Classroom Economy: The Jobs

Since I first started teaching, I have always had classroom jobs.  I really feel like the classroom needs to be "run" by the students (well, as self-sufficiently as possible) and classroom jobs are a HUGE part of this.

When thinking of jobs, I decided that I wanted the students to be responsible for a majority of the tasks in class that didn't involve actual imparting of knowledge (that would, of course, be my job ;) )  I also wanted them to do things that I would forget to do (I am a notorious "tell it to me and I forget the second I turn around" person...my students have been on more than one sunglasses hunt in my teaching career ;) )  So here is the list of jobs that I have in my room. (click on it for an upclose version you can print out)

How do I actually assign jobs, you ask?  Well, each month, my students fill in a job application.  At the beginning of the year, I gave them a postcard I made on  _______ (who wants to fill in the blank???  ;)  hee hee)  with a Communication Guide for the students to use to compose the application.  The students then have to choose three jobs that they think they would be good at, with reasons why.  They keep these postcards in their desk all year, so I don't have to really think about it much after the first month.  When I say, "Fill out a job application for next month", they just take this postcard out, with a piece of paper, and begin writing.

Once the applications are in, I go through them and choose the people who I think would work best at each post.  To be honest with you, I skim them.  (I know, bad teacher)  I just don't have time to go through all of them in great detail.  BUT I do make note of the reasons why the students want a certain job.  I then pile them up into the first choice requests, and start making assignments from there.  It doesn't always work out that they get their first choice, but I have never had a student unhappy because he got his second or third (or unrequested) choice.

Then, throughout that month, the students do the duties of the job they have been working for.  I DO NOT have enough jobs in my classroom for everyone.  However, those that don't get jobs are "Substitutes".  They get paid $1 for each job that they fill in for (if a child is absent or otherwise can not do their job).   At times, being a substitute can be a lucrative job!

And since this is tied into my Classroom Economy, each job gets paid a certain amount per week.  If the student has done all that the need to, and there have been no issues with job performance, they get their full salary.  If I have had issues with how the job was performed that week, I make a case by case sliding scale of payment.

So that is it.  I know there was a lot here, but really it isn't all that complicated.  Choose jobs that work for you and your classroom, and the economy will fall into place from there.  What jobs do you have?  Let's see if we can make a list so that others will have a great deal of ideas to choose from!