The Para Place

Caroline Hester- Mother, Paraprofessional and Breast Cancer Survivor

nrcpadmin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:35:46 +0000

Channel WSAV in Savannah, Georgia highlights Caroline Hester:

The mother and paraprofessional who grew up on Isle of Hope is in the midst of a tough journey...

View the video of Caroline below:

Read the full article: Fight Breast Cancer And Depending On Faith
View a picture of Caroline reading to students in the classrom

Paraprofessional Pre-Service Program Improvement Grant Opportunity

Christopher Phillips — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:07:31 +0000

The U.S. Department of Education is offering $1.5 million for up to 10 Paraprofessional Pre-Service Program Improvement Grants. The purpose of the grant is to improve services and results for children with disabilities.

These grants are designed to help improve the quality of existing paraprofessional certificate or associate degree programs at colleges and universities. Institutions receiving support must enhance or re-design the program curricula so that paraprofessionals are well prepared to work with children with disabilities and their families.

There are two focus areas under this criteria, including:

Improvement of early intervention, early childhood special education, and early childhood education paraprofessional pre-service programs.
Improvement of K-12 paraprofessional pre-service programs

Note: The two focus areas under this priority only support the improvement of existing EI, ECSE, and ECE or K through 12 paraprofessional preservice programs. This priority does not support the development of new paraprofessional preservice programs, nor does it provide for financial support of paraprofessional students during any year of the project. Projects training paraprofessionals in other related services, speech/language or adapted physical education are not eligible under these focus areas.

The deadline for submission is November 3, 2009.

For more information please contact Shedeh Hajghassemali at 202-245-7506.

You can find a synopsis of this grant opportunity available here.

For the full Federal Register notice on the funding opportunity, please visit http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-21436.htm

The Role of Para-educator

nrcpadmin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 05:15:40 +0000

Introduction to a great article by Richard Finegan:

I have a degree in journalism, a law degree, and am only a few hours short of being certified as a mild-moderate special education teacher. So why am I working as a para-educator/classroom aide?

His answer?

Because I like being able to focus on the students. Only on the students. Not grading 150 of yesterday’s five-paragraph essays, or preparing tomorrow’s lessons, and especially not tolerating all that frustrating, annoying administrative stuff that teachers are expected to deal with.

Read the rest of the article here

Paraprofessional Thank you

nrcpadmin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:30:00 +0000

I missed this when it was posted back in May, but it is good enough that it is still worth sharing. Below is a blog post where a kind teacher takes the time to publicly thank her two paraprofessionals at the end of the school year:

I am dedicating this blog post to my two Para-Professionals that I work with, Mrs. Rogers and Mr. Nelson. Both have made my year spectacular and I truly mean that I could not have made it without them.

Another Para-Professional Note

Paraprofessional Interview Questions

nrcpadmin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

While gathering some information for the Are you a Paraprofessional Expert? post a few days ago, I came across a couple of questions where paraprofessionals were asking for advice on upcoming interviews:

After reading those, I was interested in finding out what other resources were available on paraprofessional interviews. This is what I found:

Paraprofessional Interview Questions A 7-page form used when interview paraprofessionals.
Sample Interview Questions for Para-Educators See page 8 of this Word document.
What should we ask and NOT ask during the interview?
How do I do a Getting Acquainted Interview?

Other Resources

Do you have any other ideas for good questions?

Paraprofessional Educator Entry on Wikipedia

nrcpadmin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Wikipedia now has an entry titled Paraprofessional Educator that begins:

A paraprofessional educator, alternatively known as para-pros, instructional assistants, teacher's aides or classroom assistants, is a teaching-related position within a school generally responsible for specialized or concentrated assistance for students in elementary and secondary schools.

Not all states have a fixed definition of 'paraprofessional' and may use all of the terms listed above interchangeably.

After that, the article could use some help- the good news is, you can change it! If you have an addition or idea to make the article better, just click on "edit this page" at the top of the page and start editing. If you need help, check out How to Edit Wikipedia pages. Once you have edited the document, press "Save page" and your changes will be live! (use responsibly)

Para News Roundup

nrcpadmin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:44:55 +0000

It's been awhile since we've done a roundup of para news...

About.com Answers a Very Important Question

Under ideal circumstances, having a certified, enthusiastic, well-prepared paraprofessional can make an enormous difference in the efficiency of your child's classroom and the implementation of your child's IEP.

What is a Paraprofessional?

Connecticut Layoffs

When New Haven’s schools open in a couple weeks, there will be 19 fewer assistant teachers in the classroom.

The layoffs were necessary to ensure that federal funding is not taken away, said Will Clark, chief operations officer for New Haven schools. Since the certification test is a requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act, feds could pull funding if uncertified teachers are working in the schools.

19 Assistant Teachers Laid Off

Advice to Teachers on Working with Paraprofessionals

Above all, treat your paraprofessional with dignity and respect. If an issue arises, talk about it, discuss it like two professionals. You both should be on same page from the beginning, and continue to communicate your needs and frustrations throughout the school year. Remember, you are a team.

