Saturday, November 17, 2007

Dennis Chavez Nation

Taking her idea from a TV show, a fourth-grade teacher has founded

Jackie Schlotfeldt News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jschlotfeldt@news-bulletin.com

Los Chavez When the television reality show "Kid Nation" debuted in September, Dennis Chavez Elementary School teacher Laurie Vazquez found the answers she was looking for.

For years, Vazquez had wanted to create a program that would enhance her fourth-grade curriculum and give her students hands-on experience when learning things about history, government, economics, money management, the barter system, nutrition, animals, weather and teamwork.

With her idea formulated, Vazquez was ready to move forward, and "Dennis Chavez Nation" was born within the walls of her classroom.

As on the show, the students in Vazquez's class are divided into four groups — laborers, cooks, merchants and town leaders. Each group voted for a leader. Unlike on the show, every six weeks the groups rotate positions so all students get a chance to work at each job. Pay is also based on position, with town leaders making $1 weekly, merchants getting 50 cents, cooks earning 25 cents and laborers taking home 10 cents.

The class has its own monetary system, good only in its store.

"The students came up with their constitution that defines what each groups does, and they also came up with the rewards and consequences for their actions," Vazquez said.

Leaders are responsible for tutoring other students once they have completed their work, in addition to being classroom mediators and managing behavior cards.

The behavior cards are color-coded, and each student begins the day with green. However, for unacceptable behaviors, students can lose pay or privileges for the day. They may receive a yellow card as a warning and, if their bad behavior continues, they're on their way to the dreaded red card for which a child loses 50 percent of his or her salary. Anyone cursing or hitting someone automatically gets a red card and a conduct referral to the teacher.

Merchants make sure the class store is stocked, people are paid and correct change is given when purchases are made. They also make sure students have the necessary amount of money to make their purchase; they give up one day of recess to run the store.

Cooks set up for parties and prepare snacks for challenges.

Laborers pass out papers, empty garbage tubs, pass out the food at parties, put equipment away and transfer items to and from the library.

There are also rewards given for positive comments from other teachers or if a student is caught being good.

"I think it's cool," parent Michelle Christopher said. "It's teaching cooperation skills, getting along and how to work as a team."

"We also have a challenge once a week, and the groups get a minute to plan their strategy before the challenge," Vazquez said.

Similar to the way it works on the television show, after a challenge, the group leader will award a gold star to one student. The biggest difference is Dennis Chavez Nation's gold star is worth $1 while "Kid Nation's" can be exchanged for $20,000.

When the issue of rewards and penalties came up, the students first thought about taking away 5 cents from their pay, but one student realized taking 5 cents from a laborer was half his pay while 5 cents from a merchant had much less of an impact.

"They came up with a percentages that they felt was much more fair," Vazquez said. "The higher level thinking skills are incredible. It's been interesting watching."

Vazquez said the students are working on a podcast, which is a digital media file that can be accessed on the Internet, specifically the school district's Web site, and downloaded onto personal computers or MP3 media players. The students will document their progress as a class and how their "nation" is coming along.

"We will be starting on it very soon," Vazquez said.

Since the students in her class began this project, she has noticed that they are more willing to work together to find solutions to problems as they arise.

The fourth-grade students will continue the project for the entire year, and Vazquez said a counselor at Dennis Chavez is interested in making it a school-wide project.

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