Training provides confidence, prevents unnecessary conflict
Volunteers are like employees in many ways. They offer skills to an organization to help complete a goal, they are expected to fulfill commitments like showing up to work on time and dressed appropriately, and they volunteer for many different reasons.
Volunteers are also like employees in the sense that proper training and orientation are necessary for them to feel comfortable and work effectively.
According to a June 2010 Graduation Matters Missoula survey of MCPS teachers, the No. 1 reason K-12 teachers in our district didn’t utilize volunteers in their classroom last year was “I don’t have enough time to prepare and train volunteers.”
Teachers are busy people. They balance in-school hours of instruction with at-home efforts of grading and preparing materials. It’s easy to see how budgeting extra time to train volunteers can fall by the wayside.
However, by compiling training and orientation materials ahead of time, preparing and training a classroom volunteer can be as simple as offering a packet of information about school policies on dress, drugs and confidentiality, curriculum material, anonymous examples of student work related to their volunteer position, and a form with contact information for their direct supervisor and school administration.
Take an afternoon to compile whatever materials you think a volunteer would need to hit the ground running in your classroom as an aide, presenter, tutor or at-home assistant and make a volunteer orientation packet.
Keep a few hard copies on hand for an impromptu offer to help out in the class and make a digital folder of the material that can be easily attached to an e-mail.
The time a good volunteer can free up for a teacher will be well worth the initial effort of creating an orientation packet. However, don’t forget to have one-on-one interaction with your volunteer. On their first day, remember to tell them where to park, what restrooms they can use in the building, and how much their time commitment means to you and the school.
December 29, 2010
Hot-button Issue: Integrating training needs
Using both paid providers and volunteers in school settings
By Kathryn Furano and Corina Chavez
Corporation for National and Community Service Effective Practices
Programs often have a mix of paid members and non-paid volunteers working together on projects. While there are benefits to this arrangement, there are management challenges as well. No matter how well-intentioned volunteers are, without an infrastructure to support and direct their efforts, they are less likely to be effective and, worse yet, may withdraw from the program.
Action
Working effectively as an outsider in school settings, regardless of program curriculum, requires a solid plan and the ability to communicate it to administrators, teachers and other school personnel.
During the first year of the Public/Private Ventures study, the seven participating sites shared effective practices:
Strategies to initiate effective partnerships:
Show how your program will help achieve existing educational objectives — considering both administrative and operational levels, from state departments of education to individual school buildings.
Articulate what your program will provide and accomplish. Who will benefit and what will the outcomes be?
Engage school personnel prior to program start-up. A high level of engagement up front will result in ongoing support and “investment” in the results.
Be clear up front about programmatic processes, objectives, and expectations. This candidness can alleviate apprehension and delineate areas of responsibility.
Strategies for training paid providers:
Build on the experience of outgoing paid providers and volunteers. Gather input from paid and non-paid providers who are transitioning out of service. Build a notebook of activities, fliers, newsletters and notes that can help providers operate effectively and consistently.
Tap into the expertise of specialists to train tutors or encourage students enrolled in reading instruction courses to become volunteer tutors.
Strategies for fitting in the school community:
Take the initiative. Be visible, but pro-active. Be careful not to overwhelm school staff. Attending various school activities, such as assemblies and staff meetings, contributes to increased acceptance.
Incorporate programming into the existing school structure. School structure influences fit in several ways, such as school openness and accountability to local residents; existence of other outside programs; previous experience of staff and administrators with other outside programs; and the willingness on the school’s part to facilitate a “fit” through policy and development opportunities.
Use school resources strategically and diplomatically. Certain resources will be required, such as space, access to fax machines, and copy machines. Be aware of and responsive to the dynamics that surround the ownership and use of these resources. Offer to use the equipment after school hours or at less busy times of day. Become resourceful at using scarce resources.
Recognize and respond to barriers. These may be structural, transitional, or timing-related.
Become a value-added resource.
