Staying in the Loop: How can I maintain communication with teachers?

To keep your group work on track with the teacher’s goals, you’ll need to find ways to communicate regularly. Teachers are always short on time, so if they don’t have a system developed, you can set one up yourself. Here are a few ideas to get you thinking:

• Hang a clipboard with paper and pencil in a visible spot in the classroom. Ask the teacher to suggest and jot activities/book titles on the clipboard.
• Pass a folder back and forth so the teacher can read and respond to your record sheets, or set up a file for your group work wherever the teacher keeps similar files.
• Schedule a 10–15 minute weekly check-in (before or after school may be best).
• Initiate an e-mail correspondence. Figure out the teacher’s best times for answering e-mail.
• Ask the teacher to observe your group and provide constructive feedback.
• Ask the teacher if you can observe a group s/he is leading to get ideas

How can I provide feedback to teachers about group work?

Most tutoring programs gather information about individual students. Your supervising teacher or project staff should be your main guides to the information they need. As a volunteer tutor working with several children at the same time, you will most likely not be expected to formally assess student work, but you may be asked to provide feedback on children’s participation in the group. Below is a sample recordkeeping form to help you keep track of group members’ behavior and participation.

This is just one possible example—the individual behaviors you look for in group work will vary, depending on your own group’s goals and activities.

Student learning can be documented through almost any group work when you as a tutor are satisfied that everyone is contributing fully. Alternative forms of documentation might include:

• Group writing and multimedia projects (e.g., books, drawings, Web creations, stories, poems, etc.)
• Student self-assessments and peer assessments
• Group performances (plays, skits, reader’s theater, story building, poems, songs, etc.)

With group projects and performances, you can document students’ individual participation as well as their part in the final product.

• Download sample recordkeeping form in PDF format.