Buying their interest?

I have this thing I do, as a teacher. Not at the beginning of the year, but later, after Christmas.

Here's how it works.......

If a student does something brilliant, or noteworthy, or even just above and beyond their expected ability..... I give them a coin. I also tell them exactly why they got it. They can get this notice in theory or in the lab. The notice is public, and often shared.

A coin can be traded in for test points on almost any written test.

I look at it this way...... A good employer will notice and reward an employee who goes above and beyond. They'll do so, or lose that employee eventually. On the other hand, an employer who makes a habit of doing that will soon find employees looking for ways to get rewarded.... and that's a win/win situation.

In many ways, I am like an employer to these kids. I give them work, and expect it done right. They get paid in knowledge and grades. By giving them the coins, I am giving them a bonus for extra-good work. Better than just a few grade points, I am giving them something tangible they can hold in their hands. They can take them home and show their folks.... "Look what teach gave me today for being bright"

I get the coins on E-bay.... bought a few years back, I paid about $7 a pound plus shipping. not bad, and ten pounds or so will last me for many years. They are from Europe, and the euro turned all these wonderful old coins into scrap metal.

Bags of them can be bought, usually being worth more as scrap than coins except on the world of E-bay.

The thing is, I get most back from the kids. What is really surprising... some won't trade them back for test points! They'd rather get a lower score and keep the coins. On average, I get about 75% returned.

It works.... some students pay attention in theory, hoping to ask a question bright enough to earn one. Some students make a point of finding a new way to do something in the shop, and will ask if it's good enough to earn a coin. A student who is caught up, then spends time helping others get caught up, is almost sure to get one.

It seems to work.... and anything that works without shedding blood is probably ok.

So the one student said...

At the end of the school day, I was reading a post about
a raccoon that had wandered into a shop and encountered a
man eating his lunch. The description was hilarious and
I laughed quite a bit.

Then one student said....

"That's the first time I ever heard you laugh when it
didn't sound maniacal and scary!"

Proper image in place.... Check.

Ready..... I think

Today, spent the last of 26 unpaid hours getting my class space ready.

Ok, not unpaid, but certainly not contracted. I guess that makes them unpaid, but I lump it all in together. I am paid X per year to do X job to the best of my abilities. Maybe the union (strange allies) and the administration (axis of evil) had other words in mind when they haggled out the contract, but that's how I look at it. Not 'Good enough'..... but 'The best it I can do'.

Most of the other instructors see it that way as well. I wasn't alone in school yesterday and today. It was humming with teachers working 'for free', as it were.
Nobody said anything about that.... we were all focused like hounds on a scent.

I spent another 2.5 hours cleaning up after the 'adult' evening class instructor. 'Adult', as in probably potty trained, but just barely. He left several transmissions and most of a Toyota's engine guts laying across our work benches, with assorted puddles and piles strewn amongst, around, under, and on said car guts.

I dragged a big trash can over to the first bench, nosed it under the edge, and began a very satisfying arm sweep. I actually had the main bearing caps sliding over the bench, joining with timing parts and rocker arms, all headed for the dismal abyss. It was just so right..... and I was feeling a swell of manic joy as the parts journeyed to their new, and last, resting place.....

And..... I stopped.

I was trying so hard to be cruel, mean, and above all serve the cause of true justice. I have cleaned up this man's crap so often it's almost become an obsession. When I come in to school the days after his class, I allow extra time to document the damage, photograph the destruction, and clean up before my own students arrive. (School admin does nothing, even when faced with thousands in documented thefts).

All that..... and I could not trash the parts to the car. If I did that it would never go back together. I had no idea who's car it was, although I'm 96% sure it's his, (captain crap head). As satisfying and right it would be to trash the stuff he's once again left strewn across our carefully cleaned and maintained lab area, I could not. It would have been unprofessional, and a bad example to my students.

Damnation! Hellfire!

I boxed it up and placed it on shelves, marked as to contents. That did not feel satisfying.

I hope he leaves his car around, so I can shove a dead mackerel in a baggy under the back seat. THAT would be the right thing to do.

That fun aside, we are about ready. I wish I had taken photos.... the shop is beautiful, if a tech school lab can be called that. Everything looks as clean as you wished your favorite restaurant's kitchen was. The floor shines, after five rounds with a floor scrubbing machine and two rinse cycles. Each of the 52 student seats has a binder stuffed with work waiting.... each has a name card welcoming a student home. College level text books are piled, to be issued first day. Safety gear is binned, to be handed out the first hour. Signs are posted to guide lost students to their goal.....

We are ready.... and it all begins Monday. Nine months of carefully controlled headlong chaos. Nine months of working with 50+ high school seniors, each in their own world, each with different abilities, each their own learning modalities.

As another instructor put it.... some days we do it just to see the light bulbs.
The ones that go off inside the students eyes when they finally get it...