Successful Teamwork with Paraprofessionals

In Jerry: (Para) Professionals, Part One from CEC Blog, Jerry shares,

“Many paraprofessionals who assist with instructional tasks do not receive the training that they need so that they can be successful at these tasks.” (Keller, Bucholz, Brady, 2007).

Then he asks,

“…reflect upon your own relationship with the adults in your classroom. Have you encouraged them to be everything they can be? Have you set them up for success or failure? Have you communicated clearly what you expect of them every day? Are they props? Are they copy machine jockeys? Or are they valued members of your team who are treated as professionals, are expected to work, and understand the importance of the work you are doing?:

The relationship between teacher and paraprofessionals has always been important to me. It is important because it makes an impact on my students and may determine the success of the classroom.

I started fresh out of college teaching my first special ed self contained class. This poor class had suffered through three teachers in one year and the only constant they had was the paraprofessional who had been there for the past seven years. Needless to say, students (and possibly the administration) felt the real authority in the classroom was this paraprofessional who they felt they could count on. Here I come with brand newfangled ideas and no experience to “cure the ills of the world!” Or so I thought. Thankfully I had an extremely patient paraprofessional who was patient and supportive enough to let me try my new ideas. Some worked and some didn’t but not once did she ever say “I told you so!” But I know that I was one of the lucky new teachers. Not everyone had someone like this to begin their career with and support them.

Fast forward to many years later when I became the department head for the largest special ed department in the county and was involved in the hiring process. I was involved in interviewing teachers and paraprofessionals for the department. (I just interviewed and gave my recommendations but didn’t make the final decision of course). Before interviewing the paraprofessionals, I sat down with the teacher(s) and asked what their expectations were. What did they want this person to do? What did they need this person to do? What characteristics were important to them? How did they expect this person to deal with conflicts with the students or the teacher? These are important things to hash out before you hire a paraprofessional. It is important for the person coming into the job to know what to expect.

Many people think that paraprofessionals are just babysitters and that is absolutely untrue. I was lucky enough throughout my career to have awesome paraprofessionals who were supportive and extremely vital to the success of my program.

I think it is important for a teacher to become the leader or guide for the paraprofessional but not be a dictator. Each morning I had a list of things I needed this person to do. I put stars besides the things that were the most important or needed to be done immediately. This helped the person know the plans for the day.

It is important not to take for granted that this person knows how to do what I ask. I need to make sure I train this person to do things the way I want them to do it but not be condescending as I train them. Usually the requirements for the paraprofessional are not very high (usually a high school diploma and no criminal record get them the job). Basic educational level does not indicate low intelligence and teachers should not treat them this way. Different teachers have certain ways of doing things and it is important to train the paraprofessionals for doing this. We cannot expect them to be mind readers.

I also made sure I had time each day for the parapro to give me input. Sometimes this person would see things from a different perspective and asking for input shows that I valued this person as a member of the team.

I also made sure that this person knew how much I appreciated all that was being done. I was aware of the pay scale and knew this person was not getting paid enough for all that I asked but they chose to do the job anyway. A little appreciation can go a long way.

Image: 'Businesswoman consulting a partner'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47494486@N03/5036313154
Found on flickrcc.net

Successful Supervision of Paraeducators in Special Education

I attended this session presented by Dr. Laura Mohr of Mohr Educational Associates at the SC Council for Exceptional Children conference this past weekend and really thought this was an awesome presentation. I don’t think teachers get enough training about supervising Paraeducators. I’m not sure that there is a course in college that covers this at all. When I was a brand new teacher, I was hired for a self contained class and suddenly had a paraeducator. Not only didn’t I have any clue about being a teacher, but all of a sudden I’m a supervisor! I’m really glad to see presentations like this because I see a real need for them.

Here are my notes from this session:

Para means “along side of.”

A paraeducator is one who works with and under the supervision of a professional educator.

Research on Teacher’s Supervision and Training of Paraeducators:
1. “Frequency of meetings” is single indicator of quality supervision.
2. Length of teaching experience did not predict supervisory skills.
3. Formal education plus inservice training predicted supervisory skills.
4. Teachers didn’t want to supervise even though they valued help of Paraeducators.
5. Teachers were reluctant to supervise because they didn’t do written plans or hold sit-down meetings, yet were dissatisfied with communication between Paraeducators and themselves.
6. Teachers reported they had scheduled no time to plan.
7. 30% of teachers reported they never had “face to face” with Paraeducators.

