It’s
the beginning of the school year. Many of my teacher friends have returned to
school. Many of my parent friends have sent their children off to school. As a
former teacher, I wanted to share this thought with you…
Teachers
wear multiple hats and even capes. We are communicators, facilitators,
disciplinarians, evaluators, counselors, super heroes, and even mother-figures,
but there’s another hat that needs a spot in the collection.
We
all want our students to reach their highest potential and we see how
differentiated instruction is beneficial to reaching this goal, but it’s
difficult to say the least when teachers are stretched thin. At some point,
it’s best if we take off the cape and say, “I just can’t do this on my own.”
There
is a whole group of people out there that can help. Most teachers ask for
parent volunteers at the beginning of the year and we get a few responses. We
use the parent resources we can, but there’s an untapped pool of parents and
grandparents out there that aren’t getting involved. Parents often don’t
realize how useful they can be in the classroom, can’t speak English, or work
full-time. So, we need to put on our Recruiter
Hat and show them how they can get involved.
How to be a successful
recruiter:
1. Begin asking early and ask consistently. That doesn’t mean badger
parents, but ask parents at Open House to mark the types of volunteering they
can offer on a form. Then, call on different volunteers to help at different times
throughout the year.
Check out this Bulletin Board craft that will help you get your year started off in the right direction by letting your students' parents know that you encourage their help and support at home and at school!
2. Ask for help in a variety of ways. Yes, it would be great to
have help in the classroom, but parents can be beneficial at home or
occasionally traveling to stores to buy materials we need like paper plates for
a story sequencing project.
3. Be specific in your requests for the types of help you need. A parent might not feel
comfortable teaching a small group, but they might be able to supervise
students working on computers, read a book to the class, or listen to students
as they read sight word flashcards.
4. Ask them directly. Get to know your parents when they come in for Open
House or Curriculum Night. Think of ways they can help that would work for them
specifically. Then, make a phone call to personally invite them to help out the
class.
5. Offer a volunteer mini-course. There are parents that would love to teach
small reading groups or work with students as they write stories, but they
don’t have the confidence to volunteer or the knowledge to do it right. Teach
them the basics they would need to successfully support students in these
areas.
If you’re a classroom teacher, I encourage you to take the
time to recruit parent volunteers. In the long run, it will save you time, not
to mention all the benefits of having more help in and out of the classroom.
If you’re a parent, I encourage you to find a way that you can support
that classroom teacher. The more help she has from parents, aunts, uncles, and
grandparents, the better she can teacher all the students in her class,
including yours.
God
Bless You on Your Learning Journey ~
Teacher’s
I have these excellent products that I developed and used in my classroom for 9
years that helped me get my parents involved in practicing reading skills with
their children! I hope you take a moment to check it out!
