3.2 Classroom Organisation & Management

Having recently got a job in Starbucks I noticed there are many transferable skills which I need to use every shift. One of the skills that I needed, as highlighted to me in my interview, was to be able to work effectively with money when on the till in order to make sure the customers got the correct change. However, whilst on the drive through window on one of my shifts I realised that I was handling less money than I expected because everyone was using their card.

As a teacher, one of our most important roles is to teach children the value and importance of numbers as a whole, and more specifically of money. Therefore, this made me question whether people’s skills in handling money have decreased or if it was just a matter of convenience and that contactless required less effort than counting the change in their pocket, or even having to type in their pin.

The first issue this raises is that the Curriculum for Excellence suggests that teachers should make learning relevant to the children in the class. However, by the time the children of today are finished school and looking for a job will money still be physical and require thought or will contactless become the norm? Further, does this mean we should change the curriculum to keep up with the changes in society or does this make the teachers job of providing the children with a profound understanding of money even more important?

With these questions in mind, on a different occasion someone offered to ‘give me the extra 20p’ if it made giving the change easier – which it didn’t, but they gave me it anyway. As I had already typed in the change they had given me, the balance on screen was incorrect as they had given me extra and so I had to work out how much they were to get back. Although maths was not my strong point, my profound understanding of numbers allowed me to give back the correct change.

This begs the question, so what?

Providing the children in your class a profound understanding of basic mathematics will not only help them throughout their lives but may also have a wider impact. Before considering how this may help them in the workplace, we have to explore applying for the job. With it becoming harder and harder to get a job, a basic understanding of maths is vital in being considered for any role therefor, not having a fundamental understanding may give someone less of a chance than someone else. More importantly, if the children have a profound understanding of maths, for example in the situation of handling change, they will be better equipped as they will have multiple perspectives. This is true as someone who understands money and numbers may be able to give £1 change in a varieties of ways, 5 x 20p, 10 x 10p, or even as far as 2 x 20p 1 x 50p and 2 x 5p. Someone who does not have a deep understanding may be able to do the simpler calculations but when the till is running low on certain coins may struggle.

The importance of this can be further shown when thinking about the impact of giving the wrong change which can have a detrimental effect. Working for a company which revolves around the customer, giving the customer the wrong change can result in complaints which reflects badly on the company. Another aspect of giving the wrong change multiple times would result in the company losing money which over time could add up to a big over loss.

Overall, I believe that despite the changes that are happening before our very eyes in terms of money, the curriculum should stay the same or even further incorporate money skills rather than shaping it around more electrical ways of using money. To me, teaching children about newer ways of using money would be like learning to drive an automatic car, if you learn in an automatic you are restricted to only these where as a manual allows you to drive both. Similarly, giving children a profound understanding of the value of money would allow them to then further apply this knowledge when things inevitably change in the future. Finally, if everything money related moves over to card and online, giving children a profound understanding will allow them to be able to manage and track their money and finances effectively regardless of its physical status which would be harder without this foundation.

Derek commenced the task by numbering each table from 1-5 and giving each group an envelope. Each group were allocated the same task and were requested to produce an item which could assist a new student in their first week at university using only the resources contained within the envelope.

My group was at table one and our envelope contained a significant number of resources such as coloured paper, coloured pens/pencils, envelopes, rulers etc. The envelope contained enough materials that each member of our table was able to create a different item to go in to the pack. The table created a campus map, a blank time table, useful tips on cards, a kitchen manual and from the remaining items managed to also produce a make-shift pencil case made out of an envelope filled with most of the resources which had not been used.

Throughout the process, Derek continually provided us with praise, commenting on how well we were working together as a team and telling us how productive we were all being. This boosted team morale and the whole team brimmed with confidence and constantly kept turning to each other and saying “we are really good at this aren’t we” with big smiles on our faces. The offering of a biscuit from Derek during the work also supported this view more and relaxed the team and made us so comfortable that we were unaware of what was really happening around us.

Each of the groups then took turn to present their final product. Our group were unaware at this stage as to what had happened and within our group we were still praising ourselves and commenting on how well we had done compared to the other groups.

Derek started off by appearing extremely interested by our presentation but as each group presented he demonstrated less and less interest in what was being shown. By the time the last group were presenting he appeared to be more distracted by his phone than what the final group had to say. Our group again remained oblivious to the connection being made.

Following the presentation by the final group, Derek asked everyone in the room “So, who noticed what was really happening there?”. The majority of those present noted they had identified the trick being played out and made the connection with his actions and reactions, whilst those in group one remained confused and wondering what had just occurred and what everyone else had became aware of that we did not.

Derek then informed all that each group had been provided with different envelopes containing differing amounts of resources and were all being tasked independently to produce items depending on what resources we had available. Group one had no awareness of this and were shocked that this had taken place without any of our group realising until this point.

I feel this exercise has provided me with a significant lesson to ensure that I now give everything my full attention and has opened my eyes to see how easy it is to miss very important, yet very small, details in the classroom. The exercise demonstrated that there is no space for bias in schools and although every child will have a different background, each and every one has to be treated equally, fairly, and in a consistent and professional way.

In summary this also highlighted how providing praise and encouragement in a positive manner also promotes confidence and goes a long way, the more Derek complimented us the more confident we became and so in turn the more effort we became willing to put in. Again this demonstrates that the attention/praise/encouragement we can provide to pupils has positive outcomes and should also be given during group work to each pupil to promote team work.

Removing the ‘bucks’ from Starbucks?

Resource Allocation Task