A folder needs to be delivered to the office by a student. When a teacher looks out into the sea of students, who tends to be fished out to do the job? Is it the student who you think can get the job done with minimal interruption? Or is it Peter who often goes astray from his seat to the pencil sharpener?
By Erin Klug
Peter was a fifth grader in my class who was kind to everyone he met and genuinely interested in helping others. However, he struggled to take care of his own materials and was unlikely to go to the bathroom and return in a timely fashion. So Peter was not the one chosen to do office errands, yet wasn't he the very student to grow from the opportunity to be responsible and autonomous?
Lately, I've been thinking about classroom jobs and the role these play in the development of responsible independence. In classrooms and at home, jobs are opportunities to learn and become more skillful members of the community. And yet, there’s the hitch, the “learning” part. At home, when I’m tired and pressed for time, it’s just so much easier to do it myself than to coax compliance and competence from my own young children. When I consider handing over a task, such as setting the table for dinner, the need to demonstrate how to carry a plate with two hands or fold napkins overwhelms me. Yet the end result of seeing bright-eyed youngsters proud of their work makes the time spent teaching each step much more worthwhile.
Clearly, I recognize that classroom jobs are an opportunity for students to practice skills in the context of
something meaningful. I can believe that as an educator, but what gets in the way of making that work in practice? Isn't it usually time and the pressure to turn the page—to the extent that we might forget how much may be learned from menial, hands-on tasks around us? For example, wouldn't a student who is struggling with respectful interactions learn a great deal from having the role of classroom greeter: learning to welcome a stranger, provide a seat, or help a latecomer catch up with an assignment. There are such important jobs in a strong classroom community—meaningful jobs.
Thus for Peter and the task of getting the folder to the office . . . I’d like to choose him and consider what I might do to set this up as a learning opportunity instead of a moment to tour the school. For example, I might have him time himself and plot out the most efficient route to the office. When he returns, we can check in and see how the plan worked and how he felt about his accomplishment and what might be a next step to help him gain independence and responsibility.
I am struck as well by the ways that children may seek out real-life tasks outside their comfort zones. Recently, my nine year old volunteered to pick up our take out dinner from the restaurant down the street. Really? My child who is scared to ask for a napkin from the worker at the ice cream shop? Yes, this child, who navigated the task with ease and pride even when she had to backtrack after realizing she had the wrong order. She was beaming from her accomplishment and grew from the experience. And to think that I didn't want her to go!
I am wondering how other teachers (parents) approach classroom jobs. What are your goals for students as you structure jobs in your classroom? And how have you helped students, challenged by responsibility, succeed with a job?
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About Erin Klug
I taught intermediate and middle grades in Minneapolis for more than a decade before taking a position as Professional Development Specialist and Consultant for The Origins Program. I currently develop workshop programming, contribute to Origins publications, and provide direct service to area schools through consulting. I hold a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan and a Master of Education from the University of Minnesota. Contact me atOrigins@OriginsOnline.org.
This really makes me think about how deliberate we need to be with assigning jobs and the impact being asked--or not asked--to do a job can have a student. Even high school kids place a high value on being the student who gets to deliver something to the office or run to the copy room for a teacher. It's one more way we can structure our classrooms to build independence and self-esteem in our students. I'm curious how other upper level teachers use jobs in their classrooms.
Posted by: Ann Ericson | 04/27/2015 at 07:22 AM
The power of jobs cannot be underestimated. Even my eighth graders were excited to do jobs-especially the ones they made up. We circled up and talked about ways to share the work in maintaining a science classroom. They came up with several jobs-some more fun than others e.g. stamping completed papers vs. cleaning the sinks. They then came up with a schedule and ways to check in. They even built in the job of the reminder of jobs! As the year went on, they added and deleted jobs as our curriculum changed. In the beginning it was a bit of work to set up, but the payoff was the engagement and independence they developed during the year.
Posted by: Scott Tyink | 04/21/2015 at 02:44 PM