Paraprofessionals in Special Education

Have you ever wondered how to effectively utilize your special education paraprofessional?

I’m excited to introduce this week’s guest blogger: Whitney from Rooted in Resource to talk all about utilizing your paraprofessionals!

Before I became a special education teacher, I was a paraprofessional for three years. I remember going to school to become a teacher all while working as a professional and I told myself I would remember this experience as a para so I would always be able to put myself in their shoes when I became a teacher. Here are 6 tips to effectively utilize your paraprofessionals.

1. Be Prepared and Organized

Another way to effectively utilize your paraprofessional is to be prepared and organized. Paraprofessionals are conditioned to go with the flow. Something unexpected comes up and you must be able to roll with it.

However, if the norm is walking into a classroom to support the teacher and the teacher is constantly unprepared, not organized, and is throwing stuff together last minute it can be incredibly frustrating.

It can be difficult for the paraprofessional to know what questions they need to ask, what the objective is and what is expected. Plan ahead, know how you are going to utilize the para in advance and be considerate of the individual who is there to support you.

2. Data Data Data Collecting

        As a special education teacher your life revolves around data so ensuring you have the appropriate data needed is imperative. Train your para how to take data and go into it in detail. If you have to provide your para some training then set aside time to do so, it will be worth it! Allow the assistant to be your data keeper and get them invested in it as much as you are. This will help you tremendously! Make sure to effectively utilize your paraprofessional by having them take data.

3. Empower your Paraprofessionals

        Working with students can be such a rewarding job! As a teacher we have those moments where we are so proud of the students, those moments where they finally grasp a concept, they make progress, they do something out of nowhere that they couldn’t do before, it can be exciting and definitely be the highlight of your day. With that said, empower your paraprofessionals.

Find those teaching moments where they too can learn more about special education, teach them tips and tricks for working with your students. If you empower them and allow them to shine, your classroom will be functioning so smoothly and the students will have amazing adults working effectively and supporting them and those paraprofessionals will have the confidence they need to shine and impact the students alongside you.

By empowering them, you are creating a power team that will be all stars in the classroom.

4. Realistic Expectations

        Nothing is worse than being a paraprofessional and feeling like you did a bad job, you failed, you didn’t measure up and that you aren’t helping. To avoid this, as a teacher, you want to make sure you have realistic expectations. The key word here is realistic. It’s important to have expectations but it’s more important that they are realistic. Think about the paraprofessionals ability level and make sure what you are asking is realistic. Consider the time frame, their knowledge, their capability, and any other factors you see fit.

5. Delegate

        I know you are probably a rockstar teacher and you are more than capable and can just get it done yourself. Do yourself a favor and delegate that workload. There’s no need to run around stressed out, overwhelmed, and staying at school late. Delegate the workload. Trust your paraprofessional. Train them if you must but hand off some of those tasks that are on your to do list. The paraprofessional is there to support you and support the students, allow them to be that person for you in the classroom. They want to feel needed. They want to help, give them that opportunity and you may surprise yourself with how freeing it can be to not have to do it all on your own all the time.

6. Clear Guidance

When delegating the work, it is important to set clear guidelines. This goes back to the realistic expectations. I have my paraprofessional do a huge portion of my data collecting. Make sure to train your paraprofessional to create their own schedule to get it done. When delegating the work, it is important to let them know exactly how they need to do it and the time frame. As a teacher it’s important we stick to what guidelines we stated. If it’s a recurring task, keep it consistent and allow your word to be reliable. 

Conclusion

I have found these to be incredibly helpful for me and my paraprofessionals. Do weekly check-ins to review the data and ensure it is being done correctly. Make sure to review that information yourself. The check-ins also allow the paraprofessionals to ask any questions they need. If you need to do daily check-ins to start, do that, whatever works best for you! I hope these tips are as helpful to you and your paraprofessional as they have been for me!

Read more about a special education paraprofessional binder, here!

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