Les Bonnes Choses

I was chatting last night with boy #2 who is now in first grade (he was in Kindergarten when I last posted here). Asher was thrilled to have had his name drawn in the daily classroom raffle for some small prize as part of a behavior incentive technique his teacher is using. Here's how it works: Children in his classroom are rewarded for good behavior with a ballot throughout the day, up to a maximum of 4 ballots. At the end of the day, the children put their names on their ballots, which then go into a draw for the daily prize. Naturally, children who are better behaved earn more ballots and consequently stand a better chance of having their names drawn.

Here's the part that made me really excited: Asher's circle of friends have an arrangement: each day, they nominate a member of their group to get all their ballots. Yesterday, Asher was the nominee, and so Asher's name went on not only his ballots, but also on the ballots submitted by three or four of his buddies. Asher had likely at least three or four times as many chances of winning compared to his classmates. Today another member of his group will get the nod. This is a method devised by a group of first graders to work the system.

These kids are going places.