Defining Team Roles and Responsibilities

(gentle upbeat music) - Hey, y'all. It's Ayo here. Let's talk about roles and responsibilities. It's really tough starting a school year with your team. There's just not enough time to get ready before the students arrive. On top of all the physical space that needs to be set up, there's a ton of paperwork and plus I'm planning to do. You've also gotta take some time to get your team on the same page, and that can be hard. Most of the time, you don't have a hand in who's on your team. You may be a vet teacher with a seasoned paraprofessional or a pair of newbies just trying to figure things out. Whatever your team make up, there's one thing you'll want to do for sure. You'll need to decide on your roles and responsibilities. Now, that sounds overwhelming, but it's an easier conversation to have than you think. By talking things through and establishing expectations, you can set your team up to run better over the long haul. But what do you talk about? (Ayo chuckles) Before you sit down, brainstorm all the parts of the job for the teacher and parts of the paraprofessional's job duties in and out of the classroom. You'll want to include instructional tasks that are specific to your content, grade level, and classroom. Then, think about the students. What are their instructional needs? What are their personal care needs or medical needs? Finally, consider the responsibilities that each of you have outside of the classroom. This might be lunch, bus, or recess duty. It could be attending meetings or communicating with team members and completing paperwork. After you have this great list, meet up with your team, either individually or all together, to talk about what responsibilities you see them assuming and which ones you'll take on yourself. As you talk about what falls to each person on the team, it's a great opportunity to clarify and hash out what is and what is not part of each person's role on the team. Now, once you have all that worked out, take one more minute to talk about interpersonal expectations. I worked with a paraprofessional who could not stand vomit. When it came to blood, glitter, and other messes, she was all in, but for her, the line was drawn at vomit. Knowing this upfront and having the conversation meant that at the first sign of a student beginning to vomit, I knew when she ran out of the room, it was not to get them up. Being on the same team and having these conversations really helps to establish who is doing what and clarify what our expectations are within our roles and responsibilities. So having these conversations is a great way to set the foundation for you and your team. This is Ayo, reminding you to stay strong and teach on. (gentle upbeat music)