The “White Envelope” Concept
How “WE” builds communities
Remember wanting to be line leader?
• Who says high school is a
time when classroom
responsibilities end?
• Now more than ever
things are out of control
and crazy!
• There are tons ways that
you can still help!
The Answer is in the Envelope!
• A task essential to the
success of the
classroom community is
inside.
• Essential means:
– vital to your grade
– vital to the success
of the classroom at
large
• Forgotten=Chaos
The Traditional Classroom
decorating
classroom
papers to
pass out
homework to
create
absences to
attend to
collecting
homework
classes to
track
papers to
grade
questions to
answer
teacher
students to
track
homework to
do
student
(times 30)
lessons to
teach
questions to
ask
work to keep
organized
meetings to
attend
The “WE” Classroom
homework to
do
work to keep
organized
absences to
attend to
homework to
do
questions to
ask
questions to
ask
student
papers to
grade
student
work to keep
organized
Decorating
classroom
homework to
create
teacher
meetings to
attend
papers to
pass out
homework to
do
student
lessons to
teach
student
homework to
do
questions to
ask
work to keep
organized
collecting
homework
questions to
ask
work to keep
organized
“WE” Brings Us All
Together!
OK, So How Do I Complete My Job?
• Receive your
envelope
• Follow the
directions
inside the
envelope
• Help to create a
classroom
community!
Is this for a grade?
• Completion grade
• Do the job, get the points,
and help the class.
• 10 points
• Adds up to 90-100 points
each quarter (that’s 1
whole test or project
grade!
And the Jobs Are…
Row 1-5 Collection Agents
Homework
Jack/Jill of All
Monday-Friday
Collectors
Trades
Historians
Gabbers
Creative Voice
Bulletin Boards
Paper Passer
Clean-Up Crew
Wordsmith
Point Gatherer
Attendance
Links
Monday-Friday Historians
• Document what we do in
class
• Helps the absent students
make up work
• Validate what you do in
class
• Document the assignments
in the notebook labeled
English 2 for your hour
• Sign your name at the
bottom of your day’s notes
Row Collection Agents
• Collect handouts for every
person missing in your
row
• Papers passed back by the
Paper Passer should also
be collected for those that
are absent
• Set aside copies of any
pieces of group projects
that might be needed to
recreate the activity
Paper Passer
• Make sure that the tray
of papers to be
returned for your hour
is empty
• Pass out the papers
and get your points
• Pass out papers by or
on Friday
Attendance
• Take attendance on the
attendance sheets
• Mark on the board the
names of those who
are absent
Links
• Go out into the real
world and find “links”
to what we’re studying
in class
• Each Friday your link
will be shared with the
class in some capacity
and you will get your
points
Gabbers
• Speak up in class once a
week
• Say, “I want to gab,” and
I’ll mark down your points
• Gab about either journals
or about a topic directly
related to the day’s lesson
• You need to ADD to
classroom discussion or
understanding in some
way
Bulletin Boards
• Get together with the other
two bulletin board people
in the class and create
bulletin boards for each
quarter of class
• This job is NOT a weekly
job
• Each quarter your bulletin
board will be worth 90100 points per person
• Submit a design plan and
job duty sheet for each
bulletin board you design
Homework Collectors
• Your job is to collect
homework
• Check to be sure that
everyone turned in either
an assignment or they
turned in an excuse
• When people are absence
you need to fill out a
homework excuse form
for the person and mark
absent
Jack and Jill of All Trades
• Fill in for whomever is
absent
• Learn who is who and
what each job entails
• Check the board for the
names of those absent
• Log the job you take each
day in the class history
• Consult your envelope’s
details for ways to handle
multiple absences
Clean-Up Crew
• Keep the room clean
• Keep the desks in
healthy rows and the
candy wrappers and
sodas in the trash
• If the class starts to
abuse you they will be
docked their points for
the week and you will
receive double
Creative Voice
• Add a creative flair to the
classroom
• No real restrictions
• Some ideas:
– You could create the journal
topic
– Have us write our journals
using 13 words in each
sentence
– You could do LOTS of
creative things
• Record your contribution
to the class in the history
each week.
Point Gatherer
• Be sure that you ask
how many points exist
for each assignment
and record those
points
• Each Friday it is your
job to display all of
the points for the week
on the board
Wordsmith
• Define the word of the
week for us, and use it
in an example
sentence
• Look up any words
that the class questions
as well (5 per week
maximum).