Supervision requires “face to face” contact, planning for and with the paraeducator.

Teacher Competencies for Paraeducator Supervision:
1. Communicating with Paraeducators
2. Planning and scheduling with Paraeducators
3. Providing instructional support
4. Managing the work of Paraeducators
5. Providing on-the-job training
6. Delegating appropriate tasks

Professional Roles of the Teacher
1. Assessment
2. Planning
3. Instructing/Managing
4. Collaborating and Consulting
5. Supervising Paraeducators

Paraeducator Roles
1. Assist and contribute in these ways:
2. Collect student data/chart frequency of behaviors for teacher to use in assessment and decision making
3. Provide instructional support as directed by teacher
4. Manage student behavior according to teacher plans
5. Modify and adapt instructional materials based on directions from special and/or general ed teachers
6. Assist with clerical/housekeeping tasks, organizing and maintaining the environment and personal care

Paraeducator Competencies:
Council for Exceptional Children has a CEC Knowledge and Skill Base for All Beginning Special Education Paraeducators
1. Foundations of Exceptional Children
2. Development and Characteristics of Learners
3. Individual Learning Differences
4. Instructional Strategies
5. Learning Environments and Social Interactions
6. Language
7. Instructional Planning
8. Assessment

Handouts included:
1. Educator and Paraeducator Communication Inventory
2. Schedule and information Planning for the paraeducator
3. Educator/Paraeducator Planning (Duties for staff)
4. Work Style Preferences
5. Problem Solving Vignette
6. Educator and Paraeducator: Complementary Roles
7. Paraeducator - Student Support Plan

My thoughts:

I thought this was an excellent session! I will use this information to share with others and also use it in my graduate class. I think the more training given to teachers, the more successful the students will be.

What suggestions do you have with working with a paraeducator? Please share!

Original Image by Pat Hensley

Stop Paying for Teaching Assistants!

I recently read the Parent-Paid Aides Ordered Out of City Schools from NYT > Home Page by WINNIE HU that states,

“As classrooms grow more crowded, New York public schools have been told to stop independently hiring teaching assistants with money raised by parents.”

For me, this brings up a lot of questions and concerns. I am a big advocate of having parents in the school as much as possible. Of course I know that many teachers and administrators will slam me on this but I feel the good will more than outweigh the bad. By encouraging parents to be involved in the school day, we can build community support and understanding. So many teachers keep complaining that parents don’t understand what it is like in the classroom, so I say we let them see what it is really like. I don’t understand why the department of education is so against these aides because the parents are paying for them. Are they afraid the aides will report something to the parents? If we are doing our jobs, we should not care how many people are observing us and seeing what we are doing. We should be transparent to all the stake holders which will help when we ask for more money to do the things we believe we need to do in order for our students to be successful.

I would love to have more aides available in the school. Why should I care who pays for them? I remember when I was in high school (many many years ago) and there were parents all around the school. My friend’s mother was the bathroom monitor at lunch to keep girls from smoking in the bathroom. I have no idea if she was paid for this duty or just volunteered for this horrible job but she was there every day. Each year it seems as if teachers are required to do more and more paperwork in addition to the other time consuming tasks as well as teach quality lessons. If there were more aides to take some of the load off the teachers, maybe the teachers would have more time to be creative and innovative rather than burned out. I have had an aide who ran off papers, organized materials, and filed papers as well as reinforcing skills with individual students.

The article goes on to say:

“Supplemental fund-raising from parent groups has long raised questions of fairness. While the ability to provide extras — teaching assistants, books, computers and art supplies, enrichment programs — has helped keep middle-class families in urban public schools, it also can make it more difficult for schools in poor neighborhoods to compete.”

It seems to make sense that if the parents are paying for aides in some schools, then there would be more money in the pot to hire aides in other schools. Once again the government doesn’t seem to be doing what is in the best interest of the child, and is more interested in politics. I have no problem with the aides (no matter who pays their salary) having to undergo security and fingerprint checks at all.

Maybe I’m missing something here but this seems like a step backwards for our students and not forward. Having more aides would allow students to get more attention, more help, enable the teacher to do more things, lower teacher burn out, and improve the school community. What do you think?

Original image: 'Stop' http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035555243@N01/34111459 by: Thomas Hawk