Our newest ambassador, Cass M., is a middle school teacher and one of the many Canadian educators using ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity). Her approach to a classroom economy puts students at the center and allows them to be the ones running the show. Learn more about how Cass inspires her students to build community and ownership, as well as how she incorporates Canada’s financial literacy standards into her classroom economy!
I want my students’ perspectives and identities to be front and center at all times because students need to see themselves in their learning in order for it to be relevant.
I believe co-creating our ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity) economy as a class was extremely important for many reasons. From a teaching perspective, it helped to teach them the why and how of the class economy. Instead of me standing up there dry-explaining what will happen, I continually posed the question of “what do you think insert specific aspect of the economy should look like?” and “why?”. This allowed students to make real-world connections, reflect on their ideas, and hear others’ views. It also opened up many conversations where we discussed their ideas, and it allowed me to give insights as to what they may encounter in the future as active citizens within our local society. Additionally, this approach allowed for a thorough understanding of the expectations of each aspect of the economy and what would be required of each student in order for them to be successful. This, in turn, strengthened accountability; because the students were the ones to build the system, they believed it to be fair and accessible.
Another important aspect of building our economy together is that it has allowed my students to take ownership of their learning. By giving them the responsibility to make decisions on how our economy will run, they are using their own ideas, experiences, and interests to fuel their learning. When students feel seen, heard, and valued through these kinds of contributions, it can promote their sense of confidence, increase their willingness to engage in the material, and allow them to make meaningful connections to what they are learning.
I try to co-create as many aspects of our homeroom with my class as possible, and ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity) was no exception. I want my students’ perspectives and identities to be front and center at all times because students need to see themselves in their learning in order for it to be relevant. By co-creating our ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity) economy, we were able to make our economy relevant to our classroom, build our classroom relationships, and promote our sense of community by engaging in respectful and interesting conversations about real-world scenarios.
Once everything was rolling, we checked in on the first few Fridays by reflecting on how things were running and tweaking anything where we saw an opportunity for improvement because, after all, our local and global economies are always changing and evolving - why shouldn’t ours??
To introduce ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity), I utilized the resources on the ClassBank website. I began with the Introducing ClassBank Google slide show and tailored it to suit the needs of my classroom while following the Lesson Plan: Introducing A Classroom Economy to your Students. I thought it was important to space out the setup of our economy to give students time to become familiar with the ClassBank site, understand how we would approach things, and really promote the building of our economy. I didn’t want the process to be rushed, given that it was something we were going to be following for the rest of the school; I wanted to dedicate the time to thoroughly build out our economy and stress the importance of the skills that we are building through it.
Day 1: Intro
On the first day, we went through the introductory slide show, and I outlined all the things our economy would encompass, then had students set up an account using a class code. I gave everyone a $10 bonus at the end to boost positivity and get them actively using their account.
Day 2: Bonuses
On the second day, we set up bonuses. I gave examples of bonuses I thought would be relevant but asked for class input on values (we negotiated many of them), then asked for other bonus ideas.
Day 3: Fines
Day three was fines, and it looked similar to day two. I made sure to stress to my students that our classroom economy would always have more opportunities for bonuses than fines. The point of this is not to try and keep them from making gains or to continually focus on weaknesses - it is to build financial literacy skills and skills on how to handle the responsibilities of budgeting and to build overall confidence, financially and otherwise.
Days 4 & 5: Jobs
The next two classes we spent on our setup were dedicated to jobs. We based our job board on classroom jobs that were already established within our room and went through each job description and rate of pay to ensure all students understood the expectations and why pay was set where it was. Although we set the structure of our jobs. I didn’t actually hire until the following week to allow students time to apply and consider what responsibilities they would like to potentially undertake.
Week 2: Store & feedback
After co-creating our initial setup, I had whiteboards up around the room with different headings where students could add ideas and suggestions over the span of a few days as things came to them. For example, one of the boards said, “What kind of rewards would you like to be able to purchase with your ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity) dollars?”. At the end of the week, I compiled a list of all the suggestions and had one final discussion dedicated to adding items to our various lists. The entire process took about two weeks.
Week 3 and beyond: Reflect & tweak
Once everything was rolling, we checked in on the first few Fridays by reflecting on how things were running and tweaking anything where we saw an opportunity for improvement because, after all, our local and global economies are always changing and evolving - why shouldn’t ours??
This role has been fantastic in giving students a huge leadership opportunity within the classroom environment and is the job that always has the most number of applications.
While co-creating our class job list, one of my students suggested the role of “supervisor”. I asked her to add some details of what she thought it might look like and why she thought it was a relevant job. My student answered by saying she felt that it was important to have someone to ensure everyone else was doing their job because our classroom jobs we had set up through the fall term were sometimes not carried out to the best of people’s abilities. Their logic was that since we were now getting paid to do said jobs, it was even more important that people were held accountable for their responsibilities. She also added that the supervisor should be able to report back to the teacher regarding behavior around the class and suggest bonuses and fines based on their observations. Since our intermediate classes are on a rotary schedule, students agreed that it was important to have someone that could be the “go-to” on rotary for any issues that came up; they could document fines and bonus opportunities, collect feedback from other teachers if needed, make notes about those not following our classroom expectations outside of our room, etc.
