I am beyond excited to be joining the Bright Ideas Blog Hop this month! I love reading all of the super great ideas that teachers post each month on this hop and I feel so blessed to be joining such incredible teachers to share my own bright ideas!
For this month's Bright Ideas Blog Hop, I'm going to post about the classroom jobs that save my sanity! I train students for these jobs early in the year and really couldn't survive without them!
Planner/Folder Checker
I always have a student assigned to check planners or folders each day. This depends on what you use. In my class, students have to bring their planners back every day with a signature. They turn in homework on Thursdays and they return signed progress reports on Mondays. It is so hard for me to keep track of everything while running the classroom so I have a simple checklist and a student assigned to this job. They know exactly what to do and it runs flawlessly without any supervision from me! I know how turned in what without any effort and I can continue to focus on the important things that are happening in the room.Scheduler
I have a student change my daily schedule on the board in preparation for the next day. I don't know what it is about this task but I realllyyyyy don't prefer to do it. Sure, it only takes a minute or two before or after school. However, I can do so many other things in those few minutes. I know that my schedule is up and ready to go each day and I don't have to worry about it. I love my scheduler!
Teacher's Assistant
This is my person who can do anything I think of. Mostly, I have this person return papers to students, file thing into mailboxes or put a star on papers for me. I always pick someone who loves to help, tends to finish work early and is organized. When I need something to go back, I just leave it not the student's desk with a note and it gets taken care of!
Phones
How often does your phone ring dead in the middle of a lesson? Yea...it's not a problem. Someone always has my back and takes a great message for me! I just keep on teaching like nothing happened. I train them early on how to take a message, when and how to give me the message and the class gets used to ignoring that the phone is ringing.
Table Washers
I love when people come into my room at the end of the day and comment on how clean it smells in my classroom. I make sure that my tables get washed at the end of every single day! It has done wonders to keep me and my students healthy this year. I have the supplies handy for the students at all times and they just take care of it for me! Sometimes I have to remind them to get the group work tables but they're pretty good about keeping everything clean.
Attendance
I have a student who checks attendance every morning. My students check in by moving their student number on the cabinet when they arrive. The attendance person checks that everyone who isn't checked in is actually absent. Then, he or she tells me who is absent within a few minutes of the bell ringing. This allows me to talk to students about their night, answer questions, take care of things, etc. while they're settling in. The attendance taker then moves all of the numbers back at the end of the day so that we're ready to do it all over again! I love how easy it is. There's not any interruption to the classroom and I can focus on the kids and feel confident that I'll be ready to take attendance quickly!
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Great advice! I've used most of these roles with my 8th graders, and it works like a dream! I don't get the endless begging to help or the fights when I choose someone from a hoard of "volunteers"! I have white board where I write the helper for each class. I usually can get by with 1 or 2 - an assistant & a materials handler.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this. I teach 5th last year I didn't have specific jobs and it was crazy, I just had 3 helpers. I am definitely going to assign jobs.
ReplyDeleteGreat Job Titles! Having that Teacher Assistant has helped in my class so many times. I also use a Sub job just in case one of my kiddos are absent. That way those duties can still be completed.
ReplyDeleteReally good job titles! I also have a Sub job title in case one of my kiddos are absent. That way class can still flow & those duties are still completed.
ReplyDeleteSpot on with this write-up, I actually believe that this site needs far
ReplyDeletemore attention. I'll probably be back again to read through more, thanks for the information!