Economics in the classroom

I want my classroom to run itself. They are fifth graders and I should be able to teach math and science and let them do most of the mundane classroom tasks.  I want to be able to eat bon-bons and drink my morning tea while they check the attendance, lunch count and dress code infractions.

To this end, I have started a classroom economy. If you “google” classroom jobs, there are about 35,600,000 results. If you search by “classroom economy” the results are narrowed to 12,400,000. As you can see, I am not alone in this thinking. I have taken lots and lots of ideas from talented teachers and put a Nguyen spin on them.

My students do most of the mundane tasks in the room: they turn the TV on and off (and change the channels so that we get closed circuit information as needed), monitor computer use, turn those on and off, check for parent signatures, check for homework completion, check dress code infractions and much much more. They do everything that I hate doing and feel like I don’t have time to do. We eat breakfast in the classroom, so everyday while the kids are eating, they are also doing 90 % of these mundane chores.

Mundane is key. To mis-quote a favorite book, “The longer the list of  ’I can do that for you teacher.’ gets, the more time I get to teach.” I will add to the jobs list as time goes on. (I envision at some point being able to have some one in charge of displaying kids’ work on the wall)

In the real world, money comes in and it must go out as well. In my little world, the kids get paychecks. To keep the balance, they are paying rent on their desks. They are eligible for eviction too. Now, before anyone starts to call CPS on me, the kids only have assigned desks for all content area times.  During home room, they can sit where ever they would like.  This is the time in which they would have to sit on the floor due to eviction.  (Those who sit on the floor will pay a lesser rent amount for the ‘lot’) The kids are also paying fines for infractions ranging from not wearing a belt to lying.

The kids are the bankers, payroll officers and property managers. There are ziplock bags to keep the money in. The bank is super high tech- a gallon sized zip lock bag. Friday was our first payday and we took care of several economics related chores that day: paying the kids, collecting rent and collecting fines.  It took an hour and a half to complete the process. The banker was overwhelmed when she realized that there was no $30 bill although several students get paid $30 per week.  The banker also had to make change for fines and rent. My property manager said that it would “get faster as I get better at it.”, which should result in improved addition and subtraction skills.

Every time money changes hands, the banker has to sign off on a tally sheet. The total on the tally sheet has to match the amount of “cash” being turned in. The students sign for their paychecks. It’s fairly close to real life I think.

As the fine collector came around, several students realized that they were broke or didn’t have enough to pay their entire fine. Suddenly, from the corners of the room, came the money lenders. From one such entrepreneur: “Okay, I’m going to lend you money, but I’m going to do it like my mom and the bank and her car. You have to pay me back and you have to pay me more. It’s called interest. You have to pay me $5 more than I am going to lend you.” The property manager wants to know if he can charge a fee for people who didn’t pay rent this week. I am considering it.

The positive comments were amazing. One girl, who has a checkered academic past, managed to pay her rent and her fines and still have money left over. Her comment was: “I can’t believe I have money left over.” When I helped her to understand why, I asked, “Doesn’t it feel good to be responsible?”  She said, “I’ve never been responsible before!”

In the future the desks will all be rated with a different value, depending on how ‘cool’ they are determined to be. The desks closer to the front of the room will cost more than the desks closer to the back of the room. Students will also be charged income tax. Some students, with learning difficulties or RTI designation will have “rent controlled” desks so that they can sit near me or near the front of the room. I am considering allowing them to buy their desks out right, and like other property games, to buy more than one desk.

The kids can earn bonuses, just like dad at the sales office. They get bonus pay for having their parents’ signatures 5 days in a row, for doing something outstanding, for receiving a compliment from any other teacher in the building and for their grades. Many people are bothered by the idea of paying students for their grades. I am not. I think that in the same way adults are recognized with merit pay for good work, I think students should also be compensated. Students who get a 90 on any test (and this includes ‘proving’ their answers and demonstrating their thinking) receive $25.  A grade of a 100 will earn the students $100.

Today I handed out the bonuses. Right now, it seems too much to have payday and bonus day be the same day. I asked each student receiving a $25 bonus to stand and be recognized. Then, the few $100 were recognized. We all applauded. One former slacker kid, too cool for homework or for studying, was overheard to say, “I need to study my math facts so that I can get a bonus next week” Intrinsic love of learning will come, I feel, as their confidence and their skill level improves.

Already, the desire to study is beginning to arrive.