My Bright Idea: Classroom Jobs

Student cooperation has always been a slippery slope for me in an Eighth Grade class.  I don't know if I ever 'learned' how to cooperate, or if it was something that was expected of me at home, and therefore it translated to school (thanks Mom and Dad...).  So getting kids to buy-in to the classroom environment has been a goal of mine this year.

I had a few items that I've implemented into my classrooms throughout the year, but this year, after surfing Pinterest all summer and viewing elementary school items, I had an epiphany.  I've been using a High School model and expectation of my classroom, and been increasingly frustrated as my students devolve into less mature beings (that can certainly be the subject of a future post in my society views...).  So I did a bit of a flip - use some of the elementary ideas into the Eighth Grade classroom - like weekly JOBS.

This is a bit of a challenge with multiple classes.  Some of the ideas like clothespins tracking on a poster or a bulletin board with pockets might have gotten a bit overwhelming and confusing with multiple classes.  However, the need for this, especially with a 90-minute class, was necessary for both routine and the multiple transitions that I was implementing this year to deal with the large chunk of time.

So my idea was to use the Playing Cards that each table group would have picked (one card per student, four students per table) and assign a JOB for each of the suits for the week.  Students would document their suit on their table folder (the subject of a future post) and their table would hold them accountable (as would I) for the duration of the week.  Each week the kids would have the option to change cards (therefore changing a job), or their seats would change which would require an automatic change of a card.  I also reserved the right to alter the jobs as I saw fit (or consolidate if they were too small, or expand if they were too big).

Right now, our four jobs are CADDY CONTROL (supplies), FOLDERS/TRASH, HOMEWORK TRACKER, and PREPAREDNESS TRACKER.  Of course, the most coveted one so far is CADDY CONTROL (see the post HERE), but the kids who have TRASH seem to like the dramatic dumping into the recycling bin before they can be dismissed.  It's great to watch them scurry to get their tables clean - and remind their classmate to do their job!  I do have one class with two groups of five.  I'm trying to think of an elective job for those two extra 'Joker' students.  We'll see how that pans out.

It has also created a routine upon both entry and exit of the class.  The two Tracker jobs are completed within the first five minutes, and afte
r two weeks of tracking, still requires some clarification daily, but I'm hopeful that the time spent now will reap rewards later.  Both are part of the students grades, but keeping an accurate eye on it should be OK in terms of accountablility.

I would LOVE ideas or suggestions for my system.  Please share or comment below!

My Bright Idea: Color Coded Towels

I was in a white phase several years ago.  A crisp bleached laundered towel was the way to go.  Neutrals were calming.  A bathroom was supposed to be spa-like, serene, relaxing.  My, how times have changed.

Now, our house has exploded into chaos with four teen/preteens who seem to carpet their respective rooms with everything they can get their hands on.  Clothes and towels have become the new carpet in their opinion.  Cleaning their rooms mean shoving everything under the bed or in the closet.  The four hooks in the bathroom are always left empty.  I got tired of opening the cupboard to find there were no towels, yet walking into the laundry room and finding TONS on the floor.  It was never-ending and equally frustrating...

So, after watching my older son be particular about the towels he picked (the towels had to match - either solids or stripes, mixing and matching was NOT allowed, beach towels were not OK to use after a shower but OK to use at the pool) and watching the youngest have piles of once-used towels on the floor that then became a bed for the dog - I had an epiphany:  Color Coding.

Everyone now has their own color.  Two bath size towels each for starters.  If yours are wet and you didn't hang them up after your shower, your fault.  If they end up on the bathroom floor, it's clear who's responsible.  It also makes it easy to identify on the road or poolside (when we branch out into more towels) and eventually, the kids might actually be able to take them on with them when they move out...

The kids got to pick out their own colors (adults ended up with the whites we already had).  Fortunately, there was enough of a rainbow of choices that no one wanted the same color.  And to help, our bathroom is white with color accents, so coordinating, though not the primary concern, still was achieved.  Win-Win!

Color has always helped me organize in my classroom with the variety of students, but extending it into my own home was always a challenge.  Getting everyone on board was tricky - but no teenager wants to walk through the house naked, so that's a big motivator to comply with mom's BRIGHT IDEA!