I set the classroom economy up with a few major guidelines for the students with the hopes that they take ownership of the activity and move it into a direction they are desiring.  Eventually, we will hit the academic benchmarks we are hoping for (as it relates to financial literacy and poverty).

One of the major revelations from our activity this year has been the amount of student initiative throughout this process.  I have had 7 different students ask for a raise thus far (unprompted of course).  Of those 7, 4 of them emailed me one time per day, every day, until I gave a firm answer.  I have had 5 different students bring to me ideas of a new job they would like (they told me the job, why it was important, how they could balance it, and what the pay should be).  I even had one student set a scheduled meeting to discuss how their job is unfulfilling and they wanted to do more!

What I am saying is, be proud of your child because your child is taking the initiative to become their own best advocate.  They are working to make sure their needs are taken care of and their situation improved.  Keep encouraging them to speak up and out about things that they care about.

Many of our students believe they are doing a great job in our classroom economy.  They have not gotten many fines and have worked hard each and every day doing their job.  So their inclination is to send me a two sentence email saying they want a raise.  What if they actually read up on successful ways of getting a raise instead?

I asked the students to read an article which focused on how to successfully ask for a raise from one’s boss (linked here).  Immediately thereafter, I was swarmed by emails from students, paragraphs long, asking for raises and explaining why they deserved a raise.

If you have ever successfully (or unsuccessfully too) asked for a raise, share with your child what strategies you used.  Who knows, maybe one day they will get a job and need to ask for a raise.

We often use and hear the phrase “this is not worth my time.”  Well, how do we know what our time is worth to start?

As one of the rules set up in our game, students are fined a certain amount of money for being late to class.  We are assuming that everyone’s time is worth something.  Time late to class means that you are costing us time (for having to wait for you, catch you up, general disruptions), which in turn costs us money.  We have had this in place since the start of our simulation, but now we are going to take a deeper look at what our time is actually worth.

We started class by reading the weekly Planet Money newsletter, which fit right in with our discussion (linked here).  The article discusses what the Department of Transportation values our time at (according to the article, for every hour you sit in your car, that is worth, on average, $14).  We now have a starting number for what our time is worth.

Next, we read about the median income in Milwaukee (for both white and black families) on this Wisconsin Public Radio article (linked here).  Hopefully this information will inform our discussion today as it relates to what is fair in our society and why there is such a discrepancy between white and black median income.

Lastly, students went to a website to find out how much time they have to put in to afford something and just what their hourly wages would be (linked here).   We compared different median incomes (based on education, race, and professional) to see how much people are making and what their time is worth.  The purpose of this is first to inform our simulation and they why behind a late fee.  Additionally, I want students to start thinking of the importance of time, especially as it relates to income.  Lastly, I want them to understand a bit better the value of continuing to get an education; not just intellectually, but also as it relates to future earning ability.

A specific job in our classroom economy is that of student blogger.  Our student blogger, ES, was busy last week.  Below in the 1st blog post, completed by ES (the only parts that have been changed are that of the names and the photos have been cropped so as to remove names and faces).

Thursday, December 3rd 2020

Today in class 

Science

We had our science experiment work day,  although some of us have not started our experiments, we thought of ideas for our projects, and how to execute them.

Social studies

SR presented our news and weather, we also did 10 push-ups, and a 2 minute plank, and introduced our jobs, and responsibilities.

Math

In math we focused on operations with fractions, we did not get to an investigation, so we had it as homework.

Jewish Studies

In jewish studies we did our textbook projects, that’s it.

ELA

In ELA we broke up into small groups, and discussed our thoughts on “the giver” That we had done as homework the night before.

Student of the day

LI

LI always manages to put a smile on your face, and make you feel better.  Also she is the better player.

Best background

DY

DY chose a clever, and funny background, with “the office” confessional.

Screen shot

 The best moments caught on camera.

When SR was sleeping in class (many weeks ago).

Interview

This week I interviewed MB on his experience on virtual learning, and our social studies project.

Q: How has your experience with virtual school been?

A: Virtual school has been nice

Q: How has our project in social studies been?

A: I love our project in social studies

Q: If you could change one thing about virtual school what would it be?

A: I would love to see my freinds