Welcome to 4th segment of Ask Us Anything. In these fun episodes of of the Sped Prep Academy podcast, Jennifer Hofferber and her monthly co-host, Paul, answer the questions you ask.
Today's questions:
Managing Paraeducator Conflicts
Click HERE to ask us a question!
Mentioned in the show:
Get your FREE copy of Impact Statement Mastery: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Personalized IEPs.
A must-have for every special education teacher and related service provider.
Welcome to 4th segment of Ask Us Anything. In these fun episodes of of the Sped Prep Academy podcast, Jennifer Hofferber and her monthly co-host, Paul, answer the questions you ask.
Today's questions:
Managing Paraeducator Conflicts
Click HERE to ask us a question!
Mentioned in the show:
Get your FREE copy of Impact Statement Mastery: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Personalized IEPs.
A must-have for every special education teacher and related service provider.
You're listening to the Sped Prep Academy podcast. Your host, jennifer Hoferberg, is an award-winning veteran special educator who shares her experience, knowledge and passion to help other special educators survive and thrive in this profession. Join her and other guests as they share tips and tricks of the trade for the ever-crazy, completely overwhelming, laugh-so-you-don don't cry profession of being a special education teacher.
Speaker 2:Hey there, welcome back to another episode of the podcast. My co-host, paul Hubbard, is here for another enlightening segment of the Ask Us Anything series, where we take your questions and dive deep into the field of special education. Paul and I add our own experiences and frames of reference to give you a well-rounded understanding of special education issues. We're here to offer insights and practical advice from our years in the field. So how are you, paul? I know you're on the back end of spring break.
Speaker 3:I'm doing good. We've had a nasty weather for the spring break, but today it's 70 degrees and sunny, and I just got back from a very long walk with my dog, so if I appear sweaty it's because I've been spending some time in the sun much needed time in the sun.
Speaker 2:Well, we're going to answer two more questions today. I love doing this segment because it's not scripted, it's just us having a conversation about our experiences as special ed teachers, and hopefully these segments give the practical advice and clarity to the person who submitted the question, but also to anyone who might also have that question, because sometimes we have questions that we don't even know that we have, and so the first question today is what to do when your paras aren't getting along. What do you do when your paras aren't getting along? What do you do when your paras aren't getting along?
Speaker 2:Been there done that I've had that problem. I think first off is definitely open communication. Make sure that you're just not waiting, not sitting on it and letting it you know fester. I think addressing it immediately is the biggest tip that I can give this person.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, yeah, I think that is definitely very important to to communicate, and that's part of that you know, part of you know we can need to address this question. There's some preventative things you can do to set up your classroom that will avoid these issues as well. Um, so, at the beginning of the year, take some time and really get into like the weeds. Get into the weeds on what interacting in the classroom is going to look like, what the expectation is for, how they resolve conflict, so that the preventative step can sometimes avoid, at least minimize, the impact of a conflict between uh, if you set up your classroom, well, but if you're asking this question, I'm guessing there's already an issue that exists that you didn't see coming.
Speaker 3:Um, so in that regard, um, honestly, 99 of problems has to do with someone's feelings being hurt and then then them lashing out for being hurt and then being lashed back at, and so on and so forth.
Speaker 2:Like a vicious cycle.
Speaker 3:Right, it's a vicious cycle and I know that you know sometimes we make this comparison. But there is something to you know the same strategies used in marriage, because there is a lot of the same type. You know you're in a room, you do the day-to-day, you are in a tough environment and you're tested constantly.
Speaker 3:So obviously there's some aspects that you don't deal with with a professional relationship like this but there is some things that we can take away from working with a spouse, and one of those is the main one is communication. So I think that that is definitely beneficial. The other thing is, if it gets to the point where they're not able to manage it and it's just growing, then as a supervisor, you need to step in and be the the mediator. You need to say, you know, let's sit down, let's talk about this, and um, you know, it's important not to be patronizing by like making them, you know, let's sit down, let's talk about this, and um, you know, it's important not to be patronizing by like making them, you know, saying like all right, johnny, now tell your side of the story, but like, actually get their sides of the story. Just say what do you feel is going on, what is bothering you, and then go to the other person, what is bothering you, and then what I often do is say this is what I think is happening, is it accurate? And I'll, you know, say exactly what's happening, and then I'll say does that sound good? And oftentimes they're like yeah, that's kind of what's going on, and then we can talk about okay, is this a difference problem or someone not following a procedure problem. What is the root of the issue? Oftentimes it's just a difference problem, where they have a different approach to things and don't like how another person does it.
