It’s a giant step and a lot of work to invite adults into your classroom as assistants. Your day is already filled with curriculum planning, school meetings and evaluating student work. How can you possibly do any more? Find a way; it pays off quickly.
1. Look to small changes, jobs adult helpers can handle without extended training: checking in projects, recording student attendance, listening to students read or share their writing. Ask them to organize your classroom library, checkout public library books for a class topic, find online resources. If an adult is artistic, hand over a bulletin board space and bring in visual art you may not have time to develop yourself. Or, allow them to create a science, math, social science, language themed display you have no time to research. Use their interests and talents.
2. Reviews are an important part of student learning. Can an adult help students catch-up on learnings? enhance their understanding? provide enrichments?
3. Check out the extension activities in your curriculum materials. Are there activities you can hand to an assistant to work on with a small group while you work with other students? Here’s a chance to add those activities that appeal to your planning but can never fit into your day.
But, how and where to fit them in? Won’t the small group students miss out on your main presentation? Could be, but, what if you divide the class into a series of small groups (your presentation as one of them) and rotate students through each activity? That way everyone experiences the variety of activities all related to your curriculum goals. Plus, each student has the opportunity to meet with you in a small group. That translates to individualized attention while in your small group.
But, if I do a small group, that means less time to present my lesson. I won’t be able to finish everything. True, but maybe yo can re-evaluate the lesson, refine it down to 2-3 important points during your small group. Or, perhaps the extra assistant groups will be sharing some of your curriculum goals through their activities. Take a look. It may work out!