Jobs With Purpose

help wanted

I am sure we have all had job charts in our classroom and they come in many different shapes and forms. As I see it, the point of having classroom jobs is to help students take ownership of the classroom as well as take responsibility for the physical space they are learning in. This past year I set up my classroom so every student had a job. We came up with the jobs as a class and then rotated through the jobs each week. This was awesome because each child had a responsibility and they reminded each other of their jobs. Some jobs were more desirable for some kids than others and some students were better at remembering to do their jobs than others. One problem I saw was that kids would forget which job they had because we rotated through them each week. Another issue was that they were not always very interested in their job.  As I plan for the upcoming year, I was thinking about how to make this system better and allow for students to be more engaged in keeping our classroom running.

I came up with an idea, but I think I need some help building upon the idea. I was thinking that we would have classroom teams, as opposed to one person per job. (The teams could then choose to delegate different aspects of the job, or use a combined effort).
One job that I thought we could have would be PR department. This team’s job would be to post our daily or weekly classroom events on Twitter, Instagram and our blog. They would be in charge of managing our classrooms image.
A second job I considered would be HR department. Students would be trained to support students with small or “kid sized” problems they were dealing with. This team would also be on the look out to make sure all students were enjoying themselves during recess and were getting everything they needed (like extra permission slips). This team would also be in charge of covering the office while our secretary took her lunch break. (this could also be handled by the neat and organized team if they needed to switch)
A third team would be the IT department. This department would be in charge of ensuring that technology was functioning properly and any tech issues we had could be resolved. They would also be in charge of making sure our chromebooks and iPads were fully charged and ready for use.
A fourth team would be the health and wellness team. They would be in charge of giving ideas for healthy snacks, leading the gym stretches and picking the warmup games for gym class. They would also help set up brain breaks during the school day.
A final team would be the Neat and Organized (still working on the name) department. They would help with handing out anything students needed, ensuring that the classroom and hallway was Neat and organized. They would also be in charge of doing any clerical work we needed such as answering the phone or running things down to the office. This team could ensure all students had the supplies they needed and be in charge of keeping track of the extra supplies. It would also be helpful if this team kept track of all the forms students hand in and ensure all students handed it what they needed to.
Each team would have its own cubby to store supplies or so that the team could communicate with each other. It would also be a place for students to have meetings on Monday to talk about who would do which job for that week.
Is there a department I am missing? Does anyone do something similar in their classroom?
I am not sure how kids will “apply” to be in each department or what will happen if they are not being a valued team member. If you have any suggestions or ideas, that would be awesome as this idea is just in its preliminary planning phase 🙂

14 comments to Jobs With Purpose

  1. Jenny Kates says:

    I like the team idea. Would you have the students rotate once a week to ensure everyone is getting am opportunity to be in a different team? Are you going to keep the same students on the same teams all year long? Or will you switch the students so they get to know everyone in the class?

    • Paige Couros says:

      Hey Jenny!
      Thanks so much for your comment! I love when people ask questions about my ideas, it really helps me go through the process and fully understand what I plan to do. I think I would allow students to choose a different job 3 times a year maybe (Sept, Dec, March or something like that).I found that switching the kids every week was too often, they were just getting good at their job when they were done on Friday. I really like to allow students to have as much choice as possible. I would allow them to either switch jobs when the time comes or keep their same position. Allowing them to choose will also up the investment factory. I know I will have some kids that will want to be on the same team for more than one “term”. What do you think?

      • Sarah Simac says:

        Love your ideas! I teach 3rd grade. We switch jobs monthly. I am also switching to “team” jobs this year. Very excited about it! I have kids fill out a job application. They tell me their name, position for which they are applying, and why they’d be a good candidate for that spot – why should I hire them?

        • Paige Couros says:

          That’s a great idea! I was thinking about having an application process too. Do you have certain criteria for how you choose students once they have done the application process? What if you have a student who doesn’t want to apply for anything?

  2. Alicia Smith says:

    I love this idea! I also did one class job for each student this year from a class generated job list and I noticed the same thing. Feeding the fish was the most convented job! 🙂

    I have a couple of questions: Would the teams stay the same throughout the year but rotate through the departments? Or would the teams change when students changed departments? I could see a case for either scenario.

