Gazing at the blank laptop screen before me, I could practically feel the fibers of the muscles within my eyes strain to maintain focus. The late night creaks and thuds of the house settling echoed loudly; you could virtually feel the darkness of the other rooms looming just outside the windows and doorways that adjoined my workroom. I glanced, again at the time in the bottom corner of the screen. 11:23 PM. Almost another day done. After a particularly long and taxing Monday at the elementary school within which I worked as a special education paraeducator, I now sat perched before my computer, my fingers tentatively poised over the keys in another pause in the writing flow, which was one of several throughout the night, still hoping to find
The weight of the responsibility was palpable. I found that by focusing on the descriptions of how the student is supported within each job responsibility and brief points of duration and recurrence of supports provided imagery of just how involved this position was in comparison to mainstream support. Doing so gave the panel an understanding of technical aspects while providing insight into the intense physical and emotional demands of the job without coming across as a complaint or in a disgruntled manner. Also recognizing that as people in the position of making districtwide decisions, the demands on their time are immense. As such, I judiciously selected my words and focal points so that my presentation was cogent and showed the benefits of differentiating positions for the paraeducators involved, and at the heart of it all, the students for which they
It’s common to observe teachers and parapeducators working together in an educational setting. Paparaeducators are tasked with numerous roles, which includes spending 47% of their time instructing (Carter, O’Rourke, Sisco, & Pelsue, D, 2009). However, paraeducators remain inadequately trained and supervised to perform many of these tasks, whereas teachers have not received any training on how to supervise paraeducators working in their classroom. (Dettmer, Knackendoffel, Thurston, 2013) After several informal conversations and one formal interview with a teacher and paraprofessional, I was able to explore the perspective that each role had about their school and relationship. The interview participants were working at a low-income alternative high school, with 90-95% of the students being Hispanic males, and 30-50% having documented special needs. During reflection, I researched strategies to improve teacher
The utilization of paraprofessionals continues to increase as they play an important part in public education’s delivery of educational services to students with disabilities. These same paraprofessionals, however, report challenges with lack of understanding of roles and responsibilities and do not receive adequate training in evidence-based practices and therefore often struggle to deliver instruction with fidelity. The results of this study suggest that a teacher-delivered training package may be one possible way in which these aforementioned issues may be approached. Although research is limited on teacher delivery of training to paraprofessionals, this study provides a promising option to help districts move away from the current model of one-and-done workshops. Future research should focus on developing more streamlined teacher-delivered training to paraprofessionals and also the fidelity with which those training packages are delivered. Especially important will be the exploration of what evidence-based practices would have the highest value in those trainings, and how they can be delivered efficiently, in order to promote paraprofessional implementation fidelity and their understanding of job roles and
Teacher Interview(s): according to Ms. Special Ed, a ten-year veteran of special education who started her career at age twenty-nine, proportionally, 35.4 percent of S.H.E. students have an Individualized Education Program, in conformity with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, herein IDEA. In Windham County, the average public school has 18.6 percent of its student population considered to be learning disabled; S.H.E. has a noticeably higher percentage of students with learning disabilities, compared not only with Windham County, but Connecticut overall, as the average public school in the state is populated by 26.4% of its elementary students with learning disabilities. Further, more males than females at S.H.E. have learning disabilities with a ratio of 10.1% of females to 25.3% of males in the special education program. For the this specific field experience study relating to Students X & Y, both six-year old males, S.H.E. “offers” seven special education teachers and 13 paraprofessional instructional assistants who “service” the special needs of exceptional students including speech services, behavior interventionists and dedicated special education
The students in our classrooms, both special education and general education classrooms, require individualized education to reach their full potential. Each child’s potential is different just as each child’s road to reach it is different. Our job as teachers is to be there for the student’s to help them reach their potential through their own unique way.
In order to help students develop these meaningful relationships there must first be a base of communication and collaboration between teachers, parents and paraeducators who all share a stake in supporting and empowering students with and without disabilities. Downing and Peckham-Hardin found that both teachers and parents cited communication and working as a team were essential for truly inclusive education. Some of the most important components of this communication and team work ...
