Be fair.

I am finding that every choice I make, every time I pick a student for a privilege or dole out a consequence, I need to be able to justify it.

This is a pretty basic concept. In my own head, I obviously have a reason for why I chose the student I did. The thing is to be able to remember that reason and make sure it "holds up in court" so to speak when another student says, "Why did you choose them? That's not fair!"

If you constantly choose only from a set of responsible students when it comes to some tasks that demand responsibility, is that being unfair?

I think everyone needs a chance to prove that they're dependable. At the same time, if you have some students who have proven themselves to be unreliable, then no, they aren't ready for a task that demands reliability.

In some cases, giving responsibility can make a student responsible. In other cases, you may end up with a dead class pet.

Lesson Learned. Grade 7/8.