Afterschool Answers

How do I get my students to complete their homework?  We offer homework help every day in the cafeteria but it seems like some students are just sitting there and never finish.

We all know that homework is the one thing parents want Afterschool programs to get done before the students go home – and this is a reasonable request.  To meet this need, many Afterschool programs have all the students sit down in a large room and take as much time as they want to get homework done.  The thought behind this strategy is good, but the fact is that it doesn’t really work.

Yes, I just said that unlimited homework time in the cafeteria does not get homework done!  Students talk to each other.  They get bored.  They get distracted.  They daydream.  And, they don’t get their questions answered quickly enough.  How many times have you seen a child laying with their head on the table and their hand in waving in the air waiting and waiting for help?

There is a better way!  The problem is that the focus is gone from homework time.  If there are three hours to get homework done, homework will take three hours.  So, how do we fix this?

Regain Focus

Divide your students into smaller groups and get them into smaller quiet rooms.  Then give them only one hour to complete their homework.  Stagger their schedule so some students do homework the first hour, some the second hour, and some the third hour.  Students will focus on their homework and finish because they know they only have limited time to work.

Get Professional Help

Hire one person like a credentialed teacher to help with homework.  With smaller groups, that person will be able to help the students who need help fairly quickly.  That person should know how to group students based on their assignments for the day and tutor several at a time if they have similar questions.

Eliminate Distractions

Have pencils and other supplies at the ready so time is not wasted on searching.  Keep all the students quiet and engaged.  Provide reading books and coloring sheets for those who are finished so they do not get bored and start talking.

You and your students do not need to be slaves to homework.  These changes may take time, but by changing your homework strategy you can really improve your program.  You can be more effective in helping students complete their homework accurately and you can free up more time for other wonderful activities.

For more specifics on how to make homework time a success you can check out my article, “Seven Secrets to Making the Most of Homework Time” on the Curricubits website.

Camille Diaz Homework Homework, Logistics, Scheduling

Thanks for your great ideas on hiring, it’s very helpful. What I would like to hear about is how to keep staff after you’ve hired them, and how to help them stay interested, involved and keep their energy high for the program?

The key to retaining staff and keeping them happy is building a community.  Here are some suggestions on how to begin.

Teambuilding Activities

Find a way to turn your staff into a team.  No, not by doing “teambuilding” exercises from a book, but by consistently doing things together that everyone enjoys.  In one of my entry level jobs, all five people in our office would have lunch together almost everyday.  It gave us a chance to talk and get to know each other.  Over time, that camaraderie translated to our work.  If one person was trying to finish a project, another would ask if they could help so everyone could leave on time.  Find something fun you and your staff can do together on a regular basis.

Provide Useful Training

Most of your group leaders are not planning Read more…

Camille Diaz Staffing leadership, staff retention, staff training

Camille, I loved your post on conducting an interview.  Could you give us a sample of the questions you used in your group leader interviews?

You mean could I post the exact questions we used so you can copy them?  Of course!  Glad to help.  Just make sure you edit them to fit your program specifically, so you will get the most out of your interviews.

On our interview sheets we included notes to ourselves to make sure the interviews ran smoothly and we didn’t forget anything important.  Those notes are in italics.  The basics were included at the top: name, date, two phone numbers.  We also included a little note to self, “May we leave a message at this number?”

1.  Review application and ask any relevant questions. Then say the following …

You have applied for a position as a youth leader. This means you would be responsible for a group of 17 – 20 elementary school students. We would train you on curriculum and behavior management before you begin. Your schedule, lessons, and materials will be provided for you. Your job will be like a teacher.

We are hiring for positions Read more…

Camille Diaz Staffing hiring staff, interview questions, interviews, staff testing

Hiring Part 1: The Application

Hiring Part 2: Testing

Hiring Part 3: The Interview

Hiring Part 4: The Decision

Now that you have put in so much time and effort into testing and interviewing your newest batch of potential group leaders, how do you choose who to hire?  First, make sure you have a folder for each applicant with everything related to that person in it including their application, test, and all of your interview notes.  Then have everyone involved in the interview process sit down together and review each applicant.

