Economics Changed My Life!

Alright 2nd block, my other classes have done a pretty good job so far responding to the blog so I hope you can do the same. So how has class been going so far? We've done a couple of different things thus far and I hope you have learned something from them. What do you think about Sim City so far? We've played it twice and will play it for a third time tomorrow. Do you see the relevance of this simulation to Economics? It really does incorporate many of the concepts we discuss in class within the simulation. If you don't see the relevance now, hopefully you will by the end of the nine weeks. Well, I don't have much else for today so I'll keep it short for today. You stay classy 2nd period! By the way, I can see why Coach Overbay hated to give up this class; you all are a great class!

Czar Ramsey out!

I am not self-centered, I am just awesome!

I have had a few accusations the past week and a half of being self centered. This is the farthest thing from the truth, and if I know one thing it is the truth. I don't know if I have told a lie my entire life, so the truth just comes naturally to me. Anyway, how has the first week and a half of class been thus far? I am excited about all three of my classes this semester and I hope you all feel the same. What do you think about the activities we have done so far (Lost, koala bear, ketchup on a spoon, etc...)? Have you learned anything from this or has it been a complete waste of time? How did people not caring or participating in the LOST game make you feel? It can be frustrating when you care about something and no one else does. I hope you see the value of order and organization and the need for government. If this doesn't prove my point then I don't know what will! Well, I will leave it short today and I will close with a couple of quotes from the game!

Czar Ramsey out!!!



Quotes:

• "How you gonna make fire with a flashlight?" - someone in first block
• "Good God, thank you Eleanor!" - someone in first block apparently mistaking Eleanor for God
• "with syrup you can just rub it on your neck..." - thanks for the insight in 1st block
• "Suck it up and have a better immune system!" - I think Cody in 1st said this
• "Raise your hand if you love TuPac"
• "SHUT UP!!!! I raised my HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!" -Jill
• "can I phone a friend?"
• "Cover yourself in maple syrup and stab a squirrel." - Jeremy's plan for food!
• "We just built a telephone to call you so give us the answers"

The Jerk

Well, we will give this a try again. I really don't know why I didn't do this last nine weeks but I'll attempt it with you guys. If this is the most homework you guys receive you really shouldn't have any complaints. So, we are through with our first week of class. How do you think it is going so far? My first period claims that I am a jerk but I don't think that's the case. We took a couple of days to play the survival game last week. Do you see the significance of that activity as it relates to our class? What are some things you learned or at least thought about pertaining to government through this game? Was it a complete waste of time? I hope I have made my point regarding the importance of government through this activity. Anyway, I look forward to a great nine weeks and I look forward to hearing from you all.

Czar out!

P.S. Some of my favorite quotes from the past week!

• "We should do this activity outside to make it more realistic" -Moses Greene
• "...at least our pockets will be purified" - not sure who said it!
• "Who is the weakest link, they have to be up front?" -Andrea Keesecker laying down the law in first period
• "Let's just get drunk and catch stuff on fire!" -someone from 2nd block coming up with ideas for the rum and the matches.
• "Bear Grilles dug a hole...in the snow!" -another 2nd block quote
• "Raise your hand if you love Jesus!" -Damien Goforth trying to get people to vote with him. It was pretty slick.
• "We need to ditch the matches and just snuggle." -a suggestion from someone in 3rd block.
• "It's only a fifth....and I'm not sharing!" -not sure who, but third block once again.
• "I'm trying to get point....I'm just making noise!" -at least Michelle Bunting is honest!
• "Do fish come to maple syrup?" -a mind boggling question from my 3rd block, I think it was Taylor Pruitt.
• "Start a giant forest fire...people will come." -Brandon Marquis' suggestion for getting rescued.
• "What are we going to do with a razor, shave a bear?" -3rd block, unknown.
• "They aren't Jesus snowshoes...you can't walk on water." -a nice observation from someone in 3rd block.

Better Late Than Never!!!

