I am often asked about the best ways to utilize the talents, and the presence, of paraprofessionals in the classroom. While not teachers, there are a myriad of things that the paraprofessional can do to maximize their presence, and their contributions to student success, while in the classroom. This [...]
Hovering is a term used to describe an assignment in which a paraprofessional spends most, if not all, of his or her day working with a single student.
Improving collaboration in the classroom between members of the teaching team is essential to improving the overall classroom experience for teachers, paraprofessionals and students – and it may take something as simple as a 3x5 index card to accomplish.
For paraprofessionals who juggle a workload that includes focusing on dozens of specific students throughout the teaching day, making sure that all of the students they work with are having their needs met can be quite a challenge.
As opposed to co-teaching, where teaching responsibilities are often shared between two colleagues, the teacher-paraprofessional relationship is a bit different, with the teacher taking more of a supervisory role. This can influence attitudes that are reflected in phrases like “just a paraprofessional,” when paras actually play a much more important role in the classroom than many realize.