KYLE — It takes a special kind of person to be able to nurture the young, growing minds of our community, and one Hays CISD teacher is making his mark in a unique way with a fun classroom store.
Adolfo Benavides might be new to the district, but he found his calling as a teacher many years ago while working as an actor and model in Austin. He started spending his evenings as an after school martial arts teacher since it fit with his schedule, and there, he would help students with homework before practice.
“There’s this little moment before you go off into your groups that you’re helping them with homework. I was like, these kids can’t read. I’m teaching them kung fu and they can’t read,” Benavides said. “For me, it was a big shock.”
This experience started shifting the gears for Benavides. While teaching wasn’t something that had been on his radar, helping his martial arts students made him realize he might be able to accomplish another goal he had set for himself.
“I was looking to do things for others. [In] a lot of my jobs, I was kind of entrepreneurial and I did a lot of things for myself. I just felt like I needed to be doing something for others,” Benavides said.
After receiving his alternative teacher certification, Benavides was hired as a fourth grade math teacher, and it quickly became clear that he was a natural.
“When I started to do it, it just kind of clicked for me,” Benavides said. “And I like kids, and you don’t get exposure to hanging out with kids if you’re just an adult in the real world.”
Now in his seventh year of teaching and first year in Hays CISD, Benavides teaches fourth and fifth grade math at Science Hall Elementary. He’s affectionately known by his students as “Mr. B,” and has brought with him a unique tradition to the school: a monthly “store” where students can earn “money” to buy items.
Photo by Brittany Anderson
Mr. B reaches for items in his store’s storage cabinet, where he keeps things like fun school supplies and snacks.
Benavides talks with his students about what they like so he can keep the store stocked with the latest and greatest — these days, a lot of his students love Croc charms. Also in his stash are lanyards, small toys, cute pencils and erasers, and even occasionally special snacks like chips and candy (available at a higher price).
But the store has proved to be useful in a myriad of ways, and not just a way for students to “buy cool stuff.” For example, one of the TEKS [Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills] for fourth graders is financial literacy. Benavides explained that the store helps students with this skill set in a practical, real-life way.
“Those skills don’t have to be force fed. They’re actually being used,” Benavides said.
Perhaps most importantly, the store shows students that they’re appreciated in the classroom.
“That’s why we’re in school — to grow up and make money,” Benavides said. “We’re doing all this work as kids and you don’t really know what your value is; what the value of your labor is. The way that they are with kids these days, with all this testing, we put them through so much stress … All of the mental health issues that we have nowadays, and then to just shove tests in their faces all the time … I feel like, hey, if you work hard, you should be able to get something for what you did and you should be happy with what you do with it.”
The “money” that Benavides uses are fake bills and coins that he found in the school’s resource room. Instead of letting these items go unused, he has found a creative solution to use them while giving his students the ability to learn.
Photo by Brittany Anderson
The money that Mr. B’s students use for the store.
There are plenty of ways his students earn this money. Sometimes, it’s as easy as raising their hands and answering a question during a lesson. Other times, it’s taking the initiative to do extra homework on a subject they’re struggling with. The class also will play a multiplying game with a 10-sided dice to make money. These little pushes make all the difference, and Benavides has seen improvements firsthand in his classroom, from their grades to their behavior.
In extremely rare cases, Benavides said, students get their money taken away. It only happens if they do something “really bad,” and even then, it has only happened around three times in the many years he has been doing the store.
Benavides has also found that the store oftentimes gets the quieter students to speak up.
“It kind of encourages them to participate and be brave,” Benavides said. “Even if they get questions wrong they get paid. If I ask a question and somebody’s brave enough to say something, then I give them money because they participated.”
Along with all of the real-world skills the store teaches his students, like how to divide and count back change, being aware of the cost of different items and the importance of saving, Benavides also encourages his students to be responsible with their bills and coins, and students have their own methods for holding onto their money.
“I also teach them to take care of their money. If somebody steals your money, it’s gone. I’m not gonna go hunt down whoever stole your money. That’s real life,” Benavides said.“It’s not really teaching them to not trust other kids, but to be conscious and aware and set some boundaries.”
Plus, the students themselves actually run the monthly store, complete with Post-it Note receipts.
The once-a-month schedule not only gives students the opportunity to earn and save their money, but Benavides the chance to keep the store updated since he uses money out of his own pocket to stock the store. Still, he doesn’t feel like the school should have to help.
“It’s not a big deal to me. To me, it’s like, I don’t have my own kids, so my kids [students]are like my kids, ” Benavides said. “It’s not something that you throw in their face.”
For Benavides, connecting with his students and knowing who they are as people is just as important as teaching the curriculum, and the store is a great way to accomplish that.
“One of the things you have to do is build relationships with them,” Benavides said. “You can yell math at them all day, but it’s not gonna get anywhere if you don’t know what their favorite things are.”
“It [the store]definitely hits a lot of different areas which is why it has been so successful,” Benavides continued. “I didn’t think it was going to be so successful when I first did it, then later on I realized how much students can learn from this one thing … You’re showing them that you care, and that their work is worth something.”
