Jobs must emerge organically. You can’t just assign a job. It has to be chosen by the kid. The better jobs have to be earned. The superstars who occupy the best jobs enjoy a kind of “second teacher” status in the classroom, which is huge for the teacher. Superstars are constantly pulled down by so much negative mental mass in the classroom that it is a wonder that they don’t just quit school and stay home to learn, so when they constantly hear messages of appreciation from me, almost every day, it makes them want to be in school more.
What does the job application process look like? You offer it. If no one wants it, don’t assign it, as stated above. Wait. There are two jobs of utmost importance that you must fill right away, however, and they must go to the two best and enthusiastic students in the classroom: the Quiz Writer and the Story Writer.
When eight or nine kids (there are 58 possible jobs to choose from) are working at their jobs each day in class, your in-class instructional moment-by-moment workload feels as if it has been reduced by as much as half, which is a fantastic thing.
Overall, the jobs have proven to be an astonishing way to get a class facing with you in the same direction, and not facing against you.
