Classroom jobs are in-class tasks for students to learn basic responibility and to assist and care for others. A classroom job promotes positive social behavior and can give new students a unique way to become part of the class.
Later in this article, you will find a list of our favorite classroom jobs for preschool, elementary class and middle school.
Benefits Classroom Jobs for Students
Classroom jobs can help foster a positive classroom community. The teacher can either let the students choose a classroom job themselves or assign these tasks at the beginning of the year and change them during quarters or semesters.
These small tasks are a great way to prepare students for the real world, where they will have to take part in certain administrative tasks in their daily lives. Students will learn how to be responsible and how to better manage their time.
Students need to learn that, as adults, they will have various responsibilities that may not directly relate to their job or social role. When children learn how to help a friend and manage varied duties, they will get beneficial skills as they grow. They will learn how to interact with the world.
Whether you are a substitute teacher, a librarian, or a regular classroom teacher, giving students small responsibilities helps with overall classroom management.
Below this list of classroom job ideas, you will find some ideas explained in more detail:
Classroom Jobs for Preschool and Elementary Classes
In the real world, people are expected to contribute in different ways to help ensure that the overall work or life experience is as positive as possible. While younger students do not need to have the same level of responsibility as adults, there are small tasks we can give them. These tasks will help them learn that completing classroom jobs are a great way to make the classroom a better place.
Let’s take a look at some of the basic student jobs that your kids might be able to contribute.
Line Leader
When the kids go to lunch, recess, or do a short brain break activity, we often have them line up before releasing them to wherever they are going. You can have a student take on the task of being a line leader or the person who helps ensure that everyone lines up properly by the rules.
Door Holder
This task can work in tandem with the line leader. You can assign a student the job of a door holder to keep the class calm during breaks between classes.
Paper Passer
We have many papers we have to give to students daily, and having a student whose job it is to take on this skill is a great classroom job. This student will be responsible for gathering and passing out materials to other kids.
Pencil Sharpener
While you may not have a student sharpen everyone’s pencils for them, you may have one whose duty is to manage the pencil sharpener. You can have them call other students individually up to the sharpener one at a time.
Chair Stacker
At the end of the school day, the chair stacker will be responsible for ensuring all chairs are properly stacked on the desks, whether they do it themselves or oversee the others doing it. This is a great classroom job for multiple students.
Hallway and Bathroom Monitors
Giving students individual activities is a great way to instill adult skills in them. A hall or bathroom monitor will ensure that kids go where they are supposed to and don’t get up to anything untoward while they are absent from the class. This is an important task that needs a responsible student in charge. It would help if you chose someone that is responsible and that you can trust.
Ideas for Classroom Jobs at Any Grade
These classroom jobs are just a few of the jobs you can place kids in charge of to help with classroom organization and classroom management in elementary or middle school. There are plenty of other small tasks and errands that a kid can run to make our jobs a little easier and instill a student’s basic work ethic.
These can include being in charge of:
- turning the lights off
- watering the plants
- equipment managers
- gathering papers
- computer technician
- acting as a messenger for the teacher
- making sure supplies are stocked
- and helping to manage playground behavior
As you get to know your students, you will learn who is best at following directions and would be suitable to helping keep equipment operable, who may be able to help others with math homework, who you can trust to leave in charge, and more.
You will need to create plans to assign these tasks to students based on their ability, whether it is someone who hands out papers before storytime or helps the students color inside the lines.
Other Classroom Jobs (for Gifted or Advanced Kids)
Some children have greater levels of ability, and there is room for them to assist others. Whether a student is advanced in reading, is skilled in music or art, is a skilled technician in technology, or whatever, don’t forget about these useful skills.
These individuals can
- assist others with their print skills
- help them take notes
- help them better understand the meaning of a story or book
Creative Classroom Jobs
Your students don’t need to be electricians or geniuses to provide quality and beneficial aid in the classroom. Whether a student is assigned to
- trash monitor
- check the weather
- act as a runner
- clean classrooms
- clean the whiteboards
- make name tags
- act as the manager for a group project
- assist with those who are behind in learning
All these are important class jobs that add to the value of the classroom. Be creative when thinking of the different classroom jobs you can have students take part in.
Jobs Outside of the Classroom
The main classroom is not the only place that a student can assist with different jobs. There are different posts they can be assigned to that are outside of the classroom.
