Unit Title : Government Regulation ‖ Lesson Title: Fiscal Policy

Goals & Objectives

Students understand fiscal policy and are able to articulate the meaning of this type of
government regulation in their own words.

Students access and implement prior knowledge about government income and revenue
such as Taxes and Subsidies in order to help them better understand the impact of the
Federal Budget on Fiscal Policy.

Students recognize contemporary controversies over prominent government fiscal policies,

and how these situations may affect the economic futures of students’ lives.

California State Content Standards

12.3 Students analyze the influence of the federal government on the American economy.

2.Identify the factors that may cause the costs of government actions to outweigh the benefits.

3.Describe the aims of government fiscal policies (taxation, borrowing, spending) and their
influence on production, employment, and price levels.

Common Core Literacy Standards

Driving Historical Question(s)

What is Fiscal Policy?
How does the Federal Government spend its money?
How does government spending/taxing influence the economy?
Who determines what the Federal government spends its money on?
How do we make sure the government is spending tax dollars the way that it says it is?
What do workers and employers view think about the government’s economic priorities?

Lesson Introduction (Anticipatory Set/Hook/Accessing Prior Knowledge) ‖ Time: 20

Minutes
This video clip is approx. 2-3 minutes long. However this intro activity should take approx.
15 min to complete. The instructor should spend 1-2 mins explain the content of this video
then be mindful to stop the video periodically, not allowing more than 15-30 second to pass
without instructor intervention. This video is full of technical economic language, so the
instructor should pause in certain places in order to explain the defintions or ask students
to Think-Pair-Share the definitions. The instructor should also be telling students to write
down the difficult words and the definitions the class has constructed.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/15/us-budget-deficit-expands-to-779-billion-in-fiscal-
2018-as-spending-surges.html

After the video on this Budget of the 2018-2019 Fiscal Year has been played, the instructor
should direct the students into the next part of the intro activity by starting a conversation
about total debt rather than a budget deficit.

Use the Debt clock on the projector to show students about the financial situation of the
Federal Government. The show be set up on the projector and show to the class, as the
instructors asks 2-3 questions to students about what they see. The instructor will use
student responses to direct the flow of the lesson into the next activity.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Vocabulary (Content Language Development) ‖ Time: 20 minutes

Card Sort Game

Students will group themselves into groups of four.

They will be given a deck of prepare game cards by the teacher.
The cards will consist of vocabulary words, definitions, conceptual statements, and
symbols/pictures/diagrams.

The goal of this activity will be to work collaboratively by speaking and discussing within
groups to correct match the vocab word to appropriate definitions and match the
conceptual statements to symbol/picture/diagram cards.

The cards will be prepared in advance by the instructor and consist of the big ideas related
to the following reading activity.

The instructor will assess that the group has correctly associated and understood the cards
by:
Circulating and engaging as the students collaborate

Requiring that students present their finished associations the instructor to receive
the materials and directions for the following reading and foldable assignment.

Students who finish the activity early will be instructed to begin reading and annotating the
document before the rest of the class convenes for a entire class close-reading activity.

Content Delivery (Method of Instruction) Lecture ‖ Time: 35 minutes

One Primary source documents will be the focus of the close reading.

During this session of instruction, the teacher will:

Lead/Mange the entire class’s reading and analysis

Help students Identify portions of the text that are crucial to their understanding of
what fiscal policy is, and how fiscal policy influences the economy.

Engages students/ facilitates their learning through managing points of the reading
for individual and paired participation

Identifies key vocabulary not presented in student responses to the whole class
discussions

Remind students of the connections between their annotations and comments in

this document to things they have previously learned about government regulation of the
economy

Keep students interested and engaged by varying the activity with individual
reading, annotations, pair discussions, whole class discussions, and other things.

Document(s) needed:

Tax Break By William G. Gale and Peter R. Orszag

Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth: A Simple Framework
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/20030203.pdf

(ATTENTION) This article argues for cutting taxes and the deficit in order to promote
economic growth. Although this article would be easily considered academic, student must
be made aware of the implicit bias in solution for the current state of economics in the US.
This may function as a great opportunity to teach students how to investigate the sources
of documents. Epically, contemporary scholarly articles.

Student Engagement (Critical Thinking & Student Activities) Questioning ‖ Time: 20

minutes
After reading this document the students will make a pie chart foldable based on the
Federal Budget Expenditures of the current fiscal year.

Material Required:
Instructions from Dinaeh Zike
Graphic of Pie Chart of FY2018 Federal Budget
4 different colored sheets of paper for each student/group of students
Enough scissors for everyone to use
Tape to hold the pieces of the pie graph together
Instructor will put the instruction on the projector screen for the class too see.
Then, explain a brief overview of what is to be done and where the material will be located.
If this is individual, then each student will complete.
If grouped, instructor will have designated 4 roles
1)Supplier
Responsibilities: getting material/ finding directions and information
2) Circle Cutter/ Designer
Role: cut 4 circles to match what is shown in pie chart info graphic on
projector screen
Also, Make sure the foldable looks aesthetically pleasing
3) Writer/Definer
Role: Label the foldable and write a definition for each of the 4 sections
Mandatory
Defense Discretionary
Net interest
Non-Defense Discretionary
Definition should be collaborative constructed based on content specific
knowledge and vocab of the entire group
4) Question Master:
Once the foldable has been approved by the instructor, then this member will
give a list of different types of government expenditure and read them one by one to the
rest of the group. The group will have to determine into which of these four categories the
expenditure fits.

Supplier and Designer must alternate writing the response and explanations to the
questions on a piece of lined paper provided by the group

All students are responsible for staying on task and staying engaged with their group
conversations. About academic content only!

Lesson Closure ‖ Time: 13 minutes

. Instructor will give a 10-minute warning until the end of class bell rings. He/she will
instruct all students to move towards the question master portion of the activity at this
point regardless of their point in creating foldable. Teacher will stop al students for a brief
moment to announce and assess the recap of the agenda and key points. Also, teacher will
mention anything due in the following class period or what to prepare for.

Then, the students will use the remaining time to finish working until the bell rings and
they are excused.

Assessments (Formative & Summative)

Formative- Circulate and Engage during Card sort and Foldable
Progress Monitoring- Student response to questions during close reading
Students who shy from participation during close reading

Summative- Written categorizations and explanations of different types of Federal

Expenditures

Accommodations for English Learners, Striving Readers and Students with Special Needs
The session is heavily based in conversation and scaffolding during the activities and the
lesson. Els should be able to learn during these operations but the instructor must
continually assess their progress.

Since the time limits are important to the success of this lesson, any groups that are moving
slowly and have not completed the foldable will not be marked down for having an
incomplete item at the end of class. Instead, they will be asked to finish the foldable as
homework and each student should answer one of each of the question master questions in
writing and turn it in during the next class period.

Resources (Books, Websites, Handouts, Materials)

 Laptop
 Projector
 Projector Screen
 4 different colored construction/printer paper
 Multiple rolls of tape
 As many pairs of scissors as number of groups
 Colored markers
 Enough copies of the primary document to ensure each student receives a copy they
can annotate
 Infographic of Fy2018 Federal Budget Pie Chart
 Foldable Instructions
 Foldable example prepare by instructor or another student