Project Math Access DVD 04 - Application of Math Skills - Part 02
Transcript Start

Audio Description: Part two; introduction to payroll project.

TEACHER: The goal of this lesson is to give the students some practical experience doing activities they might have to do as adults, and use their math skills in order to do it. The project that we're doing is called the Payroll Project, and it is something that we do throughout the school year. 

The 7th and 8th grade math teacher here at Albright also uses this program with her students. I have used this with students who are lower in their math skills, as low as 3rd grade level math, and I've adapted it so that they would be able to participate in this project too. 

We‘re going to do the lesson today. Peter here, as I mentioned, is a 6th grader and he‘s already had some instructions on this project. So, when he starts working I'm going to explain a little bit of the project so you understand what he‘s doing. 

Peter, what his experience so far has been, he has learned how to fill out a time sheet, he‘s role modeled like a mock situation where he‘s come into the classroom and pretended that he was going to open a checking account. He had to shake hands with the person, and hopefully not have a weak handshake, and look the bank personnel in the eyes, and kind of get them experience with that. And he also had to sign a signature card. Peter is just learning his signature and we're going to be learning that a little later in the lesson. 

Also, Peter has just learned how to write a check or his procedures for filling out a check if he were going to do that. The project is something where the students earn money for attending school and for their performance in math class. What we said is that their job at this age is school so they are going to get paid for attending school. 

And I'll go into a little bit of that a little later but the starting salary is 5.25 and each student does that. And they have to keep track of their hours at school. A full day is 7 hours; half-day is...? 

PETER: 3 hours 

TEACHER: 3 hours, okay. Extra curricular activities are not included in this time sheet and also homework is not included because because we tell the students that often times when you have a job you have to take your work home and you don‘t really get paid extra for that. So anyway, we're going to start and Peter is going to start by filling out his time sheet. He usually fills out a every 2 weeks because that's his payday. He just did this last Friday, so he's only going to fill one out for 1 week today. Okay, you can get started and I'll explain a little more about the Payroll Project and then I'll stop talking finally and we'll let Peter explain what he's done so far on his time sheet. The students are paid electronically, so they're not actually handed a paycheck in their hand. 

[sound of student brailling his time sheet] 

And they figure out their time sheet, turn it in to the teacher or to myself and I tell them if their net pay is correct and then they are to go and deposit it into their checking account. 

We teach the students that Uncle Sam has now entered their life and on the time sheet they need to figure out their gross pay. Also they are going to be taxed at a rate of 25%, so they need to figure that out. And it's kind of amazing the students' reactions when they find out they have to do that; what they earn is not actually what they get to keep. The other thing is the time sheet; they usually earn about 30 points for the time sheet. 

Let's see what else I need to... okay, oh I had mentioned that their attendance is what determines their salary and also their performance. So at the end of this quarter, Peter's grade will determine his increase in his salary. So if he gets an "A" in math this quarter, his salary will go up a dollar, if you get a it's 50 cents, a "C" is 25 cents, if you get a "D" or "F" and hopefully that won't happen, you don't get any salary increase because if you're performing poorly in a job, you usually don't get a salary increase. But that's kind of the justification of that. 

Peter, when he's done his time sheet, he will have to fill out a check register and he's a 6th grade student so we have him brailling his check register and lining things up and really understanding that. As a 7th grader, he will be taught how to put his register in a spreadsheet, and he will have to keep track of his check register on the computer with the use of JAWS. 

And then as an 8th grade student, we hopefully will have a checkbook program on his Braille Lite, or Braille Note, and he will keep track of his check register that way, by 8th grade. Okay? 

Alright, I think that explains most of the... oh, one other thing I have to add in here. Every quarter usually there's a big project where the students have to use some of the money that they've earned for these projects. The projects are like they have to purchase a car. And so during that project they have to write a check for the down payment on the car and then every month they have to make car payments. Students that get real excited and usually it's the boys, want to buy Corvettes, they have to find the ad, find the price, they have to figure out payment plans for different number of months, and some students, if they get to going on the car, and like the boys want red Corvettes, then they discover that they don't have enough money to pay for this monthly car payment. If that ever happens then they have to, the car is repossessed and they have to ride, the bus and then have to make a bus payment for that. 

Another project that the students have to do and it's usually one a quarter. Our 7th graders right now are going to design a dream house. And they have to figure out the area of the rooms and then per square foot there's a certain price and they'll have to figure out the cost of their home. 

Another project is-- Iet me think-- Piggybank University, where the students have to research where they think they'd like to go to college and all that's involved with that. Another one is shopping spree they have to do. Another project is they have to go some place, the closest that it could be is like Chicago and they have to plan a weekend vacation and figure out all of the expenses. But anyway, Peter has really not been involved in any of those major projects yet. We're just getting him ready. Hopefully next year he will be mainstreamed and he will already know about this Payroll Project and will be able to flow easily into it. Actually, he'll probably be ahead of all the other students his age.