 To speed up the decision process, start with your “no’s”.  Run through your list and separate out anyone who is definitely out.  Then move to the definite “yes” pile.  Are there any standouts that you don’t need to discuss much?  Now it’s time to consider the “maybe” pile.  Review their entire folder with the group.  Ask those who completed the interview with that person to share their views.  If the group is split, there is one question that you can ask to help move the process along. Read more…

Camille Diaz Staffing hiring staff

Hiring Part 1: The Application

Hiring Part 2: Testing

Hiring Part 3: The Interview

Think about your interview process for your potential group leaders.  Is it just you asking your interviewee about their experience working with children?  If so, it is time to make some changes.  In his book Topgrading, hiring expert Bradford Smart teaches top business executives how and why it is necessary to conduct structured, in-depth interviews to hire the very best people for their company.  Stop thinking of your program as an “organization” and start thinking of your Afterschool Program as your business.  Think about what kind of people you want working for your company and what kind of service you want to provide to your customers.  I’m thinking that you want the very best group leaders so you can provide the very best service to your students.

With that in mind, here are some ideas on how to structure your interviews. Read more…

Camille Diaz Staffing hiring staff, interviews

Hiring Part 1: The Application

Hiring Part 2:  Testing

Before you start hiring staff for your Afterschool program you will need to decide what you want those people to do.  Is their job just to supervise while the kids play?  Probably not.  Most likely you want them to help with homework, lead science and art lessons, read aloud, handle basic behavior issues, and keep students safe, happy and engaged throughout the day.  Now that’s great, but are you checking for any of these skills during your hiring process or are you just asking a few basic questions and giving them the job?

For now, I’m just going to address the homework part of that wish list – I’ll get to the rest later.  So, if you want your staff to help students with their homework, you need to make sure they can do the assignments, too.  How do you figure this out?  You need to set up a test.  Ask every applicant you are considering to complete this test before they even get to the interview.  Remember, the corporate world tests applicants all the time.  Afterschool can, too.

To create the test, Read more…

Camille Diaz Staffing hiring staff, staff testing

At a recent conference I had the opportunity to talk at length with several people about the staff in their Afterschool programs.  I found that the biggest problems they faced were all the same: high turnover and under qualified group leaders.  With that in mind, I am writing a series of posts on hiring and maintaining quality staff.  First, there is something important that I would like you to keep in mind.

A great team of Afterschool staff doesn’t just happen by itself.  You must create it.

Now, on to the first step…

Hiring Part 1:  The Application

The application for a group leader for your program is probably pretty simple.  That’s good.  It doesn’t need to be complicated.  Just make sure it is asking the questions you need to know.  For example, most of our applicants were college students who had changing schedules.  In the beginning, new group leaders would make it to the interview or even get hired and then they would tell us that they had to be in class every Tuesday and Thursday until 4:00 pm but they could work Wednesday mornings.  As you know, that schedule is not suitable for Afterschool.  We quickly learned that we needed to ask if applicants were available everyday Monday – Friday from 2:00 pm until 6:30 pm.

Here are the questions from our interview sheet.  You can use this as a starting point and make adjustments to fit your needs. Read more…

Camille Diaz Staffing hiring staff

How do I save money on materials for our afterschool program?  It seems like we’re always running out.

Materials are always a struggle for afterschool programs.  You want to get good materials for your students but they are expensive and your budge it limited.  When you do spend the money the materials disappear in less than a week and you are right back where you started.  You already know about shopping around for bargains, so here are three more strategies to help you make the most of your supply dollars.

1. Repurpose

Find ways to use the same materials for different activities.  For example if you purchase a specialty item like a set of pastel chalks you can have your students can use them to draw mountains when you teach a Geology theme and again to make leaf rubbings when you teach a Plants theme. Read more…

Camille Diaz Materials budget, Logistics, Materials, supplies