I want to create an army.
An army of parents and community members who each sacrifice a small portion of their weeks to help a teacher in their community.
I believe in educating the whole child. I also believe that educating the whole child is a group effort. Communities should care about how children are led, influenced, mentored, cared for, and taught. Why should communities care? Because these children are our future.
Somewhere out there is a toddler who will one day become a nurse. A nurse that will bring me my pills when I’m sitting in my nursing home, old and gray.
Somewhere out there is an elementary student who will be president and responsible for leading this country at a time when my great-grandkids are being born.
Somewhere out there is a middle schooler that will fly the plane that takes me to my 60th birthday vacation destination.
Somewhere out there is a high schooler who will become a teacher that will be responsible for teaching my child geometry.
The generations that follow are our future. There is no way around that. If we care about our future and the future of our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews, then we need to be doing our part to set up a world in which our future selves and generations that come after us can thrive. I believe that one way that we can do that is by investing in the education of all children. It is a group effort.
So, today, I challenge you to get help. Not because you’re slacking as a teacher. Not because you’re lazy and don’t want to do the work. But because educating a (whole) child (or 20+ children) is not solely your responsibility. It is a combined effort. And in order to be effective, we must work together as a team.
Parents parent. Teachers teach. Coaches coach. But that doesn’t mean we can’t support each other in the work that we’re doing to create well-rounded youth. What does that look like practically? Below are some tips for reaching out to parents/community members for classroom help as well as a template to get communication started.
Tips for Effective Communication with Parents:
- Be open to collaboration. In order to successfully educate the whole child, be open to collaborating with the child’s parents, other teachers, coaches, etc.
- Clearly communicate your desire to collaborate. Unfortunately, there can be a lot of distrust between parents and teachers. I think that happens because people don’t assume the best. We assume that the other party isn’t working in the child’s best interest. So let’s not leave any of that up for assumption. Clearly communicate that you are working in your student’s best interest, you are not responsible for parenting, yet responsible for reinforcing parenting that happens at home, and that you are a trained educator with a set of skills that you use daily to help your students succeed.
- Assess your needs. Identify tasks that you can pass along to a volunteer. You’re more than likely not going to want a parent (unless they are a trained educator themselves) to come up with your unit plan for fractions. But what are the things that don’t require your expertise that a parent or community volunteer can do? Here are some ideas:
- Make your lesson plan copies for you/Prep lesson materials
- Organize classroom supplies
- Set up/change out your bulletin boards
- Tidy up your room at the end of the day
- Read one-on-one with a student
- Be a mystery reader
- Lead a craftivity
- Plan and help execute a holiday party
- Be explicit in your asks. Clear is kind. Communicate what your need is and how the volunteer can meet it. What does the task entail? What kind of knowledge/expertise is required? What is the time commitment?
I truly believe that there are parents out there who want to help you but just don’t know how to ask. I encourage you to open that door to communication and collaboration. Allowing a volunteer to take something off of your plate will free you up and increase your capacity to do what you love and do it well.
How to Ask for Help
Below is an idea and way to phrase your ask for help. In addition, I have also created an editable sheet you can use and send home in student backpacks!
Hi Parents!
This school year is off to a great start! We have already learned so many new and fun things and I am grateful to get to teach your children. I am also grateful that we get to work together to educate and grow your chidren this year.
On that note, I am looking for parent and community volunteers to assist me with some things in the classroom. This is for two reasons:
- I would absolutely love the help. 🙂
- I think there’s value in students seeing teachers and parents work together to provide an excellent school environment.
I have a wide variety of things that I would love to involve parents in, including, copying/preparing lesson materials, organizing classroom supplies, reading with students, and planning our holiday parties.
If you are interested in helping out in any capacity, please let me know! Whether you have 1 hour a week or 1 hour a month, I know there’s a way I can get you involved in what’s going on in our classroom, and I would love the help!
Sincerely,
Teacher
**PLEASE be sure to check your school/district guidelines concerning volunteers and make sure all volunteers fill out the necessary paperwork to volunteer at your school.