CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Every Monday, Renaissance West STEAM Academy math teacher Shelby Lattimore begins her class by charging students for their seats in “Lattimore Bucks,” rather than U.S. currency. This is a project she started last year as a way to improve her attendance.
“It's not just about having them here,” Lattimore said. “From start to finish, it's important to have them here all day and ready to rock and roll. In addition to that, we hold students accountable for their own actions and hold them accountable for certain things within the classroom. It’s about holding people accountable.”
Each student is assigned a classroom task, which rotates every two weeks.
“These are their jobs,” Lattimore said. “If they are underlined, they will be paid $10, which means it is a harder job than they have to do every day. He just needs to change the calendar. He just needs to change the day at the board meeting, for example, only once in the morning, and then his salary will be reduced.”
Her students pay for their seats with their salaries.
“Their rent had gone up from $5 to $7 in January,” Lattimore said.
And if students misbehave, they will be fined.
“It's like intentionally losing a pencil, tearing up a notebook, things like that, and of course being disrespectful,” Lattimore said. “And their fine is $1.”
The more you save with Lattimore Bucks, the more rewards you can purchase. That is, as long as you have enough money to pay the rent.
“Suppose they have $10 but want to buy lunch with a friend. Even if I subtract 5 from 10, you don't have $7 of their next rent. No. So you can't buy anything beyond the rent and you have to keep it in your wallet,” Lattimore said.
While the project may have started as a way to improve classroom engagement, Lattimore says it has turned into a bigger lesson for students.
“Some of their parents are always grateful to me,” Lattimore said. “I always talk about how intergenerational poverty is a huge statistic in Charlotte, especially for the children and families I serve at my school.”
She inculcates personal finance and budgeting into her daily lessons.
“So, are you just starting to think about how you can preserve your money? How can you make long-term decisions with it? It all starts at a young age in a safe environment before you go out into the real world. It starts,” Lattimore said.
This was done with the hope of preparing the students for the future.
“Even students from last year said they were saving money and using their Christmas money to buy sneakers and things they wanted,” Lattimore said. “So they're holding on to the lessons well. So I can only imagine how that's going to impact their families years from now, when they're adults.” .”
Lattimore said other teachers she knows have started similar programs in their classrooms. She says this concept can be used in any school, at any grade level, as an easy way to teach basic finance.
