Team jobs: Work smarter, not harder.
That’s the goal this year.
I have to admit, job charts are just too much for me.
I used to have a chart where each student had a clothespin with his/her name on it. Every two weeks I had to rotate the clothespins to new places. Sounds simple right? Well, some jobs needed 1 person while others needed 3. Bathroom monitors required one boy and one girl. Some jobs were only for trustworthy and responsible students, while others were for efficient students that wouldn’t forget. I would spend at least 15 minutes every other week trying to reassign jobs fairly.
It was just TOO MUCH. I didn’t want to deal with it on top of everything else a teacher has to deal with.
I knew I needed a solution to my problem.
I did some research, where I found the idea of collaborative or team jobs in the classroom.
I liked the idea of students working together and collaboratively towards a goal. It would mean that all jobs would get done every day, even with students absent and students who just forget. Brilliant!
But all of the team jobs I saw still required clothespins or rotating student names in some way.
Nope, I don’t want any of that anymore.
If I’m simplifying, it needs to be as simple as possible.
Thus, my solution was to print numbers at the bottom of each team job poster. The numbers refer to students’ assigned classroom numbers. I just circle 4 or 5 numbers at a time. For example, students with numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 were the “Official Organizers” for August.
I decided that with a concept so simple, I could bother to change the jobs once a month. So on the first of September, I spent about one minute switching everyone’s jobs. I use Vis-a-Vis pens to write on the posters, because it doesn’t come off at the touch, but it comes off immediately with a wet wipe or a wet paper towel.
Just wipe, dry, and circle the next group of numbers. Ta-da!
I have the posters displayed on a wall, where they fit perfectly and are easily seen.
Will team jobs work for you too?
I created six job crews for my classroom’s team jobs and made the colors match my theme.
You, however, can create as many teams as you want and change the colors to match YOUR classroom!
Check out Team Jobs on TPT.
I’m still so excited about this new classroom job concept and can’t wait to see how it works throughout the rest of the year.
Check out Team Jobs on TPT.
