Period 2: Test Debrief and Depositions - Class Recap

Last Winter Break, I went to Phoenix, Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl. This year, I'll be headed to San Antonio, Texas for the Alamo Bowl! :-)

Welcome to your Winter Break!

With the condensed schedule today, due to the 2 hour late opening, we really did not have all that much time today. Here's what happened:

Soundtrack: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” by Deep Blue Something. Selected because you easily could have had a nice long breakfast today with the late opening and also, it has the word "break" in the title. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/19/13:
Tort Reports
Review Test
The Deposition
Finish Notebooks

Homework: Have a wonderful Winter Break! Read the blog. Next tort report assigned to: Patrick and someone else, who wasn't on the original sign up sheet.

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Tort Reports: Austin selected an article about a class action lawsuit having to do with New York City's "Stop and Frisk" law. He needs to email me or comment with the link for credit.

Review Test: I passed back the test to everyone that took it last class and we went over the answers together. Hopefully, the reasoning behind everything makes sense! I was pleased that the scores were, on average, much higher than in the past. Well done!

The Deposition: For the rest of class, we talked about what a deposition is and then watched an episode of The Office called "The Deposition," which involved a lawsuit by a character against her former employer for wrongful termination.

Finish Notebooks: At the end of class, I had everyone turn in their notebooks from the last unit for a notebook check. I will stay after school today and grade all of these - if you want your notebook back, go ahead and come grab it from the room tomorrow.

Period 2: Contracts/Warranties/Credit Test Day - Class Recap

ATTENTION: Today, Thursday, December 19th, Beaverton School District will be operating with a Two Hour Delay due to icy conditions. Please check out the updated bell schedule for Westview here. See you later!

Buckingham Palace, in London, where the Queen resides.

Hi everyone,

Congratulations! If you took the test today in class, you have one less thing to worry about before Winter Break. I am looking forward to going through them and seeing how well everyone did. I hope it was not too difficult - it should not have been, if you studied the review sheet!

Soundtrack: "Kings and Queens" by 30 Seconds to Mars. Selected for today because it is a sort of pump up song for ESPN's tennis coverage and because I hope you are feeling like Kings and Queens now that you are done with the test! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/17/13:
Tort Reports
Test
Independent Study

Homework: Bring completed notebook to turn in next class (see below for what you need to have)! Read the blog! Next tort report assigned to: Austin.
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Tort Reports: Randi selected this article to talk about with the class, of a case involving a frivolous lawsuit: WashingtonPost.com - Man who said he fell on banana peel in Metro station accused of fraud; had seen camera.

Alekzander chose this story to recap: Lawhaha.com - Plaintiffs Say “Boo!” to Haunted Halloween Tort Immunity.

Thank you both!

Test: As promised. And hopefully, as prepared for. I got the sense that this was pretty easy for students that prepared. At least, we had a high rate of students turning the test in with plenty of time to go in the class. I tried to make it a little more simple than in the past.

Independent Study: The rest of the class was devoted to quiet work on completing your notebook, or on work for other classes if you were already finished. Here's what you need to have for next class:

Notebook Check #3:

Chapter 23 (Contracts): Definitions and Answers to 23.1-4
Chapter 24 (Warranties): Definitions and Answers to 24.1-3
Chapter 25 (Credit): Definitions and Answers to 25.1-3 and 7
"The Madoff Affair" Answers

If you did not see the Madoff Affair in class, here it is to watch online. The questions are:
1. How did Bernie Madoff’s scheme work?
2. What was the promised return on investment, per year?
3. What is the “frontrunning” fraud for market makers?
4. How did Madoff originally get cleared by the Securities and Exchange Commission?
5. What were some of the lawsuits that came out of the Madoff fraud being discovered?

Period 2: Contract/Warranties/Credit Test Review, Day 2 - Class Recap

I like the symbolism of this trail full of roots in Hawaii. One more week to go before Winter Break!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to your weekend! I hope you are here in the hopes of studying more for the unit test next class. Let's get right to it!

Soundtrack: “Irreplaceable” by Beyonce. Selected because she released an album last night, with zero advance notice! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/13/13:
Tort Reports
Review Sheets (Chapters 23/25)
Jeopardy
Study Time

Homework: Study for the test next class! Read the blog! Next tort reports: Marissa and Alekzander.

Tort Reports: Randi brought in this article today: NBCNews.com - Man wrongly imprisoned in murder case wins $13.2 million in civil rights lawsuit.

Review Sheets: We went over the answers to the worksheets for chapters 23 and 25, which I passed out last class. This will be a similar style to the questions on the test next class.

Jeopardy: As always, a fun time to be had by all. Congratulations to Team 1! If you wanted to review (especially the sections on Contracts/Warranties/Credit), here's the PowerPoint:

Google Drive - Contract/Warranties/Credit Law Jeopardy PowerPoint

Study Time: The rest of class was devoted to independent study for the test next class. Please let me know if you have any more questions that I can help you with! See you on Tuesday for the test!

Period 2: Contract/Warranty/Credit Test Review, Day 1 - Class Recap

Lots of water/ice on the ground this morning. This is a waterfall near Multnomah Falls!

