Lesson 4: Action Items—Bonuses and Infractions
Learning Objective:
Students will be able to define “bonus” and “infraction,” connect the terms to the real world, and understand that they may earn bonuses and infractions in the classroom.
Jump$tart Standard: Earning income:
4-2b. Brainstorm ways to improve one’s ability to earn income.
8-5b. Identify common types of payroll deductions.
SEL Competency: Self-management
Pre-work:
- Update your classroom’s bonuses and infractions by going to Economy > Action Items.
- Display the list of bonuses and infractions on the Economy > Action Items screen—or from the Home page, click the blue “Apply Action Items” button, select a group or student, and then share the screen that appears when you click “Select Action.” If you’d like to create a reproducible you can post or share, see an example here or at the end of this document.
- Decide if you want students to be able to deposit and withdraw their own funds. If you prefer to be in control of their deposits/withdrawals, go to the purple “Settings” button on the Home page and toggle off “Students can…deposit and withdraw money from their bank accounts.”
Explain Bonuses and Infractions (5 min)
Ask: What are bonuses? When do people get bonuses in real life? When do they get infractions, which might also be called penalties, fines, citations, or tickets? (Think. Pair. Share.)
Go to Economy > Action Items and let students know when they will get bonuses or infractions in your classroom.
Best Practices Tip: Keep it positive! Instead of penalizing a student for being late, reward students who are on time. Also, be very explicit and clear about the behaviors you need to see for students to get rewarded. For example, tell them that if they want to get an on-time bonus, they must be in the classroom and in their seat at the bell—or on the Zoom with their camera on and ready to go.)
Say: You have the ability to earn a range of bonuses. This is money that’s in addition to your paycheck. Here are the bonuses you can get on a daily basis. (Share out your customized bonuses and explain when and how students will receive them.)
Here are the infractions you can get on a daily basis. Each infraction will take out, or withdraw, money from your account. (Share out infractions and explain when and how students will receive them.)
Ask: Any questions?
Practice (5 min)
Say: Let’s practice.
(Walk students through a mock day during which you or they apply bonuses and infractions. Be sure to modify the following content to match your classroom’s Action Items.)
Say: Log in to your account. Let’s say you showed up to school on time. (If you allow your students to apply bonuses and infractions, say the following). On your Overview page, you’ll see a gray “Banking Actions” button. Click it, choose the Action Item for showing up on time, and click “Apply.” (If you’ll be applying bonuses and infractions yourself, go to your Home page, click the blue “Apply Action Items” button, then select all students or click the blue “Apply to All” button, and click “Select Action” to apply an Action Item.)
Let’s say later in the day you received a school recognition, which we call a gold star. (For students applying their own bonuses/infractions, say the following.) Find that Action Item and click “Apply.” (If you’re applying the bonuses/infractions, walk students through on your screen.) But let’s say then you were disrespectful and received an infraction. (For students applying their own actions, say the following.) Find that action and apply it. (If you’re applying the actions, walk students through.)
After you practice applying a few Action Items together, go to your Home page and click the “Apply Action Items” button. Then click Select All > “Select Action” button > “Create Custom Action” button to give all your students a one-time bonus/amount—we recommend $20 or $50—just to experiment with. This will get them excited and increase buy-in.
Then show them how the News Log and Leaderboard work.
Say: The News Log tracks all of the transactions you make, so make sure that you make the correct deposits or withdrawals. If you make a mistake, let the class banker know so they can undo it. If the banker finds transactions that are not valid or truthful, you will receive a fraudulent transaction fee of $_____. (Make this amount MUCH higher than what students would want to pay so you can effectively dissuade them from making poor choices).
Say: Now let’s look at the Leaderboard. You should all have about the same amount of money because we practiced all the same transactions together. (If a student didn’t understand how to deposit or withdraw an Action Item, take the time to have a banker go around and help them).
If students’ amounts differ, have the class banker go around and help them. Alternately, you can look at their individual Transaction History on their Overview page (which you can also access from your Home page by clicking the gold key to the far right of their name). Show students where they made a mistake and help them correct it.