English has never been my best subject. Reading books can be exciting, but the writing aspect of English can be dreadful. Somehow, however, I passed all my advanced English classes with at least a B, and my teachers always considered me to be “above average.” My impartiality toward English shifted to an indifference near the end of my high school career; my indifference then shifted to appreciation. This appreciation is attributed to American Studies and Honors Writing, the most difficult English classes at Belleville East Township High School. American Studies and Honors Writing have strengthened my writing skills beyond what I believed possible. I still do not believe that I am the best writer, and English may never be my best or favorite
Two years ago, I embarked on a journey that would teach me more than I had ever imagined. As a recent college graduate, I was thrilled to finally begin my teaching career in a field I have always held close to my heart. My first two years as a special education teacher presented countless challenges, however, it also brought me great fulfillment and deepened my passion for teaching students with special needs. The experiences I have had both before and after this pivotal point in my life have undoubtedly influenced my desire to further my career in the field of special education.
When we were first given this assignment I had not put much consideration into it. I thought we were to ask a couple of questions, it would all work itself out and I would be done. But this was not the case. The thought and reflection put into interview questions really surprised me. There was far more factors other than the questions you were asking, because you were also dealing with people, people who are giving you there free time, their attention and opening themselves up to you a stranger, so there were far more responsibilities then what were initially at hand.
Over the course of the semester, I feel that I have grown as a writer in many ways. When I came into the class, there were skills I had that I already excelled at. During my time in class, I have come to improve on those skills even more. Before I took this class I didn’t even realise what I was good at. This is the first class where I felt I received feedback on my writing that helped me to actually review my work in see what areas I lacked in and where I succeeded. Some of the skills I had shocked me as I didn’t think I had those capabilities in me.
In every work place you will find employees who are happy with what they do and employees who are just there to complain and collect a paycheck. My topic for this discussion will cover job dissatisfaction.
During my work experience at , I was fortunate enough to have experienced firsthand and learned, many different sides of what goes into a project, the general process of how a project is initially planned, developed and completed; as well as how much work and detail goes into every stage. Another valuable lesson I have learned during these 12 weeks, were the many different types of work an Engineer has to perform, which in turn, have provided me with more insight into the different types of roles and responsibilities that I could perform, as a Civil Engineer.
As it relates to special education, modeling is beneficial for general education teachers. Most general education teachers do not receive the same specialized training as specialists. That being said, special education teachers have a duty of supplying the general education teacher with unknown information. This can be achieved through teacher mentoring. Teacher mentoring is a strategy to increase retention and bolster teacher quality, particularly in hard-to-staff areas such as special education (Moses, 2011). Special education positions are becoming increasingly scarce and it is imperative that the current special educators actively help general education teachers understand the policies of special education. At issue is whether practices in both special and general education teacher mentoring follow formal policies (Moses, 2011). This means that there are questions about the regulation of the mentoring process. To begin, special educators should make efforts to convey a message of collaboration to general education teachers. When conveying information, specialists should use empathic listening skills and have an authentic desire to help (Eccleston, 2010). Listening efforts should be put forth to make certain that all parties are heard and no person is
As I ponder over my personal professional development experiences as an educator the realization of how one has developed over time is personally satisfying. Educating children especially children with special needs is a challenge within its self. As a teacher it is important that this writer makes a positive influence with students. There are going to be certain ideas that one tries to uphold and other discriminations that one will not allow. Everyone has their own beliefs teachers should do what is necessary not to infringe on others, but show children different way to think so that they have all the information needed to make educated choices. Children are open-minded they have not yet had to deal with or understand the injustices that they will encounter. If children are taught from an early age they will have the ability to succeed especially children with special needs as an educator my main goal is teaching the purpose of public schools, and education reform. It is my purpose to influence children and be positive influence.
Much like Benjamin Franklin believed, I feel that a person should take advantage of the time the person has in life with activities a person wants to do or needs to do. A person should not spend much time on activities the person does not want to do. Life is way too short to concern oneself with work or other activities one wants nothing to do with all the time. When possible, I try to forget about my responsibility and just let go of the ‘things’ that do not matter to me. I think a person should try to occupy oneself with something productive, worthwhile, or necessary at all times. Even though a person’s life is left up to a person to live, I cannot imagine thinking that I owe my time to society through working a job that I simply despise. I am a compassionate person, but I do not owe anyone anything regarding my time.
MY RESPONSE: A job analysis should include in every human resource function, because it supports the business strategy, analyzes employees’ performance, and broadcasts the future developments. This practice helps to identify the needs for specific skills, and it's a useful tool for hiring, promotion, and training. For instance, when performing an assessment, you are looking not only for a job performance, you can identify a specific behavior or areas of possible improvements. The job assessment helps to identify additional needs for enhancement or correction. There is a correlation between managers and employees, and collected data will help to determine the internal environment and how good the relationship is. For example, during training,