In our unit on Supply and Demand, students participate in a Pearl Exchange Simulation. During this activity, students are tasked with trying to purchase or sell a pearl for the best price possible. Buyers and Sellers are secretly told their maximum purchase price and minimum sale price. They must then negotiate with one of their counterparts. This activity is always a fun way to teach students the concepts of Consumer and Producer Surplus and helping to understand how different factors can impact markets. 

AP Microeconomics students try their hand at working in a factory with some variable inputs of labor (students hired) and some fixed inputs (resources provided). As students try to produce the longest paper chain possible, they learn that producers experience various stages of marginal returns. At first, as employees are added, the chain increases by greater and greater amounts, but over time more employees are hired than are needed, resources are not utilized to their maximum potential, and the factory experiences diminishing marginal returns. This concept is one of the most important for students to master in AP Microeconomics. 

Students use graphing concepts to analyze whether firms in perfectly competitive markets are earning profit or taking losses. Further, if the firm is taking losses, they advise whether it is worth while for the firm to continue operating. 

Students compete against each other to correctly graph changing markets and equilibriums. Students are provided a scenerio and must determine if the event impacted a supply curve or a demand curve, and then shift said curve the appropriate direction. The first student correct climbs the hill until they are in the battle at the "top of the hill."

When studying business organization, students partake in a Shark Tank style project. Students must create a new product concept, research costs of production, and then present their product to the sharks (classmates) who then can ask questions and determine if they would like to "invest" in their product. Students are challenged to think critically, work collaboratively, and communicate clearly throughout the project and presentation. 

One of my strongest practices with my AP students is clearly identifying strengths and weaknesses. In our period of preparing for the AP test, students take two practice tests. I then compile the results of those tests and provide students with a detailed breakdown of their performance on each individual unit of the course. Students scoring below 65% on an objective are then assigned targeted review to reteach those concepts. 

All of my AP tests are made to mimic the AP exam that students take in the spring. In order to measure strengths and weaknesses throughout, I will track tests with a detailed breakdown of what objectives were tested over. On this document above, I am tracking performance on the free response portion of a test, as well as total scores. This informs me what areas we should circle back to and hit harder when we are reviewing for the AP test in the spring.