion (50 points)

Gen i Revolution is a personal financial literacy game made by the authorities on the topic, The Council For Economic Education. The Council constantly strives to further economic education for the American student at all levels, and part of their philosophy is that the resources for learning need to be engaging to a 21st-century student, like yourself. The material covered in this game is the standard economics that have been taught in schools for decades, but they've included a 'modern' flair. The hope is that the student will find the material more engaging if it is presented in a game-challenge fashion. Let's find out if we agree, shall we?

Gen i Revolution

You'll need to go to the site for the game, and login with the username you chose a bit back, remembering the password you put in as well. There will be 4 tasks associated with this site, the first being Murktide Invasion. Your task here is tough, and will require some research and questioning of me. You need to have successfully conquered 3 lands that began the game as red, without losing any other lands in the process. In other words, you need to be up three territories from where you started. The process to gain land is first answer the questions appropriately, second 'reinforce' your current territories with the troops you just gained by answering correctly, then attack the lands you wish to attack. It will most likely take at least 4 rounds of questions to successfully pull this off, but the questions are good ones that we certainly want to know the answers to. If you find this game engaging, as the Council hopes you do, you can try for the jackpot: 125 points to actually win the Murktide Invasion and completely wipe out the red opponent.   Tough to do, but if you're so inclined, go for it, but keep in mind there is no in between. Either take the 50, or achieve the threshold for 125. Good luck!
To complete:
1) Open Gen i Revolution
2) Play Murktide Invasion (link on the middle-left side of the main page)
3) Successfully maintain 3 lands (territories) more than when you started
4) Screen shot and post to your blog under "Murktide"

Biz Kid Video (200 points)

More high value! This one will require 2 partners, and each member will receive the 100 points. Biz Kid$ is an American television series for middle-school-aged children ages 11-14 that debuted on PBS Kids Go! on January 6, 2008. The series was produced by American Public Television. It has 65 episodes on 5 seasons, it debuted the episodes on most PBS stations and reruns on the weekends. The series ended on March 25, 2012. The cast of the show is about 10 teenagers. The TV rating for this show is rated TV-G. Biz Kids was created by the producers of Bill Nye the Science Guy, the Emmy Award winning science show from the 1990s. It teaches financial education and entrepreneurship to a preteen audience. It uses sketch comedy and young actors to explain basic economic concepts.^[1] Its motto is "Where kids teach kids about money and business." [wikipedia]
Your task here is to create your own version of one of the Biz Kid videos produced, either #304 "Where is My Allowance?", or #501 "What's Your Money Personality?"
I have shown you the DVD of these episodes, now it's your turn. Your task here is to create your own incarnation of one of these videos. The video should be 8-15 minutes in length, and detail exactly what was detailed in the video you chose (they have several other choices as well, you can investigate on their website, Biz Kids). 
Before you embark on the making of your video, please detail to me the plan for making it. In order to receive credit, I first need to know your plan. If you're completed project can be shown to our discrete class, add 20 points, and if you can manage to get the video announcement crew to air a portion of it in the announcements, then 25 additional points (but only one group could possibly receive that 25). To complete:
1) Watch the video you're going to re-create.
2) Detail a plan for your re-creation.
3) Show me the plan
4) Make the video.
5) Put the video on youtube, and give me the link.
6) If applicable, we'll show the video to either the class or the video announcement crew, or both, for the potential of more bonus points

Dollars & Sense (165 points)

This is the first posted 'high value' task, where it will require a bit more effort to complete, but has a far greater return. In order to achieve 2100 points successfully, you'll need to do at least a few of these 'high value' tasks, so choose the one(s) that work best for you and your schedule.
Dollars &Sense is a financial literacy book written by Carol Carter, a Denver-based transition expert who helps teens take the next step towards adulthood, whatever step that may be. This one specifically is meant to assist late teens with understanding of personal financial decisions they'll make from 18 to 25, why they make those decisions, and what the consequences (good or bad) of those decisions are.
The task is simple enough: read the book and answer all the questions that are found throughout. The questions challenge you to give self-thought about your decision both current and future.
The book can be found here:
Dollars & Sense     or here:     Amazon

I have a copy, and we can discuss you borrowing it, but you wouldn't be able to write in it, and I'd have to limit you to 7 days of holding the book before I would demand it back for another to check it out. It might be easier for you to obtain your own copy, but cost may be prohibitive. Remember, these tasks aren't necessarily mandatory, and if you feel as though this one isn't right for you, skip it and do others.

To complete:
1) Get a copy of Dollars & Sense
2) Read it in its entirety
3) Complete ALL work and activities within
4) Show completed book to me in person. Reflections are part of the activities you'll do within the book.

