Report from the Field – James Hosler

This report from James is from 2013 but bears repeating as we enter another year knowing that a key ingredient of our instruction this year will center around students jobs:

When I first started around the PLC there was a lot of talk about student jobs and how great they were for student discipline. They were a bit mystifying, but eventually I pulled some info together and gave them a go. I’ve been consistent with these five “essential” jobs for a while now. They are awesome. I put together this short post for my blog and thought those who are newer to your PLC might like it too. Post it if you wish!

Giving various students jobs to do during class can really help to drive your instruction to another level. It creates a great feeling of  teamwork, provides the teacher with great instructional materials, and  gives the teacher the opportunity to differentiate. Check out at what some jobs ended up looking like during two days of a level 1 class earlier this year:

I consider these jobs the “essential five.” Numbers 1, 2, and 3, the red ones, are jobs that should be utilized starting with  personalized-question-and-answer and then should continue into the  asking of the story. Numbers 4 and 5, the blue ones, are added during  the asking of the story.

The jobs are:

1) Repetition counters. These students (one for each new  structure, so three in the picture above) tally how many times we use  the target structures during the class periods. Normally this means how  many times the teacher says the word. If you look closely, you’ll notice there are two sections for each structure. This is because the rep  counters work on both PQA and story days, so there is a total for the  PQA day and a different total for the story day.

2) Quiz writer. This student complies a list of questions that  can be answered with “yes” or “no.” The questions must be based on what  we discuss (during PQA) or the story (during the asking of the story).  At the end of class (or to review the next day) the teacher chooses a  few of the questions for a quick quiz. You’ll notice, again, that there  is a line drawn through the middle of the paper separating the PQA-day  questions from the story-day questions.

3) Clacker guy. This student is responsible for “clacking,” or  making noise with whatever noise maker you prefer, whenever we start  slipping into too much English. This keeps us in L2 in a funny way. Of  course often times I, the teacher, am clacked more than the students.  This is a permanent job done every day.

4) Story Artist. This job starts during the asking of the story.  The student is responsible for listening to the story and drawing  pictures of what happens. You can see in the example above that our  story included two girls and a cat. It’s great having this piece of  paper! Just imagine all the opportunities to review the story in later  classes, even several months after the story was created. Of course the  discussion about the pictures can be entirely in L2, because the  students were made so familiar with the relevant structures during PQA  and the story.

5) Story Writer. This job also starts during the asking of the  story. The student listens to the story and creates a written version of story. For this student’s version I was able to create the extended  reading for our reading day. Going back and forth between the student’s  handwritten paper and the pictures from the Story Artist is another  option, all the while discussing and circling everything in L2.