job interviews

so in order for students to take more ownership in the classroom, we decided to assign jobs. in the past, i allowed students to switch jobs every week, but that was just too much maintenance and was overly time-consuming. this year we decided to make the jobs permanent. so to make them a little more invested in their jobs, we brainstormed the necessary jobs to make classroom life run smoothly and then we chose fun job titles to make this whole idea of helping out a little more fun. we came up with names like hermes (the messenger), the mad scientist (for science materials helper) and organizational experts for the north and south sides of the room. then, i asked students to write about their top three favorite jobs and explain how they would fulfill their duties. overwhelmingly, many chose the same three or four jobs which complicated things a bit. my personal favorite proposal included this line: i think i would be a great "hermes" because i can walk down the hall without acting like a hooligan! but with the stiff competition for the coveted "lunch coordinator" position, i soon realized that i would need to conduct job interviews. i asked the typical generic job questions such as "what are your strengths and how would they help you in this position?" i actually found myself laughing out loud by how seriously students took these interviews.
it was both hysterical and a memorable experience...