Have a paid provider who can manage the volunteers, as well as fill-in for volunteers who are late or sick.
Identify only one person (the paid service provider) that the teacher needs to contact when there is a classroom scheduling change.
Originally published in Combining Paid Service and Volunteerism: Strategies for Effective Practice in School Settings. Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures, August 1999.
By Kathryn Furano and Corina Chavez
Corporation for National and Community Service Effective Practices
Programs often have a mix of paid members and non-paid volunteers working together on projects. While there are benefits to this arrangement, there are management challenges as well. No matter how well-intentioned volunteers are, without an infrastructure to support and direct their efforts, they are less likely to be effective and, worse yet, may withdraw from the program.
Action
Working effectively as an outsider in school settings, regardless of program curriculum, requires a solid plan and the ability to communicate it to administrators, teachers and other school personnel.
During the first year of the Public/Private Ventures study, the seven participating sites shared effective practices:
Strategies to initiate effective partnerships:
Show how your program will help achieve existing educational objectives — considering both administrative and operational levels, from state departments of education to individual school buildings.
Articulate what your program will provide and accomplish. Who will benefit and what will the outcomes be?
Engage school personnel prior to program start-up. A high level of engagement up front will result in ongoing support and “investment” in the results.
Be clear up front about programmatic processes, objectives, and expectations. This candidness can alleviate apprehension and delineate areas of responsibility.
Strategies for training paid providers:
Build on the experience of outgoing paid providers and volunteers. Gather input from paid and non-paid providers who are transitioning out of service. Build a notebook of activities, fliers, newsletters and notes that can help providers operate effectively and consistently.
Tap into the expertise of specialists to train tutors or encourage students enrolled in reading instruction courses to become volunteer tutors.
Strategies for fitting in the school community:
Take the initiative. Be visible, but pro-active. Be careful not to overwhelm school staff. Attending various school activities, such as assemblies and staff meetings, contributes to increased acceptance.
Incorporate programming into the existing school structure. School structure influences fit in several ways, such as school openness and accountability to local residents; existence of other outside programs; previous experience of staff and administrators with other outside programs; and the willingness on the school’s part to facilitate a “fit” through policy and development opportunities.
Use school resources strategically and diplomatically. Certain resources will be required, such as space, access to fax machines, and copy machines. Be aware of and responsive to the dynamics that surround the ownership and use of these resources. Offer to use the equipment after school hours or at less busy times of day. Become resourceful at using scarce resources.
Recognize and respond to barriers. These may be structural, transitional, or timing-related.
Become a value-added resource.
Have a paid provider who can manage the volunteers, as well as fill-in for volunteers who are late or sick.
Identify only one person (the paid service provider) that the teacher needs to contact when there is a classroom scheduling change.
Originally published in Combining Paid Service and Volunteerism: Strategies for Effective Practice in School Settings. Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures, August 1999.
Tips From Pros: Senior Corps volunteers request training
Alicia Crandall of Missoula Aging Services works with Foster Grandparents and their supervisors. The Foster Grandparent program provides monthly trainings for volunteers. Based on a survey of Foster Grandparents, Crandall said Senior Corps volunteers requested training in:
Best ways to work with individual students
How to interact with students and classroom management
How to listen to a student read
Relating to students living in low income situations and building empathy
Confidentiality
Math curriculum
Autism and autism spectrum disorders
Dyslexia and learning disabilities/differences
Missoula Aging Services works to provide training their volunteers request, but teachers and volunteer supervisors can also ask any volunteer, not just a Foster Grandparent, what they could know more about to help them work better in MCPS schools.
Paxson parents create training videos
TOSA explains curriculum in videos designed to help out parents in classrooms
A new type of parent organization at Paxson Elementary is bringing 21st Century methods to their volunteer programs.
The Academic Support Team, a separate group from the PTA, works to:
Recruit volunteers and provide training
Provide in-school and afterschool enrichment opportunities to teachers and students
Match students with mentors
Foster student curiosity
To help teachers and parents become more comfortable with classroom volunteering, the Academic Support Team created two videos with the TOSA that cover some basics of math curriculum.