Speaker 3:And you know, ultimately, like we have to, as a special ed teacher, I think we have an enhanced ability to deal with differences just because of our job description. But sometimes that's not the training and the practice that paras have had. Maybe they've been in one sort of placement. You know, if you have, as a para, spent your entire time in, say, a life skills room and then you go to more of a behavioral room setting, it's going to be a transition. You're not going to have those skills because it's a different set of skills. You know. So I think that communication definitely key of skills. You know, so I think that communication definitely key. And then, as as a special ed teacher and their supervisor, mediating and getting their sides of the story, making it clear tell your side, not what you think they're doing what is going on from your perspective.
Speaker 3:You know use.
Speaker 2:I statements.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that can be. That can be very beneficial.
Speaker 2:I feel like you said when you said differences. I know that as teachers, we do a lot of work with personality inventories to this is my personality and this is the way I handle things. I think doing that with your paras would be very beneficial, because they are going to have different personalities, they're going to do things differently and they're going to handle situations differently and there's not always a right way and a wrong way, but you've got to explain that and they've got to recognize that in each other and just be open to having a different style and accepting others. I think that's very important.
Speaker 3:And I'd even take it a step further. I don't think there's ever a right way. I don't think there's ever one way that works with every different personality type all the time. And if you get into that type of thinking, it's going to be rough, because it's not the case. There is much about personalities that that we still don't understand. As you know, scientists can, you know, look at the brain and see activity, but they don't understand the science of emotion. Yet it's still very untouched because it's so complicated. Uh, so saying that we figured it out even though we don't even know how our brains work fully is arrogant in some capacity. So I think that going into it with that approach, knowing that there's not one right answer, that's going into this, even if it's what you feels right as a, as a supervisor, you will gain respect by saying this is my opinion of what should happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:This is what, in my opinion, what should happen. If you've built up a relationship with them and they respect you, then they're probably follow that opinion, but if they, if you haven't built a relationship, then it doesn't distance the relationship further because you aren't stating it is. This is what has to be done. This is the only right answer, it's. Here's a suggestion based on what my perception of the situation is.
Speaker 2:It's here's a suggestion based on what my perception of the situation is, and I totally agree with the setting the expectations ahead of time.
Speaker 2:Try to ward off as many of these conflicts as you can, but they are going to come up and you're going to have to address them head on.
Speaker 2:And I think that providing some professional development with your whole staff and making sure that everyone is hearing the same thing and that you're not having side conversations about different things, because I think I've gotten into that battle where, well, mrs Hoffer said this and no, she said this, that was on me.
Speaker 2:And so make sure that you're not setting yourself up for failure in that situation where you're talking to your staff and you're giving them those instructions at the same time, in the same way, so that you're not and it wasn't any fault of mine, I think I was just forgetting what I had said about something and then changed my mind about it and then they got into a little disagreement about it. But definitely have a mediator, have somebody sit down with those two or as a whole group if you have more than one, and just kind of hash it out. I know that Mindy, my co-teacher, and I would often say it's time to have a para-meeting, because they're starting to get a little bit gritchy with each other and so just you know, let's get it out, let's talk this out and don't be scared to have those tough conversations.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it's challenging. And, if you know, as a special ed teacher, here's one thing that I want to emphasize is that law, right then and there, as soon as you find out you know, or the first incident where something happens, you just need to say, like this is not going to be acceptable. You know, we are not going to talk natively about our coworkers behind their backs, their backs Um, if you have a problem, please go to them directly or go to me and I'll go to them. But you should not be talking to you know other paras and spreading it around the building because, um, just to you know, just, I am also a union rep, so I see this on a larger scale. From just paras there is.
Speaker 3:I've I've had a situation recently that I've had to deal with where it is like this person knows they're being talked about and it's making them paranoid, they're getting looks and it's just adding to the whole situations because everyone's like walking on eggshells around them because of something that that was spread around via rumors and gossip.
Speaker 3:That led to a point to where now the whole school is talking about this one person but not allowing him to defend himself in the situation because he's not there. So he doesn't know what's being said about him, but he knows that the attitude of people interacting with him is just it's cold, it's distant, it's, you know, professional only without any you know kindness behind it, and that can really affect someone's mental health. Um and so, putting a kaposh on any of the gossip-related issues right off the bat, just make it a rule, make it rule number one in your code of conduct Gossip, talking behind coworkers' back or students' backs not allowed, not acceptable. And go into the details of why. I'm a proponent of telling them why rules exist. This is for this reason, this is because of this experience. I do that to even my kids. When I enforce rules, I tell them this is why this rule is here and we're going to follow it, because I don't want a repeat of this situation.
