If you've ever taught a co-op class

[lexi]

Can you give me you best words of advice?

 

The homeschool group near us is starting a co-op for kids from PreK through 6th. They are asking parents what they want to teach and what ages they want to work with. I have never been in a co-op, much less taught a class.

 

The kids will be broken down into smaller age groups like K-2nd or 3rd-6th or something like that. There will be 3 classes on Friday mornings-1 hour each. Many of the classes will be enrichment and if they are academic they don't intend to replace that subject at home.

 

Can any experienced co-op teachers give me good advice before I jump into teaching my class? Any dos or don'ts? We are going to participate this year to try it but I'm nervous about teaching.

 

And I'm going to have to find a thread about what classes were successful in co-ops because I have no idea what I want to teach.

[freeindeed]

I teach K-2nd at our co-op. Last year I taught Five in a Row. This upcoming year I plan to teach US Geography and Art. The most important advice I can give you (left over from my ps teaching days) is to be consistent and firm with your rules. Go over them the first day and enforce them. If a rule is broken, enforce the consequences EVERY time. Secondly, be organized. Have a solid plan for what you will do each week. Gather materials and supplies and place them in an easily transportable bag or container. Plan more work than what you will actually get to do. That will save you from having nothing to do with a room full of kids. ;)

[mom2att]

What has always worked for me is to teach something that I want my kids to have at home, but never have time to get to.  When my kids were younger that included a Book Explorers class (we read Flat Stanley then made our own and set them all over the country, we did a Frog and Toad lapbook, and we did a Dr. Seuss unit--all super fun!), an Around the World class (studied different countries, did a craft/project for each, even made a passport), or an Art and Artists class (studied different artists and tried emulating their styles or medium).  Now that my kids are older I've taught Latin at co-op for 3 years, because it's something I want them to have at home and I figure the co-op might as well benefit from it as well (plus Latin is more fun with a group!).  I'm also doing a Mythbusters class which will take the place of science at home for my rising 6th grader.

 

So find something YOU love, something YOU enjoy, something you want YOUR kids to experience.  Teach that class and have fun!

 

Agreeing with FreeIndeed's advice above as well.  Know going in how to manage a group of wiggly kids.  Best advice I got was from my student teaching days:  Keep them good.  If they are busy and engaged, there's not time for horseplay and misbehavior.

 

[lexi]

Would anyone mind sharing what your rules were for your classroom? 

[Julie of KY]

I like co-ops where I get to choose what I teach and not be told what to teach.

 

Be sure you know what is expected of you by the co-op leadership as well as the families involved. For instance, if it is a co-op of enrichment classes, don't expect kids to study or do projects at home for your class. State your expectations the first day - I tell the students and email the parents.

 

Something that can be helpful when working with young kids is to remind everyone to go to the bathroom before class so that not everyone has to go in the middle of class.

[Kuovonne]

Classroom management skills come naturally to some people.

They didn't to me. I found that working with a class of only 6-8 kids

for a set period of time is very different from homeschooling one-on-one.

 

Here are some things that helped me.

 

- having pre-assigned "helpers" to pass out papers / supplies, collect things, etc.

The kids liked the little jobs and it free me to focus on the activites without

having fights over who did what

 

- including clean-up in the end of class routine

Otherwise I was stuck cleaning up everything after the kids were gone

 

- telling kids upfront what to expect from me and what I expect from them.

 

- making sure parents know and agree on what to expect, especially homework

 

- planning one or two activities that can be expanded or shortened

to fill class time without going over

 

- having a written lesson plan with approximate durations of each activitiy

it keeps me on track and ensures that I don't skip important things

its a place for me to take notes as I go on what works and what doesn't

 

- having an assistant is also a huge help, even when you don't know what

she'll do at first.

 

HTH

[lexi]

Thanks those are all helpful suggestions! 

 

As the co-op continues to form I know there will be more info.  I'm just trying to prepare myself and start organizing my thoughts and ideas so that the class I teach will run smoothly. 

