2010-2011 Social Studies Department News

• State Champion Essayists: Cobras - - Four Years Running! For the fourth consecutive year, a SMSH student has written Florida’s top essay in the InvestWrite national writing competition. Christian Prentice scored top marks in the state with his entry, titled “Investment For Dummies,” in which he outlined investment strategies for an astronaut on a light-speed flight for a month, but during which 40 years will pass on Earth. Christian is a student in Dr. Astuto’s AP Macroeconomics class, and his win makes it four-in-a-row for Dr. Astuto’s students in the contest.
  

• Dr. Astuto Featured in Federal Reserve Publication: One of South Miami’s faculty members is being featured in the Spring, 2011 edition of Extra Credit, an electronic publication of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Extra Credit is designed to give educators updated economic information as well as ideas and lesson plans to use in the classroom when teaching economics courses or personal finance topics.

  The article “Share the Wealth: Teaching students to be savvy savers” is part of a series giving teachers tips on getting their students to become more financially knowledgeable. Dr. Astuto is spotlighted as the author of a multi-day lesson plan which won the bank’s “Lesson Plan of the Year” competition last spring.

  That portion of the newest issue can be accessed online at http://www.frbatlanta.org/pubs/extracredit/11spring_share_the_wealth.cfm, or by clicking under the “Publications” tab on the bank’s main web page. The article also includes a link to Dr. Astuto’s complete lesson plan, which is available for download in the PDF format.