Educating America: 101 Effective Strategies for Adult Assistants in K-8 Classrooms | Teacher's Aide Guide | Classroom Management & Student Support Tips

Educating America ... is most valuable to me as a retired volunteer who works directly with first grade students twice a week. Among the many things I learned from Eger's book was how to give "genuine" praise, to carry a pocket activity, and how to handle transitions. My only warning is that the book can be very scary, too, because there is so much I did not know when I first started helping. I worry that if I had had the book prior to naively committing to help and actually doing so, I might have been frightened off (not by any error in the book) from trying.Because of my background I was asked to work on math tasks provided by the teacher (mostly with 3 or 4 students at a time). I have never been in an elementary school classroom as an adult, and have no formal education training. So this book was extremely valuable to me but it does not cover everything. For me, the common core curriculum is/was new and I needed to research CC elsewhere online.My teacher is often unable to prepare me in advance of the task for each day and that is the most challenging aspect for me. Having worked with this class for most of a single year I have gained a great appreciation for how hard my teacher's work is and I can see why she may not be able to give me such information. I really like working with her and she has told me repeatedly how helpful I am. My teacher has also been an excellent listener when I have given feedback on individual student performance and on tasks I have suggested. I look forward to continuing and repeating this volunteer work.