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American school adopts points system like Hogwarts -
Summary:
A Florida school has adopted a points system similar to the one at Hogwarts
Article:
Thanks to Wizardnews
Quote:
For Creative Learning Academy students, there is no worse feeling than losing your marbles.
"If someone loses a marble or 10 or 20, we're like, `Why did you have to do that? Why did you do something so stupid?"' eighth- grader Nicole Bobbitt said.
Marbles are constantly on the minds of the private school's 65 middle schoolers since the academy adopted a disciplinary method inspired by the popular "Harry Potter" novels written by J.K. Rowling.
"The students relate to `Harry Potter.' So I kept thinking, `Why couldn't we do that? We could have a point system with the students,"' said middle school director and Latin teacher Sally Kelly.
Middle School director, Sally Kelly, from left, media specialist Michelle White, students Brenton Goodman,14, Rachel Ripps,13, and Nicole Bobbitt,14, are pleased with how the new behaviorial system at the Creative Learning Academy encourages students to succeed.
Before school began in September, the veteran instructor talked about it with teachers who believed it would be a good idea but doubted its long-term effectiveness. Some students, despite being "Harry Potter" fans, felt it was cheesy.
The students were assigned to one of the four lairs named after Chinese dragons - Tatsu, Zaltis, Li-Lung and Nagas. Students at Harry Potter's school, Hogwarts, are sorted into four houses - Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff.
Good behavior earned a student a marble or more for his or her team, but marbles were subtracted for bad behavior. Just like "Harry Potter," there's a reward at the end: The winning lair will be awarded the Dragon's Cup.
Shortly after school began, an intense competition ensued among the four dragon lairs.
"Everyone is more competitive," said eighth-grader Max Rankin who recently received a marble for correcting his Spanish teacher on a quiz. "But it makes people work harder, and they help more around the school."
Eighth-graders became protective of the sixth-graders in their lair, instead of thinking of the younger students as "nerds."
Students and teachers agree that the campus is much cleaner since a teacher set a precedent when she gave a marble to a student who picked up trash.
Permission slips and report cards are signed by parents and turned in promptly by students - heaven forbid a marble be subtracted for turning something in late.
"They take it very seriously," said the school's media specialist Michelle White. Each lair's marble jar and written totals are displayed in the media center.
"Every few minutes, I see students checking to see the score," said White whose library received a major increase in traffic since she became the marble monitor.
For Nicole, the competition has created a rift between her and her fellow leading scorer, Wayne Dell.
"He'll be ahead of me next week because he got 50 marbles for (highest) grades," she said. "He's, like, .03 percent ahead of me right now."
Dell, who has the highest grades in his class, received a special marble worth 50 regular marbles. The special marbles are given on wins such as a history fair or an athletic event.
"Field Day is coming up, and I'm athletic," said Nicole, who is shooting for a 50 marble. "We have some school records I plan on breaking."
Wizardnews