How to get along and effectively utilize your paraprofessional

Georgia Car Accident

Victoria "Tori" Thompson, 30, died in a single-car accident around 3:15 p.m. Wednesday while driving home from Chicopee Woods Elementary School... She worked for the school system since 2005 and was a special education pre-K paraprofessional at Chicopee Woods.

Hall paraprofessional mourned

Do you have any news that we missed? Please Let us know!

Are you a Paraprofessional Expert?

nrcpadmin — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:40:56 +0000

Think you know a few things about paraeducators? Why not take a few minutes to help some people with questions. Of course you can always find a few unanswered questions on our message board, but that is not the only place people are looking for answers:

Yahoo Answers is the largest question and answer site out there with lots great questions and answers:

Welcome Back to School!

nrcpadmin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:54:47 +0000

Last year, we posted a popular inspirational video of Dalton Sherman, a young man who reminded educators, "We need you now more than ever."

I don't know if that video can be matched, but here are a few more to help you get excited about a new school year:

Taylor Mali answers the question, "What do I Make?"

So You Want to Be a Teacher Song

Star Fish Story - Making a Difference Every Day

And Lastly, 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes

Enjoy! Let us know if you have any favorites in the comments.

Video Description of the Job of Teacher Assistant

nrcpadmin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:30:00 +0000

Does this sound right?

Sensitivity and patience are key assets.

Watch the video below for more:

Another great video available on our site is, "What do Paraeducators Do?"

Interview with a Para

nrcpadmin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:00:00 +0000

There isn't very much information about this video and the music is a little loud, but this paraeducator gives answers to some questions about her job that you may relate to:

Conference Pictures Now Available!

nrcpadmin — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:26:35 +0000

Over 200 pictures from the conference are now available in the Conference Photo Gallery. Stop by and take a look to remember how much fun you had and/or what you can look forward to next year!

The same pictures have also been posted to our Facebook page.

(Stay tuned for many of the conference presentation slides that will be made available soon...)

Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch Conference Keynote

nrcpadmin — Thu, 07 May 2009 05:51:40 +0000

Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch was the Saturday keynote speaker at the National Conference this year as she shared her love, laughter and tears with us. If you ever get a chance to listen to Consuelo, do not pass it up!

Right after her Keynote address she had a table full of books in the hall that quickly sold out. For anyone who is still interested, her book is titled Journey to the Future: A Roadmap for Success for Youth.

From the biography on our Keynote Conference page:

Born and raised along the border in a small barrio in Laredo, Texas, Consuelo Kickbusch is all too familiar with the challenges of poverty, discrimination and illiteracy. Although she grew up without material wealth, she was taught by her immigrant parents that she was rich in culture, tradition, values and faith. The values she learned as a child were reinforced throughout her career in the U.S. military. After graduating from Hardin Simmons University, Consuelo entered the U.S. Army as an officer and served for two decades. During that time, she broke barriers and set records in the military where she became the highest-ranking Hispanic woman in the Combat Support Field of the U.S. Army. When the opportunity to assume a command post arose, LTC Castillo Kickbusch shocked the military by deciding to retire. She chose to honor her mother's dying wish to get back to her roots and become a community leader.

She also shared these slides in a separate presentation about SLICK, a youth mentoring organization that she started

Preparing Tomorrow’s Leaders Today

More about Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch:

Educating the Whole Child with 21st Century Skills

nrcpadmin — Sat, 02 May 2009 02:25:06 +0000

Linda Mariotti was our keynote speaker this morning and gave a wonderful presentation titled, "Educating the Whole Child with 21st Century Skills"

Educating the Whole Child for the 21st Century

She discussed the differences between digital immigrants and digital natives and contrasted the skills of 20th century educators with those needed by 21st century educators. Are you ready for our 21st century students?

More about Linda:

Linda began her career as an educator in 1971, teaching middle school English in California. Moving to Utah in 1985, Linda taught English in junior and senior high schools in Granite School District. She moved to the district office as a secondary language arts/foreign languages curriculum specialist in 1992. After receiving her administrative credentials in 1996, she worked as an intern administrator, assistant principal at both the junior and senior high school levels, and then as a junior high school principal. Linda returned to the district office in 2000 as the director of curriculum services. The following year she assumed her current position of assistant superintendent.

Paraeducators in China

nrcpadmin — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:19:30 +0000

Meet Jessica Dai (parent of a child with autism), Larissa Feng (social worker) and Sophie Xie (special educator), pioneers in promoting the important work of paraprofessionals in China.

Their presentation was highlight of the State Leadership Meeting last night. They told us about two organizations- the Childrens Palace and the Special Parents Club in Guangzhou who started a non-profit Paraeducator Program to provide training for paraeducators. Lacking government funding this training is actually paid for by the parents of childrens with disabilities. We congratulate them on the work they are doing and hope to hear more from them in the future!. Their presentation is available below:

Para Educators In China

You can contact Sophie here (login required).