To facilitate this, I made a folder with tabbed sections that listed all of our categories with a spot for the supervisor to make notes. Pay is the highest for this job. Negotiating this particular salary led to discussions about what to expect in a real job setting: you will ALWAYS have someone above you, and that person will ALWAYS be paid more, regardless of how well you think they do their job. A supervisor’s job will always entail more responsibility, and that responsibility is paid accordingly. There were definitely some “ah ha” moments with that discussion!
This role has been fantastic in giving students a huge leadership opportunity within the classroom environment and is the job that always has the most number of applications. Creating this role has led to many great discussions on what the role should look like and how to responsibly use the authority you’ve been given (eg - not being “out to get people” with fines or giving your friends extra bonuses, etc.). As a safety measure, all bonuses and fines are considered “recommendations” to me, and I decide whether they are given. Sometimes I will go and speak with the other teacher if there is an issue logged. I’ve come to love this role because it allows students who might be less inclined to try a more “upfront” kind of leadership role to test the waters via a soft and safe avenue.
The important lessons here are understanding where to look for help, how to ask for help, and how to use loans in a positive way - all incredibly important financial skills to develop.
Class Equity fits in perfectly with the Ontario Math Curriculum strand F: Financial Literacy. Part of students’ learning is how to budget for things like monthly expenses, purchases, etc., so being able to go into debt, voluntarily allows them to look at their projected finances (income vs. output) and make decisions based on what they currently have and what they know will happen in the future (or what they don’t know could happen). I also think it is important for students to be able to go into debt because this is a real-life scenario. Few of us will go through life never needing a loan or borrowing money. It is a reality of our economy and cost of living, so it is important for students to see, in a safe and risk-free environment, what that looks like and what to do when the situation of debt arises.
Students can make the decision to go into debt by projecting their budget; sometimes it’s knowing that next week they will get paid for their job and be back on the positive side, or sometimes it’s making an appointment with the bank (me) to discuss options, especially if they aren’t currently employed or have accumulated significant debt. The important lessons here are understanding where to look for help, how to ask for help, and how to use loans in a positive way - all incredibly important financial skills to develop.
The other great thing about our co-creating is that it was the students that asked if they were allowed to go into debt, and they were the ones that wanted this to be a possibility. For example, we have a fine for “not being prepared for class.” This fine is $15, but we also have the option in our store to buy a pencil that is $10. So maybe that $10 puts them into debt by $5, but it’s still cheaper than paying a $15 fine, knowing they will receive their student income in 4 days’ time…
Sometimes I give a bonus with the title “you are a wonderful and capable human being,” and I see them smile when they discover it waiting for them in their account.
My students love the idea of being able to “shop” and “buy things” - the tangible rewards help to make and keep this engaging for them. Finding a balance between what students request for rewards (usually along the lines of “free marks” aka “extra credit”) and items that are reasonable from the teacher’s perspective can really add the final piece that gets students working extra hard to be involved in their community to earn bonuses (we have bonuses for being part of school clubs/teams/initiatives/etc.) and refining their budgeting skills.
My students know that our classroom economy will continue to change throughout the year and that I am always open to suggestions. I told my students from day one that I am also new to ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity) and that as we learn together, we are free to make changes to better suit our needs. As I said earlier, our world and our economy is always changing, so this is allowed to, too!
This ties in with the first point, but initially, students really wanted to be able to use their money to buy things like extra grades on tests, bonus marks (extra credit), etc. - so we had a discussion on how that would impact my assessment of their understanding. I approached it from what my (legal) obligations are as a teacher and how I assess data for grades, and why/how it wouldn’t align with buying or giving extra grades. In exchange, I did offer a few suggestions of how their rewards could be used academically, and from there, we set parameters. For example, while I can’t “give away” marks (grades), they can purchase the option to “skip” certain tasks like our weekly synopsis. I explained to them the intricacies of an option like this… if they choose to skip a week, it means their marks (grades) are more heavily graded on the other pieces of work. So, if they’re looking to improve their marks (grades) in a certain area, then they might not want to skip another task in that area that could potentially help pull that mark up. Conversely, if they’ve been doing really well in an area, have disposable income, and want to give themselves a “break,” they can absolutely buy an excusal week (kind of like a vacation… you work hard, you save up, you reap the benefits). In a certain area, like their book synopsis, they are allowed to skip a maximum of a 1/month or whatever works for your classroom.
Sometimes, randomly during the day, I’ll give my class a bonus for “being awesome” and follow it up with a positive, verbal explanation. Sometimes I’ll issue a bonus like that because they worked really hard during a designated independent work period or because they collaborated well with peers on a group activity. Sometimes I give a bonus with the title “you are a wonderful and capable human being,” and I see them smile when they discover it waiting for them in their account. Even a $5 or $10 surprise and a few encouraging words can go a long way in making kids feel good about themself and giving them the confidence to continue approaching their learning with a growth mindset.
Learn more about being a ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity) ambassador here! Or do you just have some tips and tricks to share? Email them to us at hello@classbank.com.
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