[Plink]

Set the maximum number of children you are comfortable teaching and stick to it, even when leadership asks you to adjust.

 

Ask for a TA and make sure that your TA is someone who teaches from the same philosophy as yourself. Use that person as your helper, runner, and classroom manager, but more importantly, your back-up. Whenever the kids ask a question that you aren't sure of, it is fantastic to have another teacher to turn to.

 

Spend the summer planning what you will cover each week of the semester, but don't plan too exactly or you may be bored with the ideas by the time class arrives.

 

Check to see if your group offers a prep team. If so, be diligent in asking them to do work for you every week. Tedious things like cutting out lapbook pieces or measuring sticks can easily eat up hours if you don't delegate.

 

Pick topics you are passionate and curious about.

 

Don't get rattled when a kid challenges your authority. Repeat your instructions only twice, then have the TA calmly deliver the child to their parent for the rest of the class period. No exceptions, no drama.

 

Have an extra activity on hand at all times. Some projects that seem time consuming will surprise you and the kids will buzz through their work like lightning. One day that extra prep will come in handy.

 

Have a system in place to handle kids who finish early. Personally, I always provide a topical coloring/activity page for the kids to doodle on while I lecture, so I can always have the early finishers look through their notebook and work on anything that they hadn't yet completed.

[ElizabethB]

I taught "spelling and syllables," a 10 week version of spelling rules, Webster's speller excerpts, and syllable division. The basic plan is on my how to tutor page. The average reading grade level improvement was 1 to 2 grade levels per class, it depended on the kids.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/howtotutor.html

 

I had the parents do a before and after grade level test, and tested the few who didn't do the test in the first few minutes of the first and last class.

 

The last few classes I played word root bingo instead of my phonics concentration game, and the very last class we played Scrabble. If you are interested, I can find a link to my word roots and word root bingo later.

 

I found this class worked best if the kids were all at least 7 years old.

[ElizabethB]

I found my roots and root bingo:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/LangLessons/greeklatinroots.html

 

All I required the students to bring was a pencil, but I brought a box full of black pencils for when they forgot, they were easy to identify and scoop up once we transitioned from written work to end of class games.

 

Also, once I stopped the games 5 minutes early and let them sit and read or work quietly, big mistake, and they were normally very well behaved. Since then I keep them occupied until they are all gone.

 

I also had all their work in a folder, I collected up their work and Blend Phonics and Webster passages and word lists at the end of each class and only gave them their folders at the end of the class, then there is no chance of the folders getting lost.

 

For the word root bingo I used skittles and chocolate chips as markers and let them eat all but 16 of their markers while playing, the chocolate was enjoy life chips with no milk or soy and I asked parents about any food allergies before starting Bingo. I laminate the cards and reuse them.

[sassenach]

I have taught art for several years, which is amazing considering I don't have any artistic talent to speak of. What I did was use art teacher blogs. They are amazing! I truly had all I ever needed by teaching from blogs.

 

As far as classroom management, channel your grade school teachers. First day of co-op, I always give a mini-lesson on raising hands, asking to be excused, not talking when I'm talking, ect. I teach them a quiet queue (hand clapping, or in art I found it safer to flick the lights to signal their attention). After that, it's all about consistency. In my observations, I have found that some teachers have the classroom management gift, and some do not. Will you have a co-teacher? I think it's really important to have at least two teachers who are capable of leading the class, even if one of them is more of the lead planner. Kids get sick, things happen, you'll need a clear plan b.

 

I really enjoy teaching co-op classes. Have fun with it!

[MeAndTheBoys]

I have taught Five in a Row to 5 and 6 year olds twice and Draw Right Now to 7-9 year olds and those went well.  This year I taught a Lit class to 9-13 year olds--we di one book each semester and used reading guides like the ones Veritas sells--they read a chapter at home, and we discussed it the next week and did activities.

 

You've gotten great tips! 