The videos — “Math Expressions” and “Math Drawings” — give volunteers a quick lesson in how MCPS teachers teach different principles of mathematics.
The videos are available on YouTube (accessible through the Paxson Academic Support Team webpage) and also for checkout on DVD in the school’s library.
The group also currently provides physical trainings in reading and behavior/small group management.
On top of using technology in training, Paxson’s Academic Support Team is using an e-mail alert system dubbed “Help Wanted” to spread the news of open volunteer opportunities to a large network of parents.
The Help Wanted ads create a mini job description of the duties and the current mailing list consists of about 100 parents. According to the Support Team’s webpage, 11 of 14 positions have been filled through the system.
The Academic Support Team has started working outside the box to create more opportunities for parents to get involved as volunteers and to support a healthy teacher/volunteer relationship through initial training.
A new type of parent organization at Paxson Elementary is bringing 21st Century methods to their volunteer programs.
The Academic Support Team, a separate group from the PTA, works to:
Recruit volunteers and provide training
Provide in-school and afterschool enrichment opportunities to teachers and students
Match students with mentors
Foster student curiosity
To help teachers and parents become more comfortable with classroom volunteering, the Academic Support Team created two videos with the TOSA that cover some basics of math curriculum.
The videos — “Math Expressions” and “Math Drawings” — give volunteers a quick lesson in how MCPS teachers teach different principles of mathematics.
The videos are available on YouTube (accessible through the Paxson Academic Support Team webpage) and also for checkout on DVD in the school’s library.
The group also currently provides physical trainings in reading and behavior/small group management.
On top of using technology in training, Paxson’s Academic Support Team is using an e-mail alert system dubbed “Help Wanted” to spread the news of open volunteer opportunities to a large network of parents.
The Help Wanted ads create a mini job description of the duties and the current mailing list consists of about 100 parents. According to the Support Team’s webpage, 11 of 14 positions have been filled through the system.
The Academic Support Team has started working outside the box to create more opportunities for parents to get involved as volunteers and to support a healthy teacher/volunteer relationship through initial training.
To read more about the Paxson Academic Support Team, view the training videos and read Help Wanted ads, click here.
FRC Spotlight: Lowell center connects with families
Collaboration, awareness keep out-of-the-way FRC buzzing
The Lowell Elementary Family Resource Center may not be right through the front doors, but if you follow the signs and arrows around some corners and up some stairs, you’ll eventually find Kirstin Hill.
The FRC isn’t a large room, though the school’s Flagship program has an impressive amount of material stacked on shelves all the way up one side of the office.
A couch and a desk fill up the rest of the space where Hill, the school’s FRC specialist, works to increase parent involvement and collaboration.
Despite the tucked-away location, Hill has no trouble coming up with examples of activities parents get involved with at the school. Just at the beginning of December the FRC hosted a Families First program: “Helping Kids Manage Their Emotions”. More program topics, like “Introduction to Positive Discipline”, keep parents interested.
Aside from planning family and parent events, the Lowell FRC stays busy with daily duties as well. While Hill discusses the relationship with Families First, two students walk into the office, one in need of socks and the other looking for a winter coat to replace her autumn jacket. School staff and the students knew the items would be available through the FRC, and it’s awareness and collaboration Hill says is are important to the Center.
A relationship with the PTA, the teachers and staff and individual parents keeps even a tucked-away office busy.
“I feel like it’s important to work with the existing organizations — like the PTA. We kind of work toward the same things,” said Hill.
The Lowell Elementary Family Resource Center may not be right through the front doors, but if you follow the signs and arrows around some corners and up some stairs, you’ll eventually find Kirstin Hill.
The FRC isn’t a large room, though the school’s Flagship program has an impressive amount of material stacked on shelves all the way up one side of the office.
A couch and a desk fill up the rest of the space where Hill, the school’s FRC specialist, works to increase parent involvement and collaboration.
