I feel that a lot of the information that was shared with us yesterday will be very helpful in developing common core lesson whether or not I teach Economics next year or not. Economics is one of the content strands in the U. S. History framework so we talk a lot about economics: role of govt. in the economy; shift from laissez-faire to regulation, my coverage of the Cold War is done almost completely from the economic point of view...For the last several years, I've not felt that I had the time to play the stock market game but maybe I'll reconsider that for this year. Also, I enjoyed the Reality Fair that I participated in a few years ago. I know that it was a lot of work to organize, however, so we'll just have to see. I was excited to learn that we will have someone speaking to us from the Federal Reserve next during this institute. I really could use some nifty ideas for presenting that information. I liked the analogies (I'm all about analogies that the students can understand) of the thermostat and the economy as well as the difference between creating value and creating jobs. I liked the blind spot activity and plan to use it with my students. I've done something similar to the pencil video so can use that in Economics as well. As far as service learning goes, I don't see that getting off the ground next year. I do plan to share the fall itinerary with a colleague or two who I feel will be very interested in that, especially if they are able to develop it into some sort of professional development so that they can receive CEUs. And last but not least - lunch from the Pita Pit was great! :)