I am sure I am going to hear about this on Monday. I'm sorry I didn't get this posted sooner, I haven't been feeling good this weekend. Anyway, I guess I'll give you till Wednesday to respond. I have like 22 comments to moderate so don't freak out if you don't see your comment yet. Ok, well I really enjoyed class on Friday! I thought all three of my classes did an excellent job. Zach even asked a good question for once!! I thought 3rd block turned out to be very good, with Rena taking over the teaching duties for the period. I thought she did an excellent job and handled herself extremely well considering the tough questions that were asked of her. I found it extremely interesting to hear things from her unique perspective. That is exactly the type of thing I want going on in my classroom and is a perfect example of what I talked about on the 2nd day of school regarding open-mindedness. What was your take on class for Thursday and Friday? What did you think of the video? What about the discussions that resulted? Anyone want to share their hope for 50 years from now? How would the 40 passengers of Flight 93 want us to respond to our current situation? Do we owe those 40 passengers anything or do we simply accept their sacrifice and move on? Do the Vols have any shot against Florida this weekend? Check out the poll for more on that!! See you all tomorrow!

Czar out!

Obama or McCain

I didn't remind you guys in class today (2nd Block) to respond to the blog. Even though I did mention it in class on Thursday, I will give you until Tuesday to respond. I thought you all did a fantastic job debating in class today. You conducted yourselves like adults, probably more so than many of our politicians. I think these types of discussions are extremely important, even if you don't agree with everything that is being said. Just because we disagree about an issue, we don't have the right to treat each other like trash. I think that is a big problem in government today, this whole us versus them phenomenon that seems to be growing stronger and stronger. In the end, like both Obama and McCain stated, we all fly under the same flag. That being said, how do you all feel about the discussion today? Did anything discussed particullarly interest you? Are there any topics you wanted to talk about that we missed? Once again, let me say that I am extremely proud of how you conducted yourselves today, and that makes me much more likely to try fun and informative things in the future. Until next time, you stay classy Science Hill!

Czar Ramsey out!

Rocky Top, You'll Always Be.....

Alright, so football season is right around the corner. Let me go ahead and predict that the Vols will go 15-0 this season and win the national championship. I am not worried about the overhyped Florida Gator's quarterback one bit. Speaking of hype, a lot of it has been going on this week regarding the race for the Presidency. The field is set and it's going to be a slugfest until November. So how do you all feel about the Presidential nominees? I know we have known who the participants will be for a while, but it seems like the race turned up a notch this past week. Any reaction to the Vice Presidential candidates? Did either candidate seperate himself from the other in your mind this week. If you don't have any idea, go to a major news site and read an article or two from this past week. I'm sure you will get caught up in a hurry. Anyway, I hope everything went well with the sub on Friday and I will see you all on Tuesday. Enjoy your long weekend and GO VOLS!

Czar Ramsey out!

Welcome 2 Sim City

Alright! You guys got to try out Sim City today. This is the first time I have been able to try this in the classroom so I am anxious to see how it goes. Hopefully by the end of this nine weeks, you will see the merit of this simulation. What did you all think of the activity so far? Do you see the relevance of this simulation to what we are studying? If you don't see a connection right now, I think you will eventually. I know we didn't get a whole lot of time today, but we should be able to dive right into it next week. I am anxious to see how you all do. Changing the subject just a bit, how do you think class is going thus far? Do you have any suggestions of things I could be doing or subjects you would like me to teach? I appreciate any feedback you all are willing to give. Well, I guess I will leave it at this for now. Until next time, you stay classy Science Hill!

Czar Ramsey out

New Faces, Same Places

Well, here we go again with this big blog experiment! Any ideas or suggestions on how to make this better would be greatly appreciated. I was pleased with the response that I got this morning from my 2nd block class about this blog. Hopefully, this will give you guys a chance to voice your opinions. So, we finished up our first full week of class. How do you guys think it is going so far? Any ideas or suggestions of things we should do or cover in here? We finished the Lost activity today and I know it wasn't an enjoyable experience for everyone. I hope I have made my point about the importance of order and organization. If I haven't, I really don't know what else I could do to make my point. This is in activity that we will refer back to throughout the semester. Give me your guys opinion on the project. What did you learn from this project? How do you feel about people that are indifferent? Does it bother you like it bothers me? Why? I'll leave it at this for now, but expect much more as the semester moves on.

