Dan Gasteazoro, a Grade 4 teacher at Glacier Hills Elementary School in St. Paul, Minnesota, has been using Active Allowance in his classroom for the past two years. I asked him whether he found it useful in teaching his kids about financial literacy. Here are his comments:

I am incorporating your site to instill Financial Literacy in my classroom. But in addition, AA also offers me a forum to promote the social sciences (not just mathematics) – economics and political science – as well as foster teamwork, initiative and leadership skills.

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Dan Gasteazoro is an Active Allowance member. Dan is also a Grade 4 teacher at Glacier Hills Elementary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

And wow….what a creative teacher! Not only does Dan use the site for his family — he also figured out a novel way to use Active Allowance for his grade 4 class. He tells us it really helps him engage the children and teach them a wide range of subjects in a fun way. Dan agreed to share his experience:

I started using Active Allowance in my class last April. My “Eureka moment” came when I figured out how to use your site to connect responsibility and reward in a classroom setting without actually “paying” a monetary allowance. I invented an in-class “economy” — with great success!

I created “teams” of kids. Since it was near the end of the year, the kids knew each other well enough (and I them) that I could create groups based on capabilities, temperaments, etc. In this way, I was able to have a little bit of everything (the good, the bad and the ugly!) in each group.

I wanted the use of checklists to pay dividends based on their behavior. I also wanted them to be able to track their successes (or failures) in the virtual world, so the points-to-dollars functionality of the site and the virtual “Bank” were also really useful.

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For some reason, my hair loss is accelerating. I really have to stop pulling it!

We recently had yet another, ummmm, not so perfect Parent/Teacher interview. Same old story — our gifted 10 year old’s behavior still leaves something to be desired. Not evil …. just frustrating. He has a lot more “stop” behaviors than “start” ones and gets very little done in school; he’s clearly gifted at lollygagging and being a social butterfly. I bet you’ve never faced something like this

After hearing this yet again, I had a brainwave. We discussed with his teacher the idea of a School “Chore Chart”, whereby the teacher could list those behaviors that needed work and that ……

warning: Parents who abhor linking rewards to behavior should stop reading now and go for a cup of tea.

…… we would provide the reward for good results.

We agreed that while it’s ideal if Adam were intrinsically motivated, it was also wishful thinking. With this process, we could at least guide him towards appropriate behavior — and over time, he’ll develop good habits.

The whole process mimicked what we do at home. Working as a team with his teacher, and also involving Adam in the discussion, we agreed on the behaviors, as well as some special bonus items (if he achieves them, there’ll be dancing in the street!). We asked him what special reward he would like to work towards – that he would get in June if he earned enough. He said he would love to earn a remote control car.

Technically, it was dead simple to make this happen in Active Allowance. We created a second account for him, designed his School Checklist (he chose the colors and decorations), and created just one bank account — his Remote Control Car account. Every Monday, he brings a clean copy to school. On Friday, he comes home with his completed Checklist, signed by his teacher, and we enter the points. Quick and simple.

And so far, after two weeks, his teacher says he’s much more focused. I know he’ll still have his ups and downs, but I’m optimistic that on average, it will be “up”. I’m keeping my fingers crossed (and away from my thinning hair).