Credit! (20 points)

Ha! Furnishing an apartment is quite difficult. Maybe we should all thank our parents for all the furniture they've provided for us! This task is another that goes into our budget sheet as something we need to budget for, namely credit card. It is quite common for an American adult to acquire some items through the use of credit in order to establish an adult identity. We 'shopped' for furnishings for our pads, now we need to pay for it. Using the loan payment formula we've investigated, put in what it would cost per month to pay that loan back in 2 years with a steady payment.


1) Shop for furniture, writing all items and prices down. Add them them up for a total
2) Add in 7.5% sales tax
3) Use the formula to determine ho much per month you'd need to pay in order to finish paying it off in 2 years.
3) Show me the budget with the entry 'credit card' appropriately filled in.

Budgeting Transportation (mandatory) (20 points)

Transportation is an essential element of being an American citizen. The U.S. has basically evolved around the highway the last 50-75 years, and it's inescapable that one needs to navigate those streets in order to be a productive member of society. Your task here is threefold: you need to determine how you are going to transport yourself. Car? Motorcycle? Bus? Please accurately reflect what you will do as an adult. If you honestly feel as though you will not own a personal vehicle, t hen so be it and we'll price a bus pass/light rail pass. If, however, you are one who appreciates a personal vehicle and has every intention of owning one post-college, then it needs to be accounted for. You will need to find an actual available right now vehicle to purchase (that is affordable; you should have already done this). Then you need to figure what it would cost you to own this vehicle and pay for it in a loan from a bank, a loan that covers 5 years, at a routine interest rate. We will have discussed the formula to figure what your loan payment would be before you complete this task. It will then be entered into your budget. To wit:
1) Find an available vehicle.
2) Determine the loan payment per month
3) Enter it into your budget.

Further, there are costs associated with owning a vehicle. Gasoline, repairs, routine maintenance, and registration just to name a few. All of these need to be accounted for, but we'll attack these on a case-by-case basis.
This task is considered complete when you have shown me the budgeted costs for transportation entered into your official budget sheet. I have to visually approve this for the points!

Budgeting Modern Technology (mandatory) (10 points)

It's 2014, and technology is undeniable in its present form as a necessity. Cell phones, internet, television, and gaming are everywhere and in some fashion a part of all of our lives. These need to be budgeted for in our budget project.Your task is to budget for these 'necessities'.
You need to first determine what type of internet you want to have. Just on the cell phone? A land-based one only? Both? Then you'll need to price them accordingly, keeping in mind you ain't rich. But you will need to account for this; there will be no accepting (by me) of no interent.
Then you'll need to determine what type of television you'll want as a 20-something. This is where a roommate is extremely helpful, as TV is a touch more expensive than one might expect, and paying for it often feels like a waste. Do you want cable? Satellite? Just Netflix? All of them? Nothing? that determination is entirely up to you, but please, keep it realistic; if you watch 25 hours of television a week right now, then chances are you'll do something similar 10 years from now, and you'll need to account for that. Price it.
Then, without question, you'll need to price an appropriate cell phone plan for yourself. No options here, you MUST have a cell phone as part of your budget. Price it wisely. Look carefully. How important is texting to you? Do you want to combine the internet with it? Are there more options you want? Consider it carefully.
All of these that you include in your budget need to reflect real options that available to you right now. Once you find the plan you want to go with, you might want to capture it in a screenshot kept on your iPad to prove to me, in case I'm skeptical. When done, just like utilities, show me for credit.

1) Search for existing cell, internet, and if applicable TV plans.
2) Choose the plan(s) you want to commit to.
3) Include costs in budget
4) Ask me about additional costs, taxes, and fees that come with these.
5) Show me budgeted result in your official budget sheet you're creating.
This task is considered complete when I have physically seen that you've done it and responded with "okay" in some fashion

Economic Ed Lowdown (20 points and 15 points)

Another app on the iPad is called "Econ-ed lowdown" and is yet another app that challenges you to understand terminology in finances and, most importantly for us, living smartly within a budget. Upon launching the app, you'll find 4 choices of topics you can study: Inflation, Cost of Credit, Budgeting, and Personal Finance Flashcards. While all 4 entries are interesting and worthy, this task is focused on the "Budgeting" part. Within that, there are 2 options I'd like you to investigate: "Experiment" and "Challenge".
In "Experiment", your task is to defeat the expert. You are given choices to make, and if you can wisely choose the correct option each time, then you'll beat the expert! It's not so simple! Some of the choices are very thought-provoking, and you'll need to carefully consider what is in front of you. If you do manage to beat the expert, capture the evidence in a screenshot and post it in a new blog entitled, "Econ Lowdown". 20 points your way!
Further, if you can ace the challenge questions (also fairly challenging), then post the screenshot of that as well in the same blog, for 15 MORE points. 35 riding on the successful completion of this one.