Despite the tucked-away location, Hill has no trouble coming up with examples of activities parents get involved with at the school. Just at the beginning of December the FRC hosted a Families First program: “Helping Kids Manage Their Emotions”. More program topics, like “Introduction to Positive Discipline”, keep parents interested.
Aside from planning family and parent events, the Lowell FRC stays busy with daily duties as well. While Hill discusses the relationship with Families First, two students walk into the office, one in need of socks and the other looking for a winter coat to replace her autumn jacket. School staff and the students knew the items would be available through the FRC, and it’s awareness and collaboration Hill says is are important to the Center.
A relationship with the PTA, the teachers and staff and individual parents keeps even a tucked-away office busy.
“I feel like it’s important to work with the existing organizations — like the PTA. We kind of work toward the same things,” said Hill.
October 19, 2010
Early November events
11/02
Festival of the Dead Parade
6:00 PM Downtown Missoula
11/03
Little Ones Art Fun with Allie DePuy
3:30 PM Missoula Art Museum
11/06
Bazaar
8:00 AM Hellgate High School gym
Photography and Poetry/ Vision & Voice for Teachers
9:00 AM Missoula Art Museum (PIR credit available!)
Call Renee at 728-0447 ext 228 for more information.
5K Turkey Trot
11:00 AM Washington Grizzly Stadium
Saturday Discovery Evening: The November Night Sky
7:00 PM Montana Natural History Center
11/10
Building Children's Confidence and Competence
6:30 PM The Missoula Family YMCA
11/11
Teen Open Studio Night
6:00 PM Missoula Art Museum
11/13
Griz vs Northern Dakota
12:00 PM University of Montana
11/14
2010 Banff Festival of Montain Films World Tour
6:00 PM University of Montana
Festival of the Dead Parade
6:00 PM Downtown Missoula
11/03
Little Ones Art Fun with Allie DePuy
3:30 PM Missoula Art Museum
11/06
Bazaar
8:00 AM Hellgate High School gym
Photography and Poetry/ Vision & Voice for Teachers
9:00 AM Missoula Art Museum (PIR credit available!)
Call Renee at 728-0447 ext 228 for more information.
5K Turkey Trot
11:00 AM Washington Grizzly Stadium
Saturday Discovery Evening: The November Night Sky
7:00 PM Montana Natural History Center
11/10
Building Children's Confidence and Competence
6:30 PM The Missoula Family YMCA
11/11
Teen Open Studio Night
6:00 PM Missoula Art Museum
11/13
Griz vs Northern Dakota
12:00 PM University of Montana
11/14
2010 Banff Festival of Montain Films World Tour
6:00 PM University of Montana
October 4, 2010
FRC Spotlight
Family Connection Center starts at Rattlesnake
Funding always ebbs and flows in education, and extra services like Family Resource Centers can fall on the chopping block faster than curriculum-related costs. But one MCPS school has found a way to keep their former FRC running even after a big loss in funding.
The FRC at Rattlesnake Elementary was funded about 50 percent by the PTA and 50 percent through a grant for an AmeriCorps member through WORD.
Last year, WORD did not renew the grant that funded a staff person for the center. However, the Rattlesnake PTA still wanted to offer their funding to the office.
This year, the renamed Family Connection Center is staffed part-time by the former AmeriCorps member Tracy Ursey and partly by four University of Montana students and one Rattlesnake parent.
Ursey found the students through a volunteer fair at the university and one is a Campus Corps member.
“It’s kind of exciting to have the students here,” says Ursey. “They enjoy working with the families and the kids, and we have some new energy around the office.”
Ursey said the FCC is nearly fully staffed, with just about an hour discrepancy on Thursday afternoons.
Through the support of the PTA and some parent and community volunteers, Rattlesnake can still offer students and families great resources while breaking out of the grant or Title I funding mold.
