I think the problem with this (and teachers who take the same approach) is that the reward is too distant and doesn’t feel real enough.

Perfect example, one teacher who I know – who constantly had discipline problems with her class – offered a reward for students if they would keep on task and not talk during the week.

Five minutes of free time at the end of the last class of the week.

Five minutes.

Big whoop.

One the other hand, the school she was at used to do “Caught Being Good” passes – which the students could use to get out of class 5 minutes early to goto lunch. Teachers could choose not to accept them (either not accept them at all – or not today because we’re taking a test or something like that) – but most did.

They went over very well – and while some kids didn’t care, and didn’t ever try to get them (they were handed out at the teacher’s discretion), the majority of the kids did.

I can see a classroom teacher doing this – and saying if you get X number of “schrute bucks” you can get a homework pass, or something like that.

I can see a lot of parallels with this to my current classroom management system (which, I hope, has a much better rewards than Schrute’s–at least until my teaching coaches skewered my rewards for being too generous and offered no replacements–).

I was thinking more instruction-wise when I first saw this. I could so use this to teach irony–it has all three types-verbal, dramatic, and situational. I would try to have students identify the types of irony in this clip.

Interesting – different people see this – and think different things.

I’m curious to know what Dan had in mind when he posted it.

I had my whole post planned out for the “Meredith” clip! Why was everyone in the office so mad at Michael? How do we communicate through body language? I was then going to pitch a lesson plan idea with denotation vs. connotation.

In regard to this clip, I would definitely second everyone who said extrinsic vs. intrinsic rewards, conversions, and inflation. From an ELA point-of-view, I may compare it to a rebellion/revolution text (e.g. Horatio Hornblower, Tale of Two Cities, Les Miserables). How tenuous is Dwight’s power? What causes Dwight’s economy to falter?

So a Schrute Buck has the value of the average coupon . . . interesting.

Perhaps you could show this video as a way to introduce a unit or lesson on direct variation focusing on the equivencies of different monies around the world, like the Yen versus the Dollar or the English Pound, but make it more interesting and ask students to find out money denominations for not so common countries like the Ukraine or Congo or Dominican Republic.

Then have them plan a trip around the world with a fixed amount of money. How could they maximize their spending based upon the US Dollar, or Yen, or Pound, or . . .

How does the current economic crisis affect the US Dollar and its worth? How does this affect other nations’ monies?

Great clip!

Then have them plan a trip around the world with a fixed amount of money.

This was one of my best lessons back when I had an algebra class in a computer lab. The students made spreadsheets with a progressive set of formulas converting from one leg of a trip to the next.

(Best comment from a student in that class, who just discovered how after you program the computer it does all the calculations for you: algebra is like cheating for math!)

I’d move along Chris’s line of thought, naturally. The first thing I thought of was having students determine how Angela, Pam, Oscar, Stanley, and Andy feel about both Dwight and the Schrute Buck system. What evidence is there for their attitudes? None of them have too much screen time, so how did the actors/writers convey their stance on these issues so quickly? Can we do the same thing in writing? Can we create a situation where a character’s feelings come across in as few words as possible? Can we write a script where the same is the case? This is where denotation and connotation come in handy.

@dan
Wow, I sense some negativity here. the media clip is out there as a jumping off point. Something that could be used in many ways, one of which might be to grab the students attention and then transition into a concept to be taught. Seems odd that there would be one right answer to something like this. Yep the rewards system is certainly a valid point, but should we all just parrot back the response that we liked best? If that’s the case then, I think the video is great at demonstrating a common error of classroom management. Come on who are we as the teacher to know what the students will see as a true reward.

Is that better?

Dan, have you entered this contest? It seems like it’s right up your alley. http://www.slideshare.net/contest/credit-crisis-in-30-slides?

Explain the Credit Crisis in 30 slides

What a great video! I have to admit that as a first year teacher, that could have been me in that video. I remember telling kids that if they did something, I would add 5 points on to their test grade. Of course, it didn’t mean squat to them and I didn’t understand. My husband (boyfriend at the time) told me what I was doing wrong. He said I was using something that would motivate me but didn’t motivate my kids. That was like an “aha” moment to me! How could I miss something so simple!

@dan, re 23 and 25: teaching definitely helps hone the toolkit for parenting, with (at least) one noteworthy exception — when it’s your kid, there is no experience that I have found comparable to the breath-stopping, blinding love-care-hope-fear-pride I feel when I think about my daughter’s future.

Ironically, one way that teaching helped me be a better parent is from seeing a lot of other parents — some having relationships I wanted to emulate, and others providing the opposite example. It also helped to listen to kids talk about things they care about — bot the actual things they cared about, but also the manner in which they talked about them.

But, even though I was a teacher who cared a lot about the kids I taught, being a parent brings a whole different level of intensity.

And, fwiw: a reaction of “Oh gross” is generally not a good jumping off point for pro-creative (or recreationally simulated pro-creative) behavior. Just thought you’d like to know.

Cheers,

Bill

All my students are Stanley and they don’t care about Schrute bucks. However, I do surprise them every so often with a treat of doughnuts or cupcakes when they have been unusually productive. (I teach marketing and yearbook to high school kids in an inner city.)

I will be using this as part of my 8th grade Shakespeare Unit:
How do the modern script-writers convey irony and emotions through dialogue, body language, and tone.