Some of my favorite quotes from this school year

• "I can't read a book" - Allyson Oakes 3/28/08
• "The sun WILL come out" - Allyson Oakes 3/28/08
• "I want the axe so I can slit my throat" - Molly Rhinehart 3/28/08 in response to the LOST game we play in class
• "Braveheart didn't talk to Frodo!" -??? who knows what Shannon Essick was talking about here???
• "...and smate Godzilla" - Kraig Berglund 4/8/08
• "It's like...a male donut" - John Schmidt (sorry John!) 4/10/08 regarding the donuts I brought to my first period class that didn't have any holes in them.
• "CHALUPA!!!" - a long story about Jordan Douglass
• "SPACESHIP!!!" - another long story courtesy of Adam Dyble
• "...your partially white too." - fascinating insight from the mind of Hannah Austin
• "Czar....??....that spells caesar" - a wonderful observation from Brianna Keebler
• "But where are we going to get the pot?" - Allyson Oakes 3/28/08, once again another gem from Ally during the LOST game.
• "My pop tart is not genetic..." -Shannon Essick again, enough said
• "Essays...like Mexicans??" - Jadiah Green after I assigned several writing assignments. I am pretty sure this could be offensive but it was funny!
• "My lecture is so good...I'm getting arousing applause!" - Coach Ramsey 4/11/08, probably one of the most emarassing moments of my teaching career. I meant a rousing ovation but it didn't come out that way. A student later asked why I wasn't standing when I lecture which further embarrassed me.
• "Class, what do you call the dumbest, slowest, weirdest, ugliest person in the world? 'Coach Ramsey' the class replied" - I'm not sure who contributed this part but it came from my arch nemisis' paper, Derek Pfeiffer.
• "In Ramseytopia, Ramsey doesn't read books, he stares them down till he gets the information he needs" - Once again, I don't know who wrote this line, but it came from Danielle Miranda's paper. I do realize it is a Chuck Norris ripoff, but it is still funny.

If you have any others, feel free to share them!

Czar out!!!!

A stroll through the mind of Ramsey

I figured that while I am sitting here watching the Mets destroy the Phillies that I would go ahead and post the sequel to my first blog. I am happy with the responses to the first blog and I hope you all continue to participate and make this fun. I don't want you guys to focus solely on what I write. My opinions are simply that, opinions, and they are not the only ideas out there. I would like you to read my thoughts and the thoughts of others and to respond to both. My goal for this blog, once again, is to create a community and a place to exchange thoughts and ideas. On that note, I think you all did a tremendous job with the classroom discussion today. I know I am not the greatest teacher, but my goal is to be the best teacher I possibly can be, and I hope that this activity will make my classroom more effective and meaningful. I take it personal when my students fail because their failure is a direct reflection of my teaching ability. I may joke around a lot, but make no mistake about it, I take my job seriously. I believe in what I teach and I believe that I have a great group of students to teach. Days like today encourage me as a teacher and means a heck of a lot to me personally as well. I want you all to have fun, but I want you to learn and grow as well. We had wonderful discussions in all three classes today and I left Science Hill feeling like we accomplished something. I was thrilled to see so many of you take this activity seriously and discuss the issues with both knowledge and passion. I'm not really going to specify exactly what questions I want you to answer in this blog, but I am instead going to open it up to you to direct the discussion. I want you to discuss with each other, not me. Remember, attack the issues, not each other!!!! I will not tolerate any student that is disrespectful (but I don't think that will be a problem with this group). Did anything we discussed today in class have an effect on you? What did you agree or disagree with and why? Discuss today or anything else relevant among yourselves. I will try and post responses as well. Thank you all for being such great students!!! You will truly be a memorable senior class to me. Until next time, you stay classy Science Hill seniors!!