 

Teach something that interests you--with Draw Right Now, we did a lot of animals, and I had fun getting library books and just sharing about the animals after we did our drawing and copywork.  With Lit this year--I love to read, and we pulled in a lot of history, geography, culture--things I had fun looking up and bringing in to do.

 

Have some activities in your bag of tricks for extra time at the end of class.  It's good to have some kind of organizing system for their paperwork--we put dividers in notebooks for lit, and each time they got a handout, we put it away in the right place.  Most of them had NO CLUE how to organize a notebook, so a little work on the front end was helpful all year, and they learned something about organizing.  For the little kids, we used a folder with prongs and put each day's work in there.

 

For little kids, if you do an ongoing subject like FIAR or Draw Right Now, keep their papers with YOU all semester in a prong folder--they LOVE to look back at previous weeks, and love to get a completed folder to take home at the end of the semester or year.  If you send the work home every week (or send the folder home), it gets lost & I don't think they get the same satisfaction as they do looking over it.

 

Random thoughts--have fun!  I'm not the most organized or the best planner, but I"m learning to enjoy the kids and material.  Oh, also, make a rough plan of the whole year or semester-but be prepared to diddle with it after the first few weeks when you see how it actually plays out.  Don't do a gazillion worksheets and try to find a way to get them to talk.  Show and tell, book reports--they loved doing that kind of stuff once they got comfortable with their peers, and it was good to get them comfortable talking in front of the class (and respectfully listening when it wasn't their turn).

 

Betsy

[Targhee]

Prepare well, but don't be bent on using it all (follow the flow of your class, take tangents, etc).

 

Don't expect them to do much outside of class.  It's better to set this expectation low, and be happily surprised when they tell you how they did related things outside of class.

 

Foster a love of learning - if these are not academic classes core to their education then you have a great liberty to focus on making a topic interesting and intriguing, and less school-room like.

 

Teach only what you really want to teach.  It's so hard to be motivated (and it shows in your teaching) about a topic you have no interest in.

 

The best classroom management tool is to be prepared.  Really, you can avoid so many discipline issues with a well designed lesson plan - this doesn't mean that you have every minute scheduled out (that's sure to backfire), but that you don't have slack time and you don't rely too heavily on a single modality or delivery method.

 

I use 1-2-3 Magic at home and with my classes of discipline (but really, it doesn't come up much).

 

Have fun!

[Momof3littles]

If possible, talk with your fellow parents about how disciplinary issues should be handled.  I think classroom management is one thing, but it is complicated by having parents in the vicinity.  Some parents don't want their child sent out of class, some want to know every thing their child does wrong, etc. In my first co-op teaching experience, I found a particular child very challenging.  As a small group of parents, we had to decide how we wanted other parents to handle our kids when they aren't listening and are being disruptive.  Some of our small co-op classes are only 15 to 30 mins, so having to discipline or deal with constant interruptions has a big impact on everyone else. 

 

Oh, and in terms of what to teach, we tend to focus in our co-op on academic content that is somewhat hard to get to otherwise.  We do science, art, poetry, etc.  We also do things like a lit circle that are harder to do at home.  That way they get some experience working in a group and discussing with a group of peers.

[Targhee]

Forgot: Ideas for Classes

 

SOTW projects (they would do everything else on their own)

 

LEGO (I am planning a class for the fall with objectives to build public speaking skills, good critique skills, and encouraging creative expression)

 

Math Circle - I taught one for 8-12 year olds this year, and will do one for 65-8 year olds next year. I have a lot of resources - PM if interested

 

Engineering - using the engineering design process to create solutions (lots of fun projects, lots of freedom to explore and experiment)

 

Book Circle - if you would like a framework for leading one you can check out LitWits or Jr. Great Books

 

Using Games to develop Logic and Reason

 

Art - this can be general or specific (e.g. a water color class)

 

Life Skills - knit, crochet, sew, bake, knots, carpentry, camping, survival skills, check book balancing, budgeting, bike repair, auto maintenance... you could go many directions with this