This app was developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Surprisingly, the Fed is one of the leaders in the world of personal financial literacy, as they continue to conduct workshops for educators across the country hoping to develop a strong foundation in the topic for the youth of America.
This task is complete when you have successfully gone through the experiment and/or the challenge questions and posted the screenshots of that success on your blog as a new entry. I will verify from there.

Financial Football (10-25 points)

One of the apps on the iPad is called "Financial Football" (I've seen many of you messing around with it from time to time), presented by Visa. It asks a variety of financial questions ranging from fairly simple, to challenging and not so obvious. There are 3 levels the game can be played at: Rookie, Pro, and Hall-of-Fame. In each, the game's objective is drive the ball down the field and score, while stopping the other team from doing the same, all by answering questions correctly. All questions are personal finance based. Your task is this: score twice in the 10-minute version of the hall-of-fame level. Not the easiest thing to do. Incorrect answers definitely get in the way of success. If you can manage this feat, 25 points are yours. If you find that task too difficult to achieve, then for 15 points you can score just one touchdown in a half (10 minutes) on the hall-of-fame level, or for 10 points you can score at all in any level. You can only record one score into your grade with this task, but you can try as many times as you'd like! Once, however, you've decided to enter a score, it's over, that's what you'll get, no improving it. To complete:

1)Launch Financial Football app
2) Play game, choose teams (irrelevant to success, although I will look closely at who you've chosen to play as and against), and choose a 10-minute half.
3) Play the game by answering questions. Don't dilly-dally, the clock keeps ticking and time is of the essence (it helps to win the toss; I wouldn't blame you if you ensured that happened before you embarked playing).
4) Get your satisfactory score and post it as a blog post entitled "Financial Football", with a screenshot of the final score of your game.
This task is complete when you've posted in your blog a screenshot of your final score. I will verify from there.

Voicethread (10 points)

https://voicethread.com/?#u3912422.b5264306.i26846400

This is a voicethread I made for my AP Statistics students to help them understand their study guide for the midterm. Go ahead and scan through it to see what a voicethread is. Effectively, a powerpoint presented via the internet, with the user being able to comment on the powerpoint itself (if the user is a registered user as well with Voicethread). Voicethread is a powerful tool of communication, one I'm near certain you will encounter in college in some fashion. You will utilize Voicethread for one (or more) of the tasks this semester, so we need to all have accounts with them. It is free, and quite simple to sign up, and indeed that is your task here. Just create an account. Feel free to experiment with Voicethread on your own, but I will have a short discussion on how it is used in class, so no need. 
This task is complete when you have created a voicethread account of your own and post "Done" in the comment section of this blog post (mine). No need to include any evidence, your word is good. 

Active Investments (10 points)

We've been running a mock investment portfolio for the past several months, with the eventual 'winner' receiving a gift card for a restaurant establishment. Your cash needs to be invested though!
Create a blog post detailing your investment strategy up to date. Did you invest aggressively in just a few stocks? Did you spread out your cash over a wide range of possibilities? Tell us.
1) Create a blog post entitled "Investment Strategy"
2)  Write a one paragraph blog that details your strategy, why you chose it, and what the up-to-date results are of that strategy. Include your current standing and actual money won/lost.(a screenshot will suffice)
3) Post a link to the blog entry as a comment to this blog
This task is complete when you have posted a link to your blog post as a comment in this blog post. I will read it and verify you acquiescence from there.

Budgeting Utilities (mandatory) (15 points)

Part of our budget that we've been creating for the past month is maintaining your utilities. Each facility needs electricity, natural gas, and water services. You need to determine your budget for each of those, and the methodology will be proportional to what I (Mr. Letter) pay for each based on my square footage of my house.
I have a 2900 square foot home, pay $85/month for electricity, $65/month for natural gas, and $105/month for water. These values are consistent. Using proportions, you need to 'budget' how much you should spend for utilities in your place. You'll need to know the square footage of your apartment/house in order to successfully complete this.
1) Determine your square footage
2) Mathematically solve for what you should allot for each of the 3 utilities based on what I pay.
3) Enter those values in your actual budget sheet we've been constructing.
4) Show me

This task is considered complete when I have physically seen that you've done it and responded with "okay" in some fashion.

Wise Money! (15 Points)

This task is simple. An app on your iPad is entitled "Wisemoney". It walks you through some basic personal finance questions. In order to progress through the game, you need to answer the questions correctly. You will not advance if you do not! To do:
1) Launch the app.
2) Begin playing the game. Carefully answer the questions.
3) When you've completed the game successfully, your screen will indicate that by claiming "Winner!"
4) Take a screenshot of that
5) Post the screen shot on your blog, under the title "Wise Money"

This task is considered complete when the post is entered with the appropriate screenshot.