About This Lesson
This lesson is an introductory activity to guide your students through a discussion of essential questions related to economics. It would be appropriate to complete early in the year if you are using a thematic approach to teaching history to incorporate civics into your history class.
The attached powerpoint walks you through the key questions to discuss. For a "Do Now," you should give the students some combination of these three questions and allow them to free write. Then, take time to discuss each one in turn. Read this for some thoughts on how to guide the discussion.
Depending on the amount of time you have in class, you may want to incorporate Think-Pair-Share or Table Talk to have the students discuss these questions in small groups or pairs before you share out with the whole class.
The summative activity for this lesson is to prepare a written response to the main essential question: is the economy fair? This is supported by evidence from the discussion that took place in class.
While this can be used as a standalone introductory activity, it is best used in conjunction with discussions of other themes (civics and government, equality and social change, economics, and movement of people). These themes would then form a basis of your curriculum and assessment for the rest of the year.
