Designing Community Partnerships to Expand Student Learning: A Toolki | Page 45

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INCORPORATING A VOLUNTEER INTO YOUR CLASSROOM
This resource is a useful guide for helping educators incorporate volunteers into their classrooms.

How to Best Use Volunteers
Ask yourself:
• What student needs are not being met?
• What would I like to try during instructional time but don’t have the time or skills to accomplish?
• What kind of help would I like during instructional time?
• What does my program ask of me that is difficult for me to provide alone?
• What activities could I delegate to someone else so that I had more time for other activities?
Think of your dream list:
• List the learning activities that you would like to see in your classroom that are not currently taking
place.
• What skills and support would be needed to perform these tasks?
Possible roles for classroom volunteers:
• Tutor one-to-one with a student.
• Work with small groups of students, usually all at the same skill level.
• Instruct and assist students using educational technologies.
• Plan field trips.
• Organize classroom materials.
• Search for multimedia on particular topics.
• Facilitate physical activity breaks or team-building activities.

Roles and Responsibilities

Teachers, students, and volunteers need to understand their roles in the classroom. Below are some
suggestions for the responsibilities of each group:

Teacher

• Chooses what to teach in the classroom and how to teach it.
• Meets with the volunteer; communicates regularly.
• Clearly and explicitly explains the expectations, routines, and classroom procedures to the volunteer
and specifically what is expected of him or her. Doesn’t assume any knowledge on the part of the
volunteer.
• Introduces the volunteer to the students and other volunteers.
• Models respect for the volunteer.
• Coaches, manages, and supervises the day-to-day work of the classroom volunteer.
• Is a role model for the volunteer, demonstrating how to work with learners.
• Provides meaningful tasks for the volunteer to do in the classroom.
• Is aware of training and support that the volunteer receives, and suggests additional training.
• Provides on-the-job training as needed.
• Provides feedback and is open to suggestions from the volunteer.
• Reports volunteer activity (records, concerns, ideas) to the volunteer coordinator.

Designing Community Partnerships to Expand Student Learning: A Toolkit — coloradoedinitiative.org

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