    What about having students on each team write a job description for the next team? Each team could reflect and add to the job descriptions/or leave helpful tips for the next teams.

    Excited to hear how it woulds in your class!

    Alicia
    https://connectcapturecreate.wordpress.com/

    • Paige Couros says:

      Alicia,
      Thank you so much for your comment. I love that you added in the reflection piece, there is great potential for blogging and maybe even a “training” scenario for when the teams change. As far as the logistics go, I would love to incorporate student choice into the team creation. I would allow students to either switch jobs when the time comes or keep their same position. Allowing them to choose will also up the investment factory. I know I will have some kids that will want to be on the same team for more than one “term”and I think that is okay. I will keep you posted on how it works out in my class next year.

  3. Anna says:

    I really like your ideas! What if you also had a “Research and Development” department? I know I always get questions each day from students who are curious about a topic we’re studying, but because of time, I don’t always get a chance to address their ideas. Perhaps some students in your class would enjoy the opportunity to find the answers to those questions for you? If you jot down questions that you can’t get to in class and keep them available to your R and D team, they could choose alternate times during the week (or at home) to find the answers and present them to the class? I don’t know, just a thought…

    • Paige Couros says:

      Hey Anna,
      Thank so much for the idea! I always have students asking questions, research and development would be a great department. I struggle with having enough time to answer all their questions and getting through what we need to learn. This would encourage students to remain curious and continue to ask questions. Great addition to the idea!

  4. Nadia says:

    Hi Paige! I absolutely love the “Team Approach” to getting classroom jobs done! I think I would also add a “positive environment department” that would be responsible for finding a positive quote to start off each week. Have you thought about how long they would stay in each department? 2 week rotations might work well? I used to switch jobs every Monday and it’s a little bit of upkeep. Even a monthly department rotation would work!
    I love this idea and will be adopting it! Thanks so much!

    • Paige Couros says:

      Hey Nadia,
      Thanks for your input! I love that so many people have added to the idea, it can only get better with all this great input. I love the idea of working character and positivity into the departments. It would also be great if they were responsible for catching kind behaviour in the classroom and recognizing it in some way. Last year, I had the whole class fill out a paper link when they saw someone else being kind to create a kindness chain so we could see our kindness grow. I think I could definitely keep this idea, but have one of the departments in charge of it. I could create a specific department for this, or I could allocate this task to the Human Resources department to broaden their responsibilities a little bit.
      I am thinking that I will switch the jobs 3 times a year. I found that switching once a week was a little too often for my students and I want them to get really good at their job. I will also allow students to stay on the same team for 2 terms if they are really enjoying it. Please keep me updated on how it works in your classroom! I know that every class who tries this will look different, so I would love to see how it develops in your class! Thanks again for your input!

  5. Shauna says:

    I really love the team-based jobs idea; it’s very much like how the real world operates! You’ve encouraged me to think about how to make this work in my classroom. An idea: in keeping with your authentic department titles, maybe “Neat and Organized” could be the “Supply Chain Management Department.”

    • Paige Couros says:

      Hey Shauna!
      Thanks for reading my blog and helping grow the idea! I struggled with the “Neat and Organized” name and I am so happy that so many people have given me better alternatives 🙂 Supply Chain Management Department sounds very official, which I think is awesome and builds on that real world focus. Please keep me updated on how the idea grows and develops in your class! It would also be cool to have our classrooms connect so that students of similar departments could share helpful tips and tricks 🙂

  6. Molly Meck says:

    Hi Paige
    I love this idea and may even try it with my first graders. I think it would be a great first week activity to put them in teams and give them the job categories ( PR, IT, and maybe bucket fillers in my case, the kids who are responsible for lifting us all up) and have students come up with the job requirements and how they will share the responsibilities. Thanks for sharing!

    • Paige Couros says:

      Hey Molly,
      Thanks for commenting! I love the idea of having the students come up with the job requirements. That way, as things come up in the classroom (a job that the kids haven’t thought of yet) you can have a conversation as a class as to who would be the best fit for that job. Love it!

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