Make Parent Volunteers Work for You

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by parents or caregivers offering to volunteer in your classroom?

I know that lots of schools don’t have parent volunteers, but for those that do, it can become a lot of work to prepare for them! If you don’t know where to start, this is the perfect episode for you.

In this episode of Real Teacher Talk, I chat about how to make parent volunteers work for you! I discuss how to utilize parent volunteers, how to include parents who want to volunteer but can’t come into the classroom, how to create systems so volunteers don’t have to interrupt to get started, and even what to do if you don’t have parent or caregiver volunteers!

Everything I mention I learned from experience. I’ve worked in a school with no parent volunteers, a school with an overwhelming amount of parent volunteers, and a school in between. Whatever your situation, this episode is packed full of ideas to help you streamline the process, so that volunteers work for you, not make more work for you!

Resources Mentioned:
Parent Volunteer Editable Forms
Conference Form

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Transcript

00:00

Hey, hey, welcome back to this week's episode of Real teacher talk. It's Kristen. And we're going to be talking about parent helpers. Now, if you are a teacher right now, and you are fortunate enough to have parent or caregiver helpers, but you're not sure what to do with them, or maybe you do have them, but it is so much work. Or maybe people want to help in your class, and you're not even sure where to start, you've come to the right place. Today, we're going to be talking about how you can streamline parent volunteers to make it work for you not make more work for you.

00:42

How'd you like that little thing.

00:45

So early on in my career, I have did not have parent volunteers. It just was not a thing at my school. And so I was so used to doing everything or most of the things by myself. And then I've been at different types of schools, my last school, we had so much parent support. Sometimes it was too much, because I'm like, I don't know what I can do with all these people. Or maybe even at a school where it's kind of in between. I've been there too, but I want to share what I did when I moved to that school where there was a lot of support, and a lot of parents wanting to help. And I felt at the time in the beginning, like oh, my gosh, I don't have enough for them to do, I want to share with you the steps that I took to really ensure that the support I was receiving from parents and from caregivers, really supported my students, and really helped me so that it wasn't just busy work, and I'm looking for things for them to do. 

Cool. All right, cool. So first things first, what I want you to do is make a list of all of the things you need help with, or that would be really great to have. And so when I was in the classroom, I had a parent come in and just do fluency practice, we use the read naturally program. So I had a parent come in and do a cold read with my students on Monday. Then I had a different parent come in and do a hot read with my students on Thursday. So that was two parents right there. They both came in for 60 minutes. Then I had a parent come in and give my students their word study test, I had different word study groups in my class, I think we had five or six. So that was a lot. Like I said, before I had parents support, I was giving all those assessments. Rather than doing guided reading on Fridays, or in the past, I would do a whole group assessment. So I'd be getting through all the groups at the same time, but taking turns. But that's a whole another thing.

02:50

I knew I needed support with some of the different thematic things we were doing in the classroom, or we had a class store where students would go shopping. So my parent who could only come in once a month, that was their job to run the class store for that 60 minute chunk of time. Now, if you're feeling overwhelmed already, you're like, oh my gosh, Kristen, how am I going to do this? This feels like a lot. Let's just get back to the basics. Make your list? What would it look like in your dream world to have someone come in and do so make a list of all of that, okay, you got that?

03:28

Go ahead, hit pause and then come on back.

03:33

In a second, what you're gonna do is create some sort of signup. I love signup genius, before that I was old school and I'd send out you know, a note saying, hey, we need some help. Let me know what date and time is good for you. And then you try to fit everyone's schedules in. That can kind of be a logistical nightmare at times. And so I did a sign up genius and I would send out typically for us that worked well during our literacy centers is when I had parent volunteers or first thing in the morning, so that they can drop their kiddo off Park help out, and then they can get to work, whatever that looks like for you. Then I had a spot which was really, really important was for a copy parent. So whoever wanted to do that I didn't care when it was towards the end of the week worked best. But I had a spot for that. And then I had a spot for parents, maybe who couldn't come into the classroom, but can do something. If I send work home, maybe it's prepping an art project. Maybe it's correcting fluency, or math facts or whatever. It may be something pretty simple that I could easily send home with the child and then they can send it back.

04:50

And you know, on that Monday, whatever that looks like.

04:53

So you've got your list of things that you really need support with. And then you've got your schedule that you set

05:00

out to have people sign up for. Now, if you're thinking, Okay, I have this, but I'm not having people sign up. Or I'm not having people sign up for what I want, whatever that may be, that's when you start emailing. Or you might have to get creative with the schedule that, you know, maybe they really want to sign up to do those thematic projects. But you really need help with word study or comprehension, you can move people around parents, for the most part are really flexible. They just want to be in the classroom, help out, kind of see what's going on and get to know your students.

