Jerry Slice's freshman seminar turned out to be more relevant than he expected, given the current economic situation. His goals for "Everyday Economics" were for the students to become comfortable with how the economy operates and to be able to apply economic concepts to their own decisions about career and lifestyle. He wanted them to understand the macro-economy through simple examples and discussion.

Reaction Papers Requirements included reading two books and writing reaction papers. The class texts-Common Sense Economics by Gwartney, Stroup, and Lee and The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford-presented a personal view of economics with everyday examples. His students wrote a minimum of twelve reaction papers, which counted 75% of the grade. Students responded to the weekly reading assignments in ten of these short papers and to articles the students found on current economic events for the other two. Slice required at least one page, and the students averaged one and a half. If they turned in more than twelve reactions, he dropped their lowest grade. Before students wrote the first reaction paper, Slice gave them a handout explaining how to write that type of paper and a good sample. While the first several papers fell short of his expectations because students summarizied the reading rather than responded to it, overall he thought the freshmen "did extremely well." He asked students to take a draft of an early paper to the Writing Center to become aware of how a conference can be a resource throughout their college years. Slice wrote comments on the papers and gave them a letter grade based on whether they were thoughtful with articulate and clear ideas.

A. J. Bible, a student in the class, found that "reaction papers were a good way to assess the major thoughts of the chapter . . . after having to summarize and agree/disagree with the author." He summed up what he had learned in the course: "the basics to economics concerning personal finances, government revenues, and operations, as well as how to understand the reasoning behind consumer's thought and seller's thought. I was introduced to the economic circle and its functions." The other 25% of the seminar grade was class participation. Slice tallied contributions in his roll book if students' comments demonstrated that they had read the material. To stimulate discussion, he brought articles from The Economist and The Wall Street Journal to class and asked students to raise questions they had from television and their reading. Slice would like to teach the course again but plans to make a few changes. One is to have each student turn in a reaction paper every week, not just twelve over the semester. Since the freshmen reacted positively to Common Sense Economics, he intends to use it next time, but he will drop The Undercover Economist in favor of one of the many other recent books on his topic. Freakonomics or The Armchair Economist are two possible choices. by Jill Frey