In the summer of 2017, I attended a two day workshop with Tina Hargaden and Ben Slavic. This was a defining moment on my teaching career because they were the catapult that led me to break away from the textbook. At their workshop, I finally understood One Word Images along with post activities as well as Card Talk and Calendar Talk among many other strategies.

Above all, the one thing that I decided to implement after Tina and Ben’s workshop was an organized system of classroom jobs. The results? Let’s just say I wondered many many times…Where had such a simple idea been all of my teaching career? Talk about leverage of energy and a classroom management arsenal! Specially because in my high school, my classes average about 26 students. My students can’t imagine my classroom without their jobs.

After that summer workshop, I started researching anything and everything about comprehensible input. Through these web searches (thank God for the internet and kindness), I found amazing teacher bloggers to whom I will always be forever  thankful such as Martina Bex’s The Comprehensible Classroom, Allison’s Mis Clases Locas Blog,  Anabelle Williamson’s La Maestra Loca’s Blog, Mike Peto’s My Generation of Polyglots, and Scott Benedict’s Teach for June page. These blogs lead me to read other blogs so that I could become informed on my mission, putting together a simple yet self ran classroom job system.

At Tina’s workshop, I purchased the book A Natural Approach to Stories by Ben Slavic. In this book, he had a chapter that meticulously explained the set up of every single job in the One Word Image storytelling process. It was what let me to think about implementing a job system that I could use during the entire class. I was almost certain that someone else must have thought of that before, and thank God someone had.  Because I went to Google and found Bryce Hedstrom’s job list.

With the advice found on the resources of these two master teachers, I decided to get to work. This is what I put together:

• First, I introduce the classroom jobs and the why of the jobs. I emphasize how I need their help and how we are in the classroom experience together. I also sell the idea because I created a reward system to “pay for the jobs.” I use this power point while I am talking (Tina Hargaden also has a Human Resources Manual  which could be very useful if this is your first time and you need more structure).
• Then, I hire a manager and a secretary first. If more than one person wants to be the manager, I write a number from 1-20 and ask students to give me a number. The one closest to the number wins, the second runner up will be the manager the next cycle, and the third runner up the next, and so on. I explain the manager his/her job (His/her job is basically to give points every time the job is given and to respond to me with the name of the assigned person when I ask about a specific class job. He/she also  will also write checks at the end of the three weeks alongside the secretary).
• Then, I do the same process for my secretary and I also explain the job to him/her. His/Her job is to record a bulleted list of what we do in class so that I can keep up with work for the absent students. He/She will do so every day. I have one binder with four tabs, one for each class. He/She records notes about her class using this form.
• Now, this is when I hand the secretary the clipboard with the jobs’ list. Then, I start calling the next jobs one by one, until I fulfill all my vacant jobs. We are now ready to roll with class jobs.
• Every three weeks, I change all jobs to give other students the opportunity to “work” and earn “pay” (points).  Prior to the manager and secretary leaving their job, they write checks for all employees and deliver these. Students save them for cash out day, which I do before the 9 week marking period is due. On cash out day, the students will fill out a form, which is found on slides 5-8 of the Google slide link above

So, what happens in my class once classroom jobs have been established? Thanks to the classroom jobs, I do absolutely nothing so I can focus on teaching, connecting, and engaging my students. When I need a job done, I just call on my gerente , ask in the target language something like “¿Quién es la persona que colecta  documentos?” and he/she will tell me who the person is and we take it from there. I use the target language to ask for my student employees and to give job instructions all of the time, so it provides a lot of repetition of the same vocabulary. The positive vibe and dynamics of the classroom culture are the cherry on the top because everyone feels like an important part through their contribution, and I am not running around wasting time on little things. I am not going to write about the many other benefits, Bryce Hedstrom’s page has plenty of information on that already, so if you want to know more, visit his page and you can do a search there.

How long does it take to set up jobs the first time? It can take me about 15-25 minutes to set up class jobs the first, after that, it will take about 10-15. It is worthwhile because  it is only once every three weeks that I change jobs. You can change jobs every 9 weeks if you want, it is up to you. You know what can work in your classroom.

 What if I have trouble filling job vacancies? At the beginning students can be shy about signing up for jobs. That is why you must sell the idea of the jobs in the first place, but it can happen that students are not so eager specially if they don’t know you at the beginning. What I would do in this situation if I did not have people signing up, I would politely assign only a few jobs to a few students with their consent. They more than likely will not say no if you talk to them one to one, OR I would write jobs on little post it notes (not the manager or secretary – I would assign that one to a student I can trust with their consent) and randomly distribute these. Then, I would ask all students if they are okay with their job. You can always cut down the job list if you don’t have as many participating on class jobs.  I never had that issue, but if I did, those are some ideas to solve that.

What if my students want to know constantly how many points they have? Don’t feed their curiosity otherwise you will regret it. If they ask your manager, tell him/her to not feed their curiosity either. Tell them from the very beginning that they are not to ask about how many points they have acquired and that they will get their check at the end of the three weeks. After that, you will be surprised how many of them will tell the manager mi punto every time they do their job just to make sure they get credit, and I let them.

What happens on cash out day?
My cash out day is usually one week before grades are due at the end of the marking period. I give the students one of the forms found Google slide pages 5-8. They take out their checks and staple these to the back of the form. That way, it only take 5-10 minutes, and I can work on “redeeming points” during planning if they are exchanging their points for class grades or test points. In my book, they have earned these class grades through their collaboration and contribution. Trust me, one grade or two isn’t going to make a big difference on the grade book, but a point or two, but to them, it means the world. This is no different than dropping a zero or a lowest grade on a quiz. You can disagree with me on this and come up with another reward system that works for you.

If they have points left over, which many of them do, I invest about $60  in Sam’s Club buying chips, candy, and juice. I open my store on the last day of the nine weeks, and allow them to redeem whatever points they have left. I price every item at 10 points just so that my $60 budget every nine weeks is enough for all of my classes. You don’t have to do this part. You don’t have to give these rewards if you don’t want to, but I love doing this for my students.

One time, I was at a conference session where Meredith White shared many great ideas for rewards such as a positive phone call home, sit on the magic/teacher chair, prize from treasure chest, bell ringer passes, homework passes, and more. These are other great rewards to consider if you don’t wan to spend any money out of your pocket, but still encourage students to collaborate with every day jobs in the classroom in order to create a positive atmosphere for you and for them.

Have you tried classroom jobs? If you have, feel free to share ideas and share about your experience.  If not, are you convinced yet 🙂 ? It will change your classroom atmosphere in a heart beat. Until next time. Hasta luego.