Speaker 2:I think those are some good tips to set clear expectations and to let everyone be on the same page. Make sure that you're addressing things as they come up and make sure that you have somebody there to mediate it. I think those are some good tips for our question. All right, so question number two this is one of my favorites Is it okay to intentionally teach math facts? My vote is yes. I don't know. I am a total pusher of kids all kids, at least trying to learn their math facts. I had yesterday I was in testing. I was doing some testing to.
Speaker 2:The teacher wanted him retested to see if he would place out a special education. She felt that he had made tons of progress and she thought he was on grade level and so I gave him all the tests and then on the math applications part he scored. He was a fourth grader, he was scoring sixth and seventh grade scores on his math application, so he's able to problem solve. And then we get to calculation and his calculation was on the second and third grade level and he was able to problem solve, but he was doing it so slowly and so meticulously and using strategies that weren't appropriate for his grade level, like drawing little pictures and things I don't know. I just feel like if he had those math fact skills he could go above and beyond in all areas, because you're going to, if you don't know your multiplication facts by fourth, fifth grade, you're going to max out, you're going to get up there and it's going to just become so much harder.
Speaker 2:So, yes, I do push math facts. Now are there other strategies that I use with my kids? Of course, I don't feel like I'd be a good special education teacher if I only used math facts. I think that we have to have a lot of different tools in our toolbox that we pull out and try to help kids be successful with multiplication. I'm picking on multiplication, but all facts. I think that you have to have a variety of strategies, but I am a proponent of teaching math fact memorization.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I definitely see the value in it. I have found uh, I do fact fluency is what I call it Um a lot. That's a often a goal If they're working at a lower grade level. Often I'll have a goal for fact fluency that will. You know? How many of the facts do they know, Like what digits, what operations, those kinds of of things. I think that's definitely beneficial. I, um I probably I don't know if I'm as math facts gung-ho, but I am, um, skip counting gung-ho, like that as a skill that I think that skip counting, especially when it comes to multiplication, can hugely help students to be able to have a strategy that they can do something in their head to solve a problem. So I'm a big proponent of skip counting. I come up with all sorts of songs to help remember the skip counting and the reason I do that is because the reason I skip count is because of these old tapes that my mom got for reinforcing skip counting and they were just little stories and counting and they're still in my head.
Speaker 3:I can still summon them at a moment's notice. So what you know, using songs or stories or something to be able to, uh, do mathematical calculations, is just valuable, and so math facts yes, I think practice is important, fact fluency is important, but the way I reach that oftentimes is skip counting.
Speaker 3:And it also gives me that when they're working on math facts, when they ask me for help, especially on multiplication problems, I'm like, all right, let's count and we'll do skip counting. And then they, they see the connection. So it wasn't me telling them the answer, it was me showing them the value of skip counting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and they're like that was easy. I was able to do that very simply. And when you get into division because I'm working on ratios right now with one of my groups and we're doing some division, because we're looking at, you know, changing, changing, um, the ratio into fractions and all that stuff, and they used to like, at the beginning of the this year, division was like this, unable to be discovered element, like it was like what is division is, you know, is it a concept? Is it real? Um, they were so confused and and it's like it's just reverse multiplication, but they just couldn't get it.
Speaker 3:But when I taught them skip counting and then that forms the groups, then they're like oh, that makes absolute sense. And so I, I definitely think that, um, it's a, it's an important skill, important skill. Um, I would say that this is me personally, and and I it may be a bit controversial, but skip counting to me is a more engaging topic Just those math sheets of math practice I find to be repetitive and in high school or in school, when I was learning math facts, I hated doing the same problem 20 times. It was like the same type of problem, just like I, I, I did it in five. Can I be done, you know kind of a thing. And so for me, obviously, the songs and stories of skip counting were much more engaging.
Speaker 3:for me, um, and to this day, it's a fun lesson because, I rewrite a lot of the songs, um, for my customized class and use references that we've used in class and, um, that's kind of a fun little exciting uh builder for curriculum for me that I can add to the support.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it's definitely not the drill and practice that it used to be Like. When I was in third grade we would sit down and take those timed tests and they were. They were stressful and they were monotonous and and it was definitely just recall. And yeah, that's not the way I teach either. I definitely use the songs, the stories, the mnemonic devices to help kids remember their facts. It's funny the other day my daughter, who's in vet school, she saw a meme or something said what's one fact that you remember that has absolutely no impact on your life today and she sang this entire pie song that she had learned in high school probably calculus or something.
