Paraprofessional Tips: Defining the Role of the Paraprofessional

When defining the role of a paraprofessional in the classroom, it is important to understand not only the most effective uses of a paraeducator’s skills, but also to understand the least effective uses of these skills.

Paraprofessional Tips: “Class-keeping vs. Working with Students”

For example, the general education teacher and students both lose a valuable resource if the paraprofessional’s role is to:

• Photocopy papers
• Copy notes (solely)
• Run errands
• Hold up the back wall of the classroom, figuratively speaking.

There are many more effective ways a paraprofessional might assist in the classroom, and these options are as individual as the students they are responsible for, the classrooms they work in, and the grade level they teach.

Paraprofessional Tips: Effective Roles that Maximize Instruction

For example, several more effective roles for a paraeducator include:

• One-on-one assistance, including helping a student get ready for in-class assignments, assisting a student with interpreting and following directions, and making on-the-spot adaptations to curriculum and instructions according to pre-established guidelines.
• Small group assistance, including assisting with organizational skills, creating educational memory games and activities, and facilitating social opportunities and interactions.
• Social/behavioral assistance, including assisting with classroom management by implementing class rules, supervising individual students or groups of students when the teacher is out of the room, and keeping records to document behavior of individual students.
• Academic assistance, including monitoring students’ level of participation in the classroom, providing remedial instruction and reinforcement skills, and administering tests individually.
• Teacher assistance, including conducting learning activities for a small group of students, creating review worksheets, and asking and answering questions in class.