Setting Paraprofessionals Up for Success

There are 3 things that make my classroom super functional. 1, structure. 2, routine. And 3, my paraprofessionals. Let me show you how I set my paras up for success every day. First, I treat them like teachers. I know there's a difference in degree, but when it comes to the classroom and managing students, we are all equals. In fact, I don't step in unless it's a safety concern or a staff member asks to tap out. That's really important because I don't wanna take any authority away from my paras. Second, I give them a space. Just like I have a space in the classroom to put my purse, my lunch, my personal things, they have a space too. In fact, I try to make their space super convenient and it's right by the door for them to be able to hang up their coats. They have a locking cabinet for their purse, their lunch, any personal items. And I want them to have that space because they are a part of my classroom. Just like my students have a cubby, just like I have a space, they need a space too. And I know that just giving a space probably doesn't seem like that's setting paras up for success, but actually it is because when my paraprofessionals walk into the classroom that we share together, we are a team. And so I want them to feel valued, appreciated, and like they are meant to be here. And if I don't have a space for them, that kind of feels yucky. It kind of feels like they don't belong or they're not wanted or they're not valued. I want to convey, even in the little things, that they are highly valued within my classroom. And so giving them a space is a simple way I can do that. Tip number 3: build your team. And it's in those little things like creating a space, but it's even more so creating common goals that you'll work on together as a team. Sasha talks about this all the time. She comes up with team mission statements. We start our year with a team mission statement, but we go one step further. Every month I send out monthly staff goals, and we talk about goals for every student and ourselves and things that we wanna accomplish that month. Then at the end of the month when we have our PLC time, we sit down, we review our goals, and then we create our goals for the next month. It really kind of creates this cohesive approach to our students and to what's happening in our classroom. Not only that, our paras have input in what's going on and the goals and the things that we're working towards, and that alone is powerful. My next tip is to help paras be independent. Paras don't want to have to stop and ask you a million different questions throughout the day. They want to know their task, know their role, and be able to know how to do it well. And so one thing that I suggest is creating a staff training binder. Put all of the basics in a binder so your staff know exactly where to go to find answers. Let me show you mine. I created this handbook for my staff and I put everything in it from our handbook to our monthly staff notes, then we have monthly goals, student information that was really helpful, and any medical concerns that our staff should be aware of for our students. My handbook is simply the Autism Helpers Paraprofessional Training Manual. There's two versions. I have both versions in here. It gives everything from quick acronyms to just a guide of what special education is to how language matters and how it matters when you interact with kids. And it gives great charts for us that instead of saying calm down, say how can I help you? Instead of being negative, being positive. It gives a guide on why we take academic data. These are packed full of information and even things like prompt hierarchy, what reinforcement is, what reinforcement isn't, and how I can make kids independent. These are worth every penny. I add in guides for things like how to run a small group or our expectations for direct instruction and how to do that. I add in all of my students' behavior intervention plans so they have access to it at their fingertips. Anything I think my paras need, I put in this binder. Really, my goal is to be able to teach throughout the day. I wanna be able to support my paras if they need it, but I also want them to be independent in the classroom. And in order to do so, they need to know what's expected of them and what I need them to complete with each student. By creating a binder that has all of that at their fingertips, If they have a question throughout the day, that's the first place they go. If they need further clarification, they can always come to me and they can always ask questions, but this has eliminated a lot of that interrupting in small groups or direct instruction when I'm working with students. And if you have ever been interrupted over and over and over again while you're in the middle of a lesson, you know how frustrating that can be. Find what your paras are good at and let them run with it. For example, one of my paras is absolutely amazing at paperwork. So you know what she does? She deals with all of my communication books, my folders, and my homework every single day. I don't have to touch it. Another one of my assistants makes amazing doors. I am not crafty, I am not creative, but she is. And so she's in charge of my door every single month, and we have the best doors in the entire school. I love that they get to show their creativity. They get to show something and highlight something that they're good at. And at the end of the day, that's what makes a successful team— that everybody gets to shine at something and really be a contributor to that team. My last suggestion: give them an individualized schedule. All of my assistants have a daily schedule with their daily tasks laid out ready to go. This does a couple of things. First, I know exactly where everyone is at all times and what they should be working on. Second, it gives me control of the daily schedule to make sure that everything that I want done is done. And third, it gives my assistants direction. They know when music is, they know when art is, they know when recess is, they know where they're going for lunch. They know all of the things. Any schedule changes which there's a million, we put up on the board so we all are aware of them. Open communication is also key. Your paras should be able to come to you if they have any questions, but also if they have any concerns. They often work very closely with students and they get to see things that sometimes we don't. For example, they might see more behavior outside at recess, or they might see lunch behavior, general education behavior, areas that they push into support that you don't always get to see. They've got valuable insight, so let's treat it just like that, as valuable insight. So my challenge to you is this month, try to find one way that you can thank your paras. This doesn't have to be expensive and it doesn't have to be elaborate. Here's one of my favorite ways. I wait till late at night and I send an email that tells 3 things that they're doing really well, and I CC my principals. And then when they wake up, they have an email telling them how amazing they are and how thankful I am for them, and 3 things that I really excited about that they're doing in the classroom. And not only did I tell them, but I told their boss. I told their principal. And my staff has been so appreciative of this. Sometimes we see it happen and we know how amazing they are, we just get used to it. We don't tell them how amazing they are. A simple little note goes a long way. Let's face it, we couldn't do this job without our paras. And they are so valuable to us. So with a little bit of effort, you can make your paras incredibly successful in the classroom. Let me know what you do to help your paras be successful in yours. I always love learning from you, so let me know in the comments. I can't wait to hear from you.