This might include
- lunch duty
- managing attendance checks
- making sure absent children get their homework
- acting as an assistant to other teachers or librarians
Jobs at the Library
A class library is a key place where your kids can provide added aid. The classroom library manager is often awash in papers, materials, and books and doesn’t always have time to clean or straighten up the library area.
Having a student aid librarian in the morning is a good way to improve behavior and become more responsible. Have the child
- pick up the loose paper
- have them clean up messy tables
- change the calendar
- gather materials
- assist others with their homework
How to Keep Track of Classroom Jobs
Giving a student a classroom job is a great lesson for the future. Whether they act as a runner to get teachers the materials they need or lead a class read along.
Regardless of what job they are assigned, you will need good plans to create an equitable and easy-to-understand set of rules and jobs.
We need to make sure that the students understand their duties. They need to understand how they can be of assistance to the teacher and their fellow peers. Whether they are gathering erasers, handing out books, or are teaching others to use classroom tablets, all children have skills they can provide to the class.
To keep everything fair and organized, it is a good idea to create an easy-to-read chart. The chart lays out the different jobs. Besides, it notes who is to perform them on a given day. Check with the list daily, in the morning, to ensure that children know what they have to do on that day.
The PDF below is an example how a classroom job chart could look like:
Monitor Progress and Involve Students
Giving students a list of responsibilities or ideas for contributing is a fun way to learn how to become responsible. Kids can be given cards with different classroom jobs or use an idea board to develop ways to aid the school. Using this list, you can assign students different work and use the list to monitor their progress. At the end of the term or school year, you will have a good idea of how well this work helped improve school life for all kids involved.
As a class manager, it helps teach students how to check the chart or posts. Ensure that all children know what is expected of them on a given day. Assigning jobst is an excellent way for permanent and substitute teachers to be better classroom managers.
Classroom Jobs Can Help Students Thrive in Real Life
A teacher does more than aid their students in getting a good grade. The name teacher is a bit of a misnomer because they prepare kids for the adult world in so many more ways than just education. No matter what grade you are teaching, the end goal is to make sure you prepare them for the real world.
This means coming up with creative learning experiences and classroom jobs that will help them learn how to operate in the real world. At the end of the day, something like a bulletin board or job chart is an excellent way to ensure that students take care of the classroom.
Charts that show students different jobs allow them to name the one they feel they would be best at. Once a student has chosen a job from the board, put their name next to it, and at the end of the period, you can refer to this board to see how well they met their goals.
Ways to Make Classroom Jobs Easier and Effective
Whether we need classroom helpers for a field trip or need one of our brighter students to improve the grades of students who are struggling, we have to make classroom jobs easy to understand and fair.
Whether you are assigning someone as a paper passer or the person who is to take work to absent students, having a clear and concise plan, using a bulletin board or charts ensures that each student understands what is expected of them.
Some teachers will create job descriptions that make sure that kids understand the different roles assigned to the class on a given day and how to be the best helper possible. Taking care of the classroom is positive for everyone involved. It gives the kids a way to improve their school and can make life a little bit easier for already overworked teachers.
Appreciate Your Helper
Whether a student helper hangs around after class to tutor students with homework, is a bathroom monitor, or assists you in basic classroom endeavors, we must appreciate their efforts.
A responsible student is valuable beyond the classroom, and there is no substitute for hard work. If your kids assist the librarian in the morning, make a work calendar, make name tags for an event, grade papers, or otherwise assist you in managing your class, take the time to show your appreciation and explain to them the benefit of such aid.
The Value of a Helper
A student who wants to get involved in the classroom can make it easier on you as a teacher and prepare them for life beyond the classroom.
Giving a student who is new to the class a classroom job is an excellent means of integrating them with the class and allows them a unique opportunity to get to know the other students. Involving them in these areas makes sure that students learn how to be responsible and monitor how well they fit in and integrate with them.
In Closing
A responsible student will help the school become a better place and can help other students improve their grades.
Assigning someone to be a helper in school, whether as a hallway monitor, bathroom monitor, pencil attendant, group task manager or turn off the lights, will allow them to succeed at an endeavor that helps everyone. With classroom jobs, you can build classroom community and teach kids a valuable lesson about the real world.
