Student Jobs

Student Jobs in the CI Classroom

Many teachers have mitigated if not solved their classroom management difficulties by assigning jobs, sometimes as many as 10 or more jobs within a single class. The immediate effect of assigning jobs is that students have an immediate personalized task that the teacher has entrusted them with. Then they begin to take ownership of even the most basic procedures of the class, and are far less likely to want to disrupt those procedures for the sake of pride or reputation. Rather, the sense of pride will come from taking on responsibility of running some aspect of the class–and maybe even keeping some of their classmates in line.

The following is taken largely from Ben Slavic’s compilation of student jobs and edited slightly for Latin teachers to use.  Latin job names have been supplied and Ben and Others’ descriptions included.

Dinumeratores (3)  The counters do so much. They do things that we are not even aware of, functioning as a kind of social glue. They bring us together in pursuit of a common goal. Pure gold. They write the new words for the day on a small piece of paper,and put a hash mark next to the word each time you say it.  You may ask themto tell you when you have used a word 15, 20, 25 or ? times.

Examinator (1 or 2) during the telling or asking of a story, or during an R and D, these students write test/quiz questions based on the class conversation.

Scriptor: Often a 4 percenter who looks bored or who wants more:  the scriptor’s job is to write down everything you say in Latin.  Best used during the asking or telling of a story.   This way, at the end of class, you have a script of the story which you can then edit and give back to the class at the end of the week or the next day for reading silently, R and D and timed writes.

Artifex or Pictor: May have several.  Job is to draw pictures of whatever story is being discussed. Can be used with the story that the scriptor writes for illustrated stories.  Add the questions that the Examinator has created and you have review questions as well.

Distributor: passes out and takes up whatever the teacher needs that day.

Dictator(there can be two of these) they quickly decide on things like if the house is red or blue, where and when something happens, so that the teacher doesn’t have to take a side–when asking a story.

Effutior– blurts out the English meaning of a word when someone is caught on it.

Word Chunk Team (WCT) Controller 1 (this is the most left out kid in class who couldn’t even get into a group. He gets to pick which team raised their hand first – see resources/workshop handouts for Work Chunk Team details.)

Word Chunk Team Controller 2 (another kid in need of feeling needed – this one judges synchronicity of group signed responses.)

Word Chunk Team Controller 3 (keeps score and also watches – very important – to see if all the heads in the group go together to consult before the hands are raised. A group with one dominant member has to be broken up.

16. Rex/Regina Gesticulorum – this is the athlete with too much energy who is given the responsibility of jumping up whenver they want to, usually when the teacher uses one of the target structures and who then reminds the class what the gesture is–hilarious, informative and very very useful. And it completely engages the kid with too much energy.

Magister Sonorum – either via a machine or actually produced by the kid to accompany a story.

Dux Lectorum. This is the kid who leads the class in the choral reading of texts. She reads slowly and loudly and literally brings the class along with her. Extra credit for that. Extra credit for all of these. Why? Because kids are lovers of extra credit and because we want buy-in.

Monitor Anglicorum – kid who can make the most annoying sound in class sounds off at the slightest sign that the teacher may be going into an English rant or when the class needs to take a quiz (sometimes we just need to stop the CAI and take the quiz. The kid sounds off and the teacher thanks her/him profusely and segues right back into Latin. The message to the rest of the students is clear. We’re here to listen to Latin, not to listen to the teacher talk about Latin in English.

Horologiarius – This kid times how long the class can go in the TL. Class times are written on the board. The kids get competitive and class pride is often on the line.

Student Secretary – Judy Dubois in France has a student secretary in each class who gives participation points to students. She explains: “I give the secretary (who changes each class) a class list and their job is to tally the number of times students raise their hand and speak. When an answer or suggestion is particularly good or the question difficult, I give bonus points. If a student gets out of hand, they get a “yellow card” I rarely have to give a “red card”. Of course, this is France, so everyone knows that yellow card is a referee’s warning and red card puts you out of the game. The secretary writes yellow card or red card besides the student’s name. This system is much simpler for me because I don’t have to stop to write it down or give a lecture, I just say “yellow card” and go on with the lesson.”

English Patrol – this student shouts “desiste!” if English is used. Timer will go back to zero.

Actores – will synchronize actions to teacher’s speaking or reading. It’s a job in that we always like to use our best, least distractible actors.

Gratitae— I am grateful to _____ who helped me by ______.  OR I saw Betsy give Alfred a low five when he spoke French in the hallway to Prof. Slavic. She was really encouraging to him. We also have a person who calls on the other people to give their appreciation — usually it is an encourager and we limit them to 3 a day. I have 20 minutes to knock out a community meeting.

Benignitates — a notebook or post-it notes (I like the hear ones) where a student records acts of kindness witnessed in the class. They are read once a week on your kindergarten day. They are not written in the TL (unless it is AP). This person reads at the end of the week a few of the acts of kindness they witnessed.

Grex Curae — a couple of folks who write encouraging notes to absent students and kids who are in need of an “I noticed you . . .” Try to do at least two a week yourself per class.

Master Vocab List Compiler – this kid writes down every new TL word that is introduced over the course of the year, and  perhaps puts a check next to the ones that have been circled and/or included in the story. This way, it’s no mystery what words are fair game in each class. By having each section keep track of it, it gives them the ownership. Now, they have to prep us, and we come into class and stay focused on our unique job: keeping the CI train rolling.