My Class Economy Part 2: Creating Meaningful Classroom Jobs

The first stage of my class economy is to introduce "government" jobs, i.e. jobs that I have created and defined for the children. Since I'm the government, I'm also the students' employer. They work and they get paid. At the end of the month they get a pay check which they deposit in the bank. The next day they pay rent with their own check.
I wanted to create jobs that the children would be excited about, and that appealed to different areas of the brain. I've come up with the following jobs:

Banker: The heart of the class economy, and also the hardest job. The banker has to keep track of everyone's money, and make sure that everyone is keeping track of their money in their personal bank books too. 

Room Boss: The room boss orders supplies and organizes are common spaces. If there are visual aids that need to be displayed, or schedules that need to be created (for example, a schedule for who runs our afternoon routine), the room boss is in charge.

Desk Jockey: The desk jockey helps organize the semi-private spaces; the desks, the bags, and the cubbies. The desk jockey doesn't do this alone. Instead (s)he will schedule times to look at the spaces with whoever is using it.

Graffiti Artist: The graffiti artist draws on the windows, glass doors, and fish tank.

Paper Maker: The paper makers are our recycling center. They make new paper from old. 

Hollywood: Hollywood chooses a class agreement, writes a script that shows it off, and makes a movie out of it. They edit it in iMovie.

Biographer: The Biographer chooses someone in class, sits down with them, and asks them questions about their life. They film and edit the interview in iMovie.

Fact Finder: The fact finder reports on two facts each morning during our morning routine.

Morning Reporter: The morning reporter tells current events twice a week during our morning routine.

Class Clown: The class clown tells two jokes each morning during our morning routine. 

Game Master: The Game Master learns the games in the game center, writes directions, and holds game workshops during break.

Lucky Librarian: The Lucky Librarian takes care of the class library. They also get to check out twice as many books as everyone else.

Read Aloud Reporter: The Read Aloud Reporter keeps an up-to-date Shelfari widget for our class read alouds. They also poll their classmates and find out which books to order to expand the class library.

Postmaster: Makes mailboxes for each of the elementary classrooms, teaches everyone how to address and send letters, and collects and distributes the mail.

Grader: Grades spelling tests, math homework, and Scratch projects.

Here's the presentation I show the kids on the day I give them the job applications.

There is an error when I imported it into slide rocket; some of the text repeats itself.

After I present the kids with the jobs, I ask them to apply for multiple jobs. It's never a problem. The children are always excited by at least two of the jobs.


After the break, some example applications...