Jobs in the Art room

Art classroom jobs

Do you have an effective job system implemented in your classroom? How does it work for you? Here are some simple tips and tricks that may help your Art room run more smoothly when assigning jobs for your classroom.

Before assigning jobs, you need to think of all of the tasks that you need to get done in your room. These jobs or tasks should be able to be done alone and without adult supervision.

After you have come up with a few ideas, you need to think about whether you want to assign every student a job, or if you want to pick names each month and have students rotate. Here are a few jobs to consider, paper passers, table captains, art collectors, cleaners, and helpers.

Consideration

There are a few things that you must consider when choosing jobs. Not all of your classes might have the same jobs. For example, for younger grades, kindergarten and first, you might have to deliver supplies and pass out paper yourself. You may consider assigning one student a job per table and have them model the job before having the entire table complete the task.

Before you being assigning jobs, make a list of all your classroom routines and tasks that are completed in a normal day. Keep in mind Your classroom might change, nothing is perfect. You may add and delete jobs over the months the needs in our classroom can possibly change.

Finally, you may consider picking few students to be an assistant and ask them to do certain jobs that could be quickly completed.

Assigning Jobs

What works well in my art room is having one job per table. This makes it easy and clear when I ask for a job to be completed, the entire table can perform the task. I used to have individual jobs at each table but ran into problems when a student was absent, their job wouldn’t be completed.

Since I prefer to have an entire table have one job, I place six different color dots that correspond to my color tables, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. These color coded dots help students know what table they are in charge of for their job. For example, for one-month red table, suppliers, will pass out the supplies to the corresponding colored dot they are sitting at.

Since I have colored dots for each seat, I do not have assigned seats in my art room, just assigned tables. Students are assigned to a table and can sit in a seat with new colored and still perform the same job.

This allows students to have more freedom around the art room and allows them to get familiar with all their classmates.

Display Your Classroom Jobs

There are lots of many different ways that you can display your classroom jobs. You can use a pocket chart, write them on the board, or laminate cards and use magnets or velcro to hang them on the wall. Whichever way you choose, just make sure that your jobs are visible for your students to see.

I created a system with Velcro dots to easily rotate the assigned tables for each month. After I read her post and saw the pictures, I started brainstorming which six jobs would work well in my classroom with my style. I wanted to make sure I could come up with six jobs that really mattered if I was going to do it. I already had each table assigned a color so that part was easy!

Coming up with names for the jobs was kind of fun, too. I wanted to get some new vocabulary in there, too.

Here are some jobs you may consider

 

Passers- Pass out paper, portfolios or sketchbooks and handouts.

 

 

 

 

Suppliers- Deliver and return supplies.

 

 

 

Collectors- Collect artwork, assignments, and sketchbooks.

 

 

 

Cleaners- Clean tables and wash any supplies.

 

 

 

Helpers- Greet people and explain what the class is working on.

 

 

 

Inspectors – Inspect that all materials are put away correct and dismiss tables.

 

Decide how jobs will be assigned.

Will you have a rotation system? Job Applications? Assign jobs yourself? I highly recommended having a rotation system so that every child gets to do every job an equal number of times. Usually, I prefer my students to choose their jobs so that I know things will get done properly.

Another way to get students excited about having classroom jobs is to have them sign up for a desired job or create an application. This can be easily done by creating a handout with the jobs allowing students to look over them. Remind students that they can only apply for the jobs that they know that they can handle, and there is a possibility that their job could be changed if they’re not responsible. Then, have students fill out their job application, and encourage them to only apply for up to three classroom positions. Once handed in, you can sift through the applications and decide who would be best suited for what job. Students are more likely to do a job that they applied for.

 

Determine how long students will keep their jobs.

Usually, I like for my kids to keep the same jobs for at least four Art classes. This ensures that they can master one job before learning a new set of skills. The longer that a student has the same job or task, the more automatic it becomes, and the better they do it. Usually its easier to remember who has which job by properly displaying for the entire class to see. Make sure that you do not switch jobs too often because it can lead to confusion and poorly done tasks. Sometimes, children forget what their jobs and tasks are and how to do them properly. Keep in mind, if you maintain classroom jobs it can teach your students responsibility and allow your classroom to run smoothly so that instruction is not interrupted.

Rearrange your system as often as needed

Remember, no one is perfect! You can add, modify, or take out jobs anytime! I always thought I would have to wait until the year was over to start again but a classroom has to run smoothly so make changed when you need to have it run more smoothly.

You may make changes based on my needs and the abilities of my children based on grade, or even different classes. Don’t ever feel that you can’t change your system. If something isn’t working, change it! This will not confuse’ the kids. If you think something isn’t working, ask for suggestions. Sometimes kids come up with some amazing answers. Simply ask them, trust me, they will be honest.  If you incorporate your students’ input you re-think your current system. Their ideas for new or current jobs could improve the level of efficiency in your classroom! By keeping students involved in the process, it will make them feel more involved since they are the ones completing the tasks at hand.

Maintain Your System

Whatever system that you end up creating make sure that you reinforce it. A good classroom management system can reinforce self-control, effective communication, responsibility, empathy, and other skills needed to ensure a positive safe learning environment.

If you want your classroom to run smoothly then you must maintain your system. Do not allow a student or table to pass out supplies if they are not the supplies. It’s best to switch out jobs at the end of each month or have students apply for new jobs. This way every student gets a chance at the job they are interested in trying.