Paraeducator Scenarios by

klarosa8 — 2025-02-12 02:10:46 UTC

You have a paraeducator who is 30 years older than you, a mother herself, and often discusses her home experience with her children with you. She often tells you that she knows her way of responding to a student is the right way, because she has kids of her own. However, you have noticed that the way she is responding is not how you want her to. How do you get the paraeducator to put aside her practices as a mother and respond the way you want her to?

klarosa8 — 2025-02-12 02:11:16 UTC

You have a paraeducator that has been employed in the district for over 20 years. She has also worked with your students before you took the position. Therefore, she is always telling you how the previous teacher did things. She considers herself the expert in working with your students, and is not open to doing things in ways other than those with which she is familiar. What do you do?

klarosa8 — 2025-02-12 02:12:33 UTC

You have a paraeducator that is assigned to provide one-to-one services to a student in your classroom. The paraeducator travels everywhere with the student. Lately, you have noticed that the paraeducator is completing tasks for the student, even though the student already knows how to complete them. For example, you notice the paraeducator tie the student’s shoes, write down his homework, and get his lunch for him in the cafeteria. These are all things the student knows how to do. How do you address this?

klarosa8 — 2025-02-12 02:12:44 UTC

As the teacher, you have told your student to sit in the back of the room to start his homework. Your paraeducator joins the student in the back of the class and begins helping the student complete the homework. As you walk by, you overhear the paraeducator tell the student that he is “never going to use this information in life”, and “I don’t know why your teacher is making you do this”. How do you respond?

cb1029673_3 — 2025-02-13 21:48:36 UTC

Begin the conversation by showing appreciation for her experience as both a mother and an educator.
Emphasize that consistency in expectations and responses is crucial for students' success.
If your school has specific behavior management guidelines or intervention strategies, refer to those as the standard.
Address as many of these discussions BEFORE the instances occur.
- Lay out to them - in order for this to work effectively and for us to be a team- we have to agree that we are going to do things the same way (phones, for example).
Paras being from outside companies
Share specific instances where her responses didn’t align with your expectations, and provide alternative approaches.
Make it a two-way conversation where she feels heard while also reinforcing that the final decision on classroom management is yours.
If the behavior continues, have another conversation with documentation and involve administration if necessary.

2025-02-13 21:49:05 UTC

tap the paraeducator on the shoulder to redirect the comment being made about how the information is useless
talk to paraeducator one on one after the situation has occurred in a private environment
listen to the paraeducator's perspective on the situation before providing feedback
talk to student one on one to affirm them that the information they are learning in class is applicable and useful

2025-02-13 21:52:01 UTC

conversation about learned helplessness
- pull aside so they do not feel targeted
it may be occurring because of "saving time" and the adult doesn't want to hurt student's progress so important to build time to work on life skills and recognize student may need more time to complete tasks
speaking about prompting but not "overdoing" it and when to use it

2025-02-13 21:52:49 UTC

Collaborative meeting with everyone at first

Understand both sides of the issue, the para will have valauable knowledge

One to one meeting if the issue persists where you can go over specific classroom roles and procedures