In an effort to encourage students to think about their behavior/performance the school, Forel, has introduced a merit system based on the "House" concept in some British school. The basic idea is that classes are divided into "houses" (think: teams) and get points for positive behavior and achievement. They are color coded (Yellow, Pink & Blue) and named: Hamlet, Macbeth, and Lear.....all tragedies...hummm...interesting (not exactly inspiring virtue, but whatever...) The trick to it is that other classes are also divided into these same "houses" as well (3 in our case) and so you get points racked up by overall school wide performance. It's an interesting idea. It could either turn into a crazy "Lord of the Flies" social experiment pushing everyone into a conspiring and consuming 3 way school split, or transform them into brilliant angels yielding to the slightest command of teachers & parents. So far the competition is not that fierce (I suppose mischief & pranks still trumps being "good"). Yet, the "House" system is working quite well for my competitive H6 class (10th grade in the USA). Anyways, above is a pic from Gabie's class visually displaying the houses in his class. It's fun and personalized. Gabe is #8.
