East LA elementary school teacher uses magic tricks to encourage good attendance

With a magic word and a lot of enthusiasm, an elementary school teacher in East Los Angeles is encouraging good attendance among his students. 

Oscar Vázquez, a first-grade teacher at KIPP Iluminar, is using magic tricks to motivate his students to show up to class.

“They are able to come out of their shell more. Some students that were very timid in the beginning are coming out, being able to talk,” Vázquez said. “They’re able to speak more to their partners and their peers.”

If his class had a good attendance week, he surprises them with a new magic trick on Fridays. 

“Every day they come, they get a check mark on their anchor chart of a magic show.If they accumulate five days and they will get their magic show on that Friday,” Vázquez said.

Once his students choose what magic trick they want to see, Vázquez goes home and practices with his family.

“I want them to be able to be curious about the world, to not be afraid of asking questions. And I want them to know to just keep trying and keep digging to understand how to do things in life,” Vázquez said. 

He explains that chronic absenteeism is a challenge for many schools, which is why their school leader provides incentives like raffles, to encourage them to come to class.

“However, aside from that, I also wanted to add it into my classroom to ensure that every student of mine is coming to my class,” Vázquez said.

The children react with awe and applause as Vázquez asks them to say the magic word and reveals what was once a simple rope is now stiff and laying straight in the air, but with the snap of their fingers it falls back into a regular rope.   

Vázquez also has some students get involved. He chooses some of them to step in front of the class and participate. 

Several students raise their arms high up in the air in hopes of being chosen for the magic trick. 

When they’re all done, Vázquez gives the students a sneak peek at the following week.

“I might bring that one back,” he says as he teases other tricks.

“Now we have to make sure that we’re coming to school every…” Vázquez says as the children reply in unison with “day!”

The room fills with excitement as the children hear about a box that can turn $1 into $100, a coin that breaks once it’s placed into a bag and other magic tricks Vázquez might bring to the class.