The world’s a better place because of teachers like Mrs. Thompson.
Innovative Teaching
Teachers have so many duties these days it almost makes your head spin to think about it. Always looking for ideas to inspire students and improve achievement, they get excited when seeing positive results from their efforts.
Looking for an idea last year to help their students understand the concept of money and develop personal responsibility, first-grade teachers at Woodleaf Elementary school incorporated into their classroom the concept of children earning money for jobs.
The money, of course, is play money, and although fun, the concept is far from play. Children can save their money for big ticket items, or spend more frequently for smaller things such as paper, pencils and treats. One of the first-grade teachers, Cassie Safrit Thompson, said this project has not only taught students the value of money, but also an understanding of how hard their parents must work in order to provide for them.
With the entire first grade team on board, Cassie said, “We’ve really integrated our “money system” into our daily classroom routine, so it’s a natural part of what we do each and everyday. We pay the students at the end of the day for the amount of money they earned for their behavior that day. Once a week we pay “salaries” and change our weekly jobs. Usually every other week the students get to choose a reward to buy from our catalog. They pay monthly rent and are required to pay for supplies like glue sticks and erasers if they run out of their own.
“I use this economic system in my classroom because the benefits and lessons are endless. The students take a lot of pride in earning money, and most of them are very serious about earning their daily money and doing jobs to earn their salary. Opportunities present themselves often to make real-world connections and have discussions about earning, spending, and saving. It’s a system that offers rewards and consequence with clear expectations for the chidren. Lastly, it’s fun and exciting for them! After all, who doesn’t like to make money?!”
Scott Jenkins, Assistant Managing Editor for the Salisbury Post, highlighted in a column, recently, the implementation of this idea, including quotes from the children about their learning experiences. If you would like to read more about this innovative concept and the learning that is taking place at Woodleaf Elementary School, check out the Salisbury Post link here.
Congratulations to the first-grade team at Woodleaf Elementary School, Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Finney and Mrs. Currie! Because of your willingness to inspire children by trying new ideas and concepts you are my favorite teachers of the week.
Do you know a teacher or teachers who are inspiring students? If so, leave a comment, message on Facebook, or email dicysm@yahoo.com
Thanks,
Dicy
www.dicymcculloughbooks.com/blog