Hi everyone,

Here's what we did today in class. Hopefully, you are feeling ready for the test next week!

Soundtrack: “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice. Selected because of the freezing fog that gave Portland Public Schools a two hour late opening today, but nothing for us. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/11/13:
Tort Reports
Student Loan Debrief
Test Review
Work Time

Homework: Review for upcoming test! Read the blog! Next tort reports assigned: Alondra and Randi.
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Tort Reports: Today's articles were brought in by Erin, Ellen, and Jaxon. They were:

NBCNews.com - Lawsuit filed against shuttered ambulance service that stranded hospitals in six states.

CNN.com - Driver drops bid to sue family of boy he killed.

Newser.com - 6 Cruise Survivors Sue for $460M.

Student Loan Debrief: We talked about the video that ended last class - student loan debt. I wanted to answer any questions and talk about the importance of knowing your options for college! My point here was to just be aware of debt that you could get yourself into, and different ways to diminish it.

Test Review: As I said in class, for whatever reason, it seems like this period has a difficult time with tests. This time around, I am hoping to make things a little easier for you - with plenty of review time and a sheet that will have all of the vocab you are going to need to know. If you missed class or lost your paper, here it is again to check out:

Google Drive - Contract/Warranty/Credit Law: Test Review

Work Time: I also passed out a worksheet with vocab from chapters 23 and 25 to work on in class. We will go over the answers (and play Jeopardy to review!) next class. Thank you for studying! Please let me know if you have any questions about the terms that I can go over again!

Period 2: Credit, Day 2 - Class Recap

It's too bad it wasn't this snowy outside this morning. Maybe next week? ;-)

Hi everyone,

Well, that was certainly a fast week. Another three day weekend upcoming, too! We are speeding right along to Winter Break

Soundtrack: “Snowfall Music” by Carbon Leaf. Selected because, even if it was just a little, it was snowing outside during class! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/6/13:
Tort Reports
Chapter 25 Work
Answers and Discussion
Default: The Student Loan Documentary

Homework: Review for upcoming test! Read the blog! Next tort reports assigned to: Ellen and Erin.

Tort Reports: Today's tort reports were brought in by Kaitlyn and Miles. They were:

OregonLive.com - OHSU lawsuit: Judge retains jury's $12 million verdict, despite hospital's push to reduce award

and

CNN.com - Black boss's n-word rant to black employee costs him, nonprofit $280,000

Thank you both!

Chapter 25 Work: This should be the last chapter of book work until Winter Break, at least. I just asked students to do 25.1-3 and 25.7 - the chapter is on the concept of credit.

Answers and Discussion: As usual, I found the discussion of answers to be really good here. Lots of interesting perspectives shared. Hopefully, everyone is getting solid on the main points of contracts, warranties, and credit!

Default: The Student Loan Documentary: At the end of class, I showed this mini-documentary that first aired on PBS, about the student loan crisis in America. It really is such an important issue to be aware of, especially for those of you who have college as an option in the future. Knowing what you are getting yourself into and possible ways to avoid it is really critical knowledge. If you missed it in class, or wanted to watch the rest that we didn't get to, the video is here:

Have a great weekend - see you next week, to prepare for the unit test!

Period 2: Fraud - Class Recap

In the hopes of some snow later this week (it looks like the forecast is changing to no snow - sad times), here's a picture I like of a previous snowstorm in Portland, 2009.

Welcome back, everyone!

That certainly was quite the break - it was over a week, all told! It was nice to see everyone today and get back down to work. Only 5 more classes until break: really, not that much time left, at all! Here's the class recap for the day.

Soundtrack: “Refuge (When It’s Cold Outside)” by John Legend. Selected because it was really cold outside this morning, for sure. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/4/13:
Tort Reports
The Madoff Affair
Debrief
Book Work Catch Up

Homework: Review for upcoming test! Read the blog! Next tort reports assigned to: Jaxon and Kaitlyn.

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Tort Reports: Brendan and Bertina had articles for today.

Brendan chose: Money.CNN.com - Bank of America hit with government lawsuits over mortgages.

Bertina selected this article: Chron.com - Woman strip searched, dragged by Jasper cops to holding cell settles civil lawsuit.

Thank you both!

The Madoff Affair: Most of class was devoted to watching and then discussing this PBS Frontline documentary. If you missed class, or wanted to watch it again, here it is. The main point here was a look at what fraud is and the various (huge) lawsuits that came out of this case. I also wanted students to be answering these questions in notebooks:

1. How did Bernie Madoff’s scheme work?

2. What was the promised return on investment, per year? 

3. What is the “frontrunning” fraud for market makers?

4. How did Madoff originally get cleared by the Securities and Exchange Commission?

5. What were some of the lawsuits that came out of the Madoff fraud being discovered?

Debrief: After watching the documentary, we went over the answers and had a good discussion about the documentary and the specifics of the case. I was glad to hear how everyone was engaging in what happened and why.

Thanks, everyone! Next class, we will finish the last book work of the unit: Chapter 25.