As I posted back in September, I began a classroom economy system this year. I based my economy on materials shared by many teachers online as well as free resources provided at MyClassroomEconomy.org. I have been pleased with how it has worked so far.
My main goal was to give students a sense of ownership in the daily routines of our class. I feel that when students are part of the classroom management process, their investment in class goes up. It also frees me as a teacher to focus on other more important things. It requires a release of power from the teacher to the students, but it makes such a positive difference in student engagement.
In the fall, my students applied for various jobs ranging from Bank Tellers and Communication Assistants to Environmentalists and Librarians. Their applications had to be detailed and highlight why I should hire them for each of the three jobs they had selected, a great exercise in persuasive writing!
After going through all of the responses, I assigned jobs and gave students a "job offer" to sign. Like an employment contract, it listed their job title, job description, salary, and training time. Most students were satisfied with their assignment, but for those that weren't they knew they would have a chance to apply for new jobs in January.
My main goal was to give students a sense of ownership in the daily routines of our class. I feel that when students are part of the classroom management process, their investment in class goes up. It also frees me as a teacher to focus on other more important things. It requires a release of power from the teacher to the students, but it makes such a positive difference in student engagement.
In the fall, my students applied for various jobs ranging from Bank Tellers and Communication Assistants to Environmentalists and Librarians. Their applications had to be detailed and highlight why I should hire them for each of the three jobs they had selected, a great exercise in persuasive writing!
After going through all of the responses, I assigned jobs and gave students a "job offer" to sign. Like an employment contract, it listed their job title, job description, salary, and training time. Most students were satisfied with their assignment, but for those that weren't they knew they would have a chance to apply for new jobs in January.
Students are paid a weekly salary for their job and pay rent at the end of every month. The first Friday of the month is class store day and they can choose to spend some of their hard earned money or save to purchase their desk (and get out of paying rent). They can also save for the end of year auction.
Running this program has given me a lot of insight into my students' personalities and strengths. Students who sometimes struggle academically have found a way to show their strengths as technology assistants helping their classmates, while others take pride in have special responsibilities, like composing tweets for our class Twitter account, organizing the the class library, or inventorying items for the class store.
I'm particularly excited by two new jobs I've added for the second half of the year, the Class Book Whisperer and Google Jockeys. Here are the job descriptions:
Running this program has given me a lot of insight into my students' personalities and strengths. Students who sometimes struggle academically have found a way to show their strengths as technology assistants helping their classmates, while others take pride in have special responsibilities, like composing tweets for our class Twitter account, organizing the the class library, or inventorying items for the class store.
I'm particularly excited by two new jobs I've added for the second half of the year, the Class Book Whisperer and Google Jockeys. Here are the job descriptions:
Google Jockey
Surfs the Internet for terms, ideas, or web sites mentioned by the teacher or related to the topic at hand. Shares information found in class orally and/or by posting in Schoology. Must be responsible and have good listening skills.
Book Whisperer
Shares book recommendations weekly with the class and helps other students find books they might enjoy.
The Google Jockeys post on topics related to our class discussions and units of study at least weekly. They have special permission to post their links to the course update stream on Schoology. The students have really done a great job finding resources and their classmates are already finding it useful. It even has turned into a forum for discussion. One posting of a Wikipedia link ignited a conversation on the credibility of Wikipedia. Below is an example of a Google Jockey post.
The Class Book Whisperers also have unique duties. They are charged with sharing their recommendations in class weekly and creating a blog post for the class website that students can check for more information. Inspired by Donalyn Miller's book The Book Whisperer, I created this role as a way for students to engage other students in their passion for reading. They will make their first post the week of February 25th and have already begun helping their classmates with making book selections for our weekly independent reading. We tweeted our introductory blog post and were excited to hear from Donalyn herself!
Meet the Class Book Whisperers! They're planning their top picks to share. msstringfellow.com/class-book-whi… @donalynbooks #elemchat #midleved #engchat
— EngageReaders Class (@EngageReadersCl) February 14, 2013
@engagereaderscl Thank you for sharing your class info w/ me. I'm excited to read more as your entire class shares their book recs!
— Donalyn Miller (@donalynbooks) February 14, 2013
Running a classroom economy has been a learning experience this year, but one that has definitely been worthwhile. It adds a taste of real world learning and has placed the responsibility for many interactions with the students. "Check your bank accounts and figure out your budget for spending at the store" or "Talk to a tech assistant if you need help with that." In a classroom economy, students know they have to be responsible and, ultimately, are able to feel like part of a team.
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