How to Utilize Parent Volunteers

What to Delegate to a Parent Volunteer in the Classroom

Dec 14, 2008

With a little thought and planning there can be many things that a parent volunteer can do to help a busy teacher each day of the week.

Although many teachers would love to have more parental involvement, those that have the parent volunteers need to know what it is appropriate to have them do. The tasks that parent volunteers can complete for a teacher vary from menial teacher tasks to direct involvement with the students in the class.

Teacher Related Tasks

This is the most common type of help that parents can offer teachers. Many teachers prepare a table in the hall outside their classroom so that whenever a parent comes to help, there is always work to be completed. This work is usually busy work, and helps free up teacher time for preparing lesson plans and grading assignments.

Some ideas for volunteers to keep busy with include making copies, sorting workbook pages, take down or put up a bulletin board, hang artwork in the hall, cover paperback books with clear contact paper, prep art projects, cut out laminated papers, and fold and staple leveled readers. If you have a way to set them up on a computer, you can also have them level student books for your classroom library.

Teaching Tasks for Volunteers

Many times teachers will also have willing parent volunteers help out with the students. Sending individual children out to read with a parent can be excellent practice for the student, and having parents go over word lists with students can free up valuable time for the teacher. They can walk around the classroom while you teach a small group, and keep the rest of the class on task, a great classroom management help.

Retired teachers are great to have involved, as they can even help you with some small group or center work. If parents sign up to be a center helper and lead a small group, plan out all the activities and have everything prepared for the parent when she arrives. If you are concerned about a parent showing up unexpectedly, just warn parents when they sign up that nothing will be prepared for them unless you know they are coming. This usually will prevent unannounced volunteers.

What Parent Volunteers Should Not Do

Be cautious about having parent volunteers grade student work or file graded work for you. Student grades are confidential and it may become a problem if you have students who particularly struggle or who are particularly advanced in your class. Some teachers will have their parents file other papers for them though, such as work sheet masters and other lesson materials.

Parent volunteers can be invaluable to teachers, if you know how to properly structure their time. Ensure that you have your work planned out in a way that you are able to delegate appropriate tasks to your parent volunteers. This will allow you to spend more time on your lesson plans and time spent with your family.

The copyright of the article How to Utilize Parent Volunteers in New Teacher Support is owned by Jennifer Wagaman. Permission to republish How to Utilize Parent Volunteers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.