Funding always ebbs and flows in education, and extra services like Family Resource Centers can fall on the chopping block faster than curriculum-related costs. But one MCPS school has found a way to keep their former FRC running even after a big loss in funding.
The FRC at Rattlesnake Elementary was funded about 50 percent by the PTA and 50 percent through a grant for an AmeriCorps member through WORD.
Last year, WORD did not renew the grant that funded a staff person for the center. However, the Rattlesnake PTA still wanted to offer their funding to the office.
This year, the renamed Family Connection Center is staffed part-time by the former AmeriCorps member Tracy Ursey and partly by four University of Montana students and one Rattlesnake parent.
Ursey found the students through a volunteer fair at the university and one is a Campus Corps member.
“It’s kind of exciting to have the students here,” says Ursey. “They enjoy working with the families and the kids, and we have some new energy around the office.”
Ursey said the FCC is nearly fully staffed, with just about an hour discrepancy on Thursday afternoons.
Through the support of the PTA and some parent and community volunteers, Rattlesnake can still offer students and families great resources while breaking out of the grant or Title I funding mold.
September 20, 2010
Volunteer Profile: Jamie Woods
Jamie Woods keeps medieval combat alive at Hellgate
Name: Jamie Woods
Organization: The Flagship Program
Site: Hellgate High School
Position: Gladiators leader
Woods joined the medieval foam-fighting Gladiators as a student when the club first began at Hellgate in 2004 and is still close friends with the club’s founder, who was also a student at the time.
When he graduated in 2008, Woods, also known by his fighting name “Zuloo,” knew he wanted to give back to the club he had enjoyed so much. The 21-year-old waited a year after high school before volunteering with Flagship and is starting his second year as a leader for the popular medieval combat club.
“It was one of my favorite things to do in high school and I wanted to share that experience with them and keep that going,” says Woods.
The club’s popularity has erupted – it boasts the highest membership of any Flagship club in the school – and the activity has now even spread to Sentinel High School. Woods says he would have never guessed it would become so popular when he first joined.
“There were quite a few teachers that didn't like us just because of our premise,” he says. “We fight with foam weapons.”
Gladiators is actually part of a larger foam-fighting not-for-profit organization called the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society. Founded in the ’70s, Belegarth has “realms” across the country and one larger group in Missoula. Sometimes participants base their fighting characters off of fantasy, such as J.R.R. Tolkein’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, though Woods says the Gladiators group contains few role-playing elements aside from choosing their distinct fighting names.
When he’s not volunteering through Flagship as a Gladiator or working, Woods takes his enjoyment of the activity home with him and fashions medieval armor.
“Since I do custom work, I can do just about anything someone asks,” says Woods.
Though foam-fighting battles can get heated – Belegarth participants are encouraged to be aggressive and physically fit – Woods says rules are in place to ensure no one gets seriously injured. At Hellgate, students must turn in a parental permission slip to engage in the fighting activities before they can even touch a weapon. Though students can watch others practice, the permission slips are a non-negotiable safety net.
Once they get into the fray of battle, students still have some safeguards built into the rules of Belegarth melee. Woods cites one rule over all: No hitting another participant in the head. Even though the medieval-style foam weapons are not lethal, only a few ultra-padded pieces of “offensive equipment” can be aimed at a person’s head.
With a history rooted in the group, it’s no wonder Woods says his favorite thing about volunteering with Flagship is continuing the club for students. Though it is very popular in the school, the 3 to 5 leaders who show up to run the club offer essential experience and guidance.
“There's not really anyone else there that knows the rules enough to keep the club going,” says Woods.
Since the school year is still young, more students may join the Gladiators in their sport, and on top of leading the club, working and making armor, Woods is currently forming his own unit in Belegarth based on the Knights Templar.