05:36

So you've got your schedule now. Okay, great. So now let Kristin, here's what I found was a struggle for me early on, was that I didn't really have any sort of system set up for when parents would come into the classroom. And so what often what happened, and maybe you're experiencing this right now is that they'd have to interrupt reading groups, or come ask me questions, or maybe someone was acting up with them. And so they're dealing with behaviors, and it kind of gets to be a lot. And remember, like I said, the point of having volunteers is to make it work for you not make more work for you. And it was feeling like a lot of work, I was ready to throw in the towel, forget it, I'm going to do it by myself. That is my personality asked my mom since I was like two. So I said, I have to come up with something that makes it a bit more streamlined. 

So caregivers know exactly what to do. And so that I'm not interrupted. And so what I did is I created a Instructions page, essentially for my parents who came every week or her doing the same thing. So maybe for my parent who came and started cold reads, For fluency practice Monday morning, I was super explicit. In my directions, it was the same thing every single week, okay, so I just went over, you know, here's the binder, here's the pens that you need. And then kind of explained step by step, here's what you need to do. And I made sure all the materials that they needed, were there. So week after week, they come they do the same thing. They didn't have to look at the directions after a while, but it was there. And I laminated that and I kept that in

07:24

a filing cabinet, or like a mail sorter, essentially. And I use that it had different slots. And so for my Monday parent, I would put those materials in Monday. So they could come in, grab whatever was in that.

07:42

sorter, file, whatever you want to call it, Bin, they grab that and they can get to work. So that's what I did for my parents who consistently we're working on the same thing every single week. Now what about the parents who are doing different activities each week.

08:02

So for instance, in my classroom, that was a parent, maybe who was running a center activity with my students, but it would change, you know, one week they're playing a game working on adjectives and another week, they're working on comprehension using scholastic news, whatever it is, the activity may change. But I want the way the center's look to be the same. And so I'm clear, I let them know, Hey, you have 12 minutes, I leave a mini Time Timer with them. So they can set the timer and send students in when they're done. To call the next group. I have incentives back there that we use for our class incentives and our school incentives. And they've got a list of the students and they know what groups to call. So that's all the same. So week after week, that looks the same, but they the game or the activity may be different. So I may just put a post it note on it quickly, like here's what you're doing, here's how to play if it's something tricky. If it's not like scholastic news, I just leave that there. And in that parent center, I always make sure that they have a supply caddy that has the supplies they need. So sharpened pencils, crayons, glue, sticks, scissors, whatever they need is back there.

09:16

And then from there, they know exactly what to do. So rather than letting me know Hey, Mrs. Donegan, we're done, I'm ready for the next group. I put that responsibility on them. So when they're done that 13 minute timer goes off or whatever that looks like. And they need Group E, for example. Then Group A comes back in, they go get Group E, group B goes out with the parent and they get to work. So that worked really, really well. Whatever system works well for you. Do that, but have the system in place and my brain always things to like potential problems? What happens when someone has to use the restroom? What if they break a pencil? What if they're arguing whatever it is?

10:00

I list all those out on my instructions page that's laminated. So they can refer back to it without interrupting, do you see how powerful that can be. And you see how that also does not eliminate or, or take away from instruction time.

10:18

And I also love that it you know, they're capable adults, right? It's so great to have another set of, you know, hands in the classroom to be able to help. I'm a real big stickler on showing respect to making good choices and solving problems. So when my students are working with caregivers, I'm super clear on what those expectations are. And I'm really clear with the expectations with the parents, but I have found that, you know, they're not as strict as I am. And they let some of the kids get away with certain things. So that's where I kind of will step in a little bit and say, Hey, so and so remember, this is how we walk to the parent table, or this is how we talk at the parent table, or it's getting too noisy, here's what I expect, so that eventually, the parents will catch on. And they'll be doing that as well. So remember, at the end of the day, the whole purpose of it, is to make it work for you. And for your students. Okay, so we've talked about making a list of what you need,

11:22

setting up a schedule, and then setting up those expectations. Now, I also mentioned, but I'm going to throw it in there, again, is to have an area, if you can, in your classroom, we were very, very fortunate at my last school. So we had an area that was a pod that essentially was like this room in the middle that other teachers shared. So there were 246 of us who shared that area, we each had a table like a rectangular table, that was the table where students would go do unfinished work or whatever it may be. But during center time, that was like the parent table. And so I had an area there, like I said, so any notebooks that the parents needed. So like our read naturally notebook that had the original copies,

