Learning Responsibility with Classroom Jobs

I feel that jobs are a mandatory responsibility for our students in our classroom. I tell them the very first day of school, “Welcome to the first day of your work for the year. We’re at our job every time that we come to school. So, my job is to be the best teacher I can be. Their job is to be the best student, but, I also give them each a job for an entire week. Now when I first started teaching, I thought it was important to have a light helper, and a line leader, and a door holder, and maybe the caboose who stands at the end of the line, but, as my experience has gone forward I have found that every child thrives off having responsibilities everyday. So, I have 14 children this year, and, I have 14 jobs. I changed those jobs weekly, but, now my jobs have expanded to a calendar helper, a meteorologist, a snack helper, an electrician. I like to use the whole word and they thrive off using big words. I have a job even for watering plants, and a job to do every little thing. My favorite, teacher assistant, they will do anything for me, but, everything that I could think of throughout the day that I might need a little bit of assistance with, and, the kids just love having that responsibility. They take pride in it, and enjoy being part of our school family.