Hot-button Issue: Constructive Feedback
Giving feedback to volunteers: a process-oriented approach
By Steve McCurley
Corporation for National and Community Service Resource Center
Many volunteer supervisors have trouble giving effective feedback to volunteers, especially when that feedback is designed to re-direct the behavior of the volunteer more productively. Typically, inexperienced supervisors will avoid giving feedback until a number of offenses have occurred and will then overwhelm the volunteer with a litany of criticisms. In addition, inexperienced supervisors oftentimes will word feedback in such a way that the volunteer feels personally attacked and will tend to react defensively rather than respond to the substance of the feedback.
Read more here.
By Steve McCurley
Corporation for National and Community Service Resource Center
Many volunteer supervisors have trouble giving effective feedback to volunteers, especially when that feedback is designed to re-direct the behavior of the volunteer more productively. Typically, inexperienced supervisors will avoid giving feedback until a number of offenses have occurred and will then overwhelm the volunteer with a litany of criticisms. In addition, inexperienced supervisors oftentimes will word feedback in such a way that the volunteer feels personally attacked and will tend to react defensively rather than respond to the substance of the feedback.
Read more here.
Tips From Pros
Personal Safety for Kids and Volunteers
Personal safety tips from “Working with Kids: What You Need to Know to Make the Biggest Impact & Get The Most Rewards” training.
Volunteers must know and follow the agency’s guidelines. Some volunteers will be doing risky behaviors with kids; others are in classrooms; all should follow the rules and use common sense.
Personal safety tips from “Working with Kids: What You Need to Know to Make the Biggest Impact & Get The Most Rewards” training.
Volunteers must know and follow the agency’s guidelines. Some volunteers will be doing risky behaviors with kids; others are in classrooms; all should follow the rules and use common sense.
- Dos: Shoulder to shoulder or side hugs; handshakes, high fives, get permission before touching.
- Don’ts: Hair, head; no piggybacks; sitting on laps; full-frontal hugs; tickling or wrestling or any action that immobilizes or compromises the child’s movements; no contact with the child’s private areas; engaging in any other action that could be construed to be sexual (e.g. massage, etc.)
- No exchange of phone numbers or emails without parental consent
- No exchange of gifts without permission from parents and supervisors
- Provide privacy in changing rooms and bathrooms.
September 17, 2010
Community: Flagship keeps students engaged
Volunteers head up Hellgate clubs
When Hellgate High School’s Flagship Youth Development Coordinator Niki Vanek transitioned from working with elementary students to working with teens, she knew it was the right move.
“I think I’m still kind of a teenager in my head,” says Vanek, laughing.
Though she started her work with Flagship years ago at Hawthorne Elementary, Vanek is now in her second year as the program’s coordinator at Hellgate – recruiting and supervising the community volunteers and students that run and participate in creative clubs during lunch and after school.
Keeping kids motivated and confident by channeling their interests, Flagship clubs at Hellgate include: Gladiators – a full-contact study in the art of medieval combat, Respect Club – which coordinates Diversity Week, and Elementary Buddies – who partner with students at Lowell Elementary to engage in community service projects and also implement programs they’re designing for the Missoula Children’s Museum.
Clubs are created by community volunteers or by students, as with the popular Gladiators.
“The student-driven clubs are the most successful,” says Vanek.
Volunteers for the program, which is based in 11 MCPS schools, apply through Flagship and undergo an interview and screening process as well as training sessions. The program served about 2,500 students last year.
At a glance, Vanek already has over 20 volunteers signed up to lead Hellgate’s Flagship clubs, which also include a graphic novel book club, knitting “Yarn Yetis”, yoga classes and a lunchtime anime club. Over 100 students are currently involved in clubs, and Vanek reports 285 students participated in Flagship activities last year and 53 volunteers completed nearly 780 hours of service in the program.
To keep students informed of offerings, Vanek visits classrooms, makes announcements and even uses Facebook to promote the program.
She says it’s great to see the students get involved in the school and channel their energy. Flagship even keeps some students coming back after graduation, as several Hellgate alumni have signed on to give back to their alma mater by volunteering for the program this year.
“I’m just so thankful to be in the school,” Vanek says. “I think it is important. Kids participate and I think it’s a really effective program.”
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