12:11

the word study notebook, the class store notebook, with coupons, and money, and all that all of that was always back there, there is a supply caddy back there for the students, there was also one for the parents. So if they needed, you know, a stamp, or stickers, or a timer, or whatever it may be, all of that was there. And then like I said, I had one of those file sorters, that was $10. From target. It was one of the vertical file sorters. So it was Monday through Friday, and then the materials were in there. So when I planned for the week, I'd also make my lessons or my plans or copies for the following week for the parent table, or the parent activities, whatever it is. And so I make my copies Thursday, all of that would be prepped, I would grab those materials that I needed, and put it in the parent area for Monday for Tuesday, for Wednesday, for Thursday for Friday. And if you're rolling your eyes at me right now saying, Kristen, you are so lucky, you had all that help. Yes.

13:15

I know, I wasn't really, really lucky. But I've been other places where I didn't have help. And no matter what your situation looks like, it's you know, right? There's pros and cons to it. So this was another thing to manage. But if you find a way to really make it work for you, to get the most bang for your buck, and to get the help that you need, because let's be honest, there's not enough hours in the day to get through it all to meet the standards to support all of your students. But if you've got that help, and you can really make it work for you do it, it's just I know, it can be daunting, setting it up. I did this, I figured it out, I trial on air, I actually created a resource, I'll link it for you. It's over on Teachers Pay Teachers. It's my parent volunteer packet. And it actually has, you know, samples of what my instructions to parents look like. And it has editable pages. So you could fill it in to make it work for your own classroom to really have a system that's super easy. Now the last thing I want to talk about are those drop in parents, which are really amazing. But it's like what do I do like all of a sudden they just showed up to class, you know, Bell's gonna ring in two minutes. I have nothing for them. So what I would do for situations like this is I would have an area in that parent area of just things that needed to get done, but not urgently.

14:44

So a good one for this is those Scholastic Book orders. You know, you've got to take the staples out, you've got to sort them all staple them together the whole deal. I keep those back there. So if a parent happened to pop in, that's something they can do.

15:00

or if I have some sort of art project or craft coming up, and I need some things prepped, I can keep that there. And then if a parent pops in, they can get that ready. If a parent doesn't happen to pop in and didn't happen often, but some schools I was at it did, then I could hopefully send that home with a parent who offered to, you know, prep things at home. So if by Friday, no one's randomly come in to help out, then I can send that home. Ideally, though, in my world, I like to have it scheduled out. So there weren't things like that happening. Or if you did have parents who wanted to just drop in as needed, or you know, whatever worked with their schedule, maybe they're traveling, maybe you can set something up, hey, if this is something you want to do, just send me an email like 48 hours in advance. That way you can be prepared, but I keep going back to make it work for you. If you don't need help, then you can let them know that. Super simple once you have that set up. So let's quickly review, make your list, set up the schedule. And in that resource, I share how to do all that as well, that's all in there for you.

16:13

Set your expectations, and then use things that you're already using in the class. So you don't need to create an extra activity to have them do

16:22

a side note, but like if we didn't get to a center activity, the week was too busy or something happened. There's that activity just sitting there pulled up for your parents table for next week. Or those extra things. Like I said scholastic news was always a parent, one that I would do. So different comprehension, things, whatever it may be, don't be looking for things. Use things that you're already planning on doing. Cool. Cool. And the last one, I've talked about this before, this is a little bonus. If you don't have parent volunteers, or maybe you do but then you have some student volunteers as well. Go ahead and have that area in the room where I shared for like drop in people, you can have drop in students, you know, the ones who come to your door, do you need any help? Yeah, sure. 

Here's what I needed to do. And I had oftentimes, same students coming in to help so they knew what to do with the book orders, or they knew how to file papers, or they knew how to go through your important stuff basket and look for, you know, work that's incomplete, whatever it may be eventually, same thing I taught them, I shared my expectation, they knew this system, and they were able to easily get to work and really, really helped me out so that I could focus on my students. Or I could focus on small groups, or it made more time at the end of the day, because, you know, they filed papers for me that I could get back to emails, or plan or attend meetings or whatever it may be. So like I said, again, and again and again, make it work for you. It's entirely possible. All right, if you want to grab that link to that resource. Go ahead, click the link in the show notes to grab a copy for yourself. Like always, I really appreciate you being here and taking time out of your busy day. We'll see you next week. But in the meantime, go take time for yourself. You work hard and you deserve it. See you next week.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

parent, work, students, week, sorter, schedule, scholastic, parent volunteers, caregivers, classroom, prepped, activity, expectations, monday, shared, list, copies, talk, class, table