Parents as Experts in the Classroom

No doubt about it – teachers are masters at crafting academic content so that its relatable to students. They can take the mundane in numbers, work their magic, and teach kids how to multiply fractions. And they can take drab characters, shine a light on them and all of a sudden, these characters become our kids’ best friends. Simply put, teachers are truly inspirational! Sometimes, though, parents are tempted to think that the teacher is the only one that can be in command of student learning in the classroom. The truth is that teachers embrace all experts to enlighten their students and would be more than happy to welcome your experience and expertise in the classroom! So, what are some topics you could present to students?

Your Cultural Heritage

Is there a favorite cultural holiday or family tradition that you celebrate? Why is it meaningful to you? What value does this holiday or tradition embrace? What do you do and what are some of the items used during the celebration? You may be the first person to share your cultural heritage with one of your child’s classmates.

An Art Demonstration or Activity

Children deserve access to arts education in all its forms, whether it be music, photography, painting, dance, or arts and craft. Is there a hobby or talent that you want to introduce to children? Share your talent, spark some interest, and inspire the next generation!

Your Love of Cooking

Cooking together is one of the best community building activities there is! Not only is everyone looking forward to eating the yummy food together, there’s always a lot of camaraderie while preparing food. And yes, cooking can be academic – there’s math in measuring ingredients and chemistry in the cooking process!

Your Love of Sports

Kids of all ages love to play games, however, most kids are still developing physical skills. It would go a long way in securing a child’s love for a sport if an adult would spend some physical education time to show them some techniques. Let kids know there’s plenty of physics in sports, too, like the trajectory of a basketball into the basket or the force it would take to hit a baseball for a home run.

A Lesson on Financial Literacy

Why not teach kids how to save money and balance a check book? These are just basic addition and subtraction skills, but it’s never too early to teach the value of saving money and delayed gratification when it comes to spending money. How about this for a fun class activity? If the teacher agrees to this idea, let the class know you’ll assign money to points the class can earn for good behavior. At the end of a designated time period, the class will convert those points and get “paid” in money. They can then have a follow-up lesson on civics and budgeting: they must come to a consensus on whether their money can buy popsicles or pizza for a class party.

Talk to your child’s teacher about ways to bring your expertise to the classroom! What might you add to this list?

Jaime