In many ways, the core of the Flex Academies experience is the wonderful afterschool teachers that instruct our kids. Flex is proud of the strong relationships we have built with a wide variety of afterschool activity teachers and our vendor partners, that are mutually beneficial to Flex students, their families, their schools, and to the vendors themselves.

Increasingly, Flex is being approached by schools who would like their own classroom teachers to become Flex afterschool teachers and teach a Flex activity at their school. Many classroom teachers have special areas of expertise and passion that they would love to share with their students. For example, a teacher may love computer programming, so he or she will offer a scratch programming or game design course through Flex. This arrangement can benefit both the program and the teacher.

How teachers benefit the program

Classroom teachers bring a number of great advantages to their work for Flex in teaching enrichment classes:

• They know the kids – The classroom teachers are already working with many of the school’s students during the school day, so joining Flex in the afterschool time is a great way for teachers to expand their relationships with kids. The teachers already know their kids’ personalities, their predispositions and their learning styles, which are great assets for any instructor in a Flex class.
• The kids know them – As much as the teachers know the kids, the kids also know their teachers and the kids want to take additional classes with their favorite teachers. As a result, Flex has found that some of the most popular classes we offer are the ones led by a school’s classroom teachers.
• They know the school and its community – The classroom teachers also have intimate knowledge of the school: the building, its staff and its families. As a result, the afterschool teacher-vendors become a great resource for Flex in managing the entire Flex program throughout the school year.

How teaching in the program benefits teachers

We have heard from many of our afterschool teacher-vendors that they see great benefits for themselves in teaching a Flex class:

• Better relationships with kids – Teaching a Flex class gives classroom teachers the ability to expand and improve their personal relationships with the school’s students. Being able to connect with kids in a more informal afterschool environment provides the teachers with another tool for building their student relationships which can have a positive impact on their work with students during the school day.
• Extra income – Teaching a Flex class is also a great way for a classroom teacher to increase personal income in a meaningful way. We all know that teachers are underpaid, so becoming a teacher-vendor in a Flex program gives classroom teachers a way to address this issue and increase personal earnings in a fun, flexible way.
• Fun! – Every teacher knows that it is a lot of fun to teach a class related to a subject they love and are passionate about. By teaching a Flex class, teacher-vendors get a chance to combine their avocation and their profession, their hobbies and their jobs. This is fun stuff for our afterschool teacher-vendors, and Flex loves giving them the opportunity to teach a Flex class on something they are passionate about.

Want to join the Flex team?
Is your school (or are you) interested in offering quality afterschool programs for your students? Become a part of the Flex team today! Learn how by contacting us. We’d love to talk to you about the benefits of being a Flex partner or afterschool teacher.