One of the parts of teaching that I struggled with the most early in my career was how to make the most of my paraprofessionals.
It’s honestly such a blessing to have aides in your classroom and I found that some years I was fighting my case as to why I needed an extra set of hands (I’d say that 50% or more of my class having IEP’s was justifiable).
As a student teacher, my cooperating teacher encouraged me to tell the support teacher exactly what I needed her to do and work her into my planning process.
At the time, this was the last thing on my mind with trying to even come up with lesson plans and preparing for observations and all of the other things that student teachers do that they aren’t compensated for (don’t even get me started on that).
Anyway, it took me a few years to learn how to effectively use the paraprofessionals that I worked with and how to navigate the challenges that come with paraprofessionals that are self-proclaimed “not math people.”
Set Clear Expectations for Paraprofessionals
It’s so important for you and any support teacher that you have to have clear and open communication about how they can best support you and the students.
I’ve had paraprofessionals that sit in the back of my classroom and make comments under their breath about how disrespectful the students are being or yell at students for talking while I was teaching.
Now, if you want the support teachers to just keep an eye on behaviors and keep your students in line, then this is a great way to use them. However, if you’re anything like me, this was not the vibe I wanted for my classroom. It did not build relationships and get students to trust them and they honestly weren’t helping my students be any more successful.
Instead, try these strategies:
1. Give them clear direction about where you want them to sit in your classroom, so that they can be the most helpful to as many students as possible.
Would it make more sense for them to be in the back of the room? Do you want them to be in the middle and accessible to all students? Is there a specific student that they should be working with?
2. Explain what you want them to do while you are teaching a whole group lesson.
Do you want them to be circling the back of the room and redirecting students? Do you want them to take notes, so that they can actually help your students when they go to practice on their own?
3. Add them to all emails that you send to special educators, administrators, and counselors, so that you are all on the same page. It will make your life so much easier if they know what is going on so you don’t have to try to explain all the conversations and new plans that have been created.
4. Give them copies of all papers and answer keys. One thing that I’ve loved about having paraprofessionals in the past is the fact that they are super organized. They have all of the papers from class neatly organized and if one of their students is ever missing something they can just go run and make a copy of it.
Giving them access to answer keys is essential, as well, because they can serve as another person to check student work. This will cut the line at your desk in half.
5. When you’re doing work in small groups, assign your support teacher to a certain group of students or an activity. This increases accountability for your students and allows you to be more focused with the small group that you are with to give them the individualized attention that they need.
Open communication is the most important part of working with support teachers. If they don’t know what you want or need from them, then you are setting them up to not be able to meet your expectations. Just tell them what you want their support to look like in your classroom and how they can help you the most.