Speaker 2:But she remembered that and it's because it was in that form of a song. And I feel like kids definitely our kids especially, but all kids obviously are going to learn best when it's related to something that they can remember and music that sticks in your brain. You can remember the lyrics to a song in high school and you can remember exactly where you were in that moment. It's the same principle You're connecting it to something else in the brain and it's helping them remember. But definitely it's a foundation piece that I think all kids need to have.
Speaker 3:Definitely and something that I do too when I'm teaching concepts, I always look at like trending TikTok sounds, like those things that are just going viral that everyone hears a million times. And so there was recently a couple of years ago, well, I guess, like four years ago, geez um, that there was this, this song blinding lights. It's like song blinding lights, it's like. And so I was teaching at the time, I was teaching, uh, how to tell odds and evens, and so I created an entire song and recorded it in my studio and played it and the kids loved it, because this is like a tiktok sound that everyone knows is culturally relevant, and they were just, they thought it was the best thing ever and it got stuck in their heads. Maybe, maybe I'll even play a recording on the on this episode at the end, maybe, but the it's just those kinds of things. I love finding ways to make things stick and, in my mind, the more ways you can can present it to a kid, especially a kid with a disability, the more likely it is to stay with them. And so if I connect it to songs, stories, um, if I connect it to video games, like, I'll use that all the time when there was something culturally relevant that they're into, then make it that way. You know, for example, everyone's in my school is into shoes, like shoes are the absolute most valuable thing. Um, and so I had, you know, making story problems for math that are about shoes, because these kids have closets full of shoes. So having 30 shoes and adding two more is a totally legitimate world problem that they could solve.
Speaker 3:You know, versus what I used to grow up with, is like someone has 72 jars of peanut butter. Why do they have that much peanut butter? It doesn't make sense. Why is this happening? But, um, using things that they relate to it just gets them engaged. It makes that extra connection. Because it doesn't make sense. Why is this happening? But, um, using things that they relate to it just gets them engaged. It makes that extra connection because it's like, oh, I am like doing this math problem, but it's making me think of my air jordans that I just got and then that's cementing it into their brain and it's like I don't know, it's like adding an extra.
Speaker 3:I mean, imagine those sticky hands. It's like adding an extra sticky hand to whatever the concept is, so it has more of a chance to slap and hit the wall and be held in place. In the ever-changing world that is the child's brain. That is just overrun with new things constantly. So getting things to stick nowadays it seems harder than ever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're right. I feel like To answer Sarah's question. Just yes, you can teach facts. You're going to have a curriculum that your district wants you to use and math facts might or might not be a component of that, but you can add, you can do what you need to do for your kids in your classroom.
Speaker 3:And one quick thing. So this may be just my school I highly doubt it, but this might just be my school. Be just my school? I highly doubt it, but this might just be my school. There's a lot of days where everything's totally thrown out of whack, with an assembly or a field trip or something like that. Talk about a great activity for those types of days that inevitably come, and having a math fact lesson in your back pocket. You don't have to move on in the book, you don't have to do anything like that, but you can do a math lesson on like maybe it's an early dismissal day or a half day. You can have that be the days you work on that. And that's still going to be so consistent, because in my school it's like it seems like every week there's at least one thing that throws off the schedule and we got no notice.
Speaker 3:And it's like oh and when you're trying to teach curriculum and stay up. You know, up to pace that's hard to do, but if you have those things that like in their back pocket, oh, I have a math fact lesson that's just ready for. Whenever I don't, I can't. Maybe, like one of your groups is missing, like three of the four kids in the group.
Speaker 3:Well, you don't want to do a lesson and have three kids miss it, so you do math facts. You just have that in your back pocket and that can be. I've used that strategy for a lot of my like phonics practice and a lot of my. My math fluency is when there's a day that's thrown off and I can't do my curriculum lesson like I'd want, I do a supportive skill like math facts or phonics or whatever it may be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel like we talked about centers a couple of weeks ago and I feel like that can be one of your center rotations is math fact practice, and I created a product for my TBD store, so that was specific for that reason and it's just, it's called Mastering Math Facts, just multiplication activities and little assessments, where you can get the parents involved and the kids are working towards a goal of whether you know, a popcorn party, a ice cream party or whatever, but they're mastering those facts and then you can manipulate those tests to make sure that everyone is successful.
Speaker 2:So it's not like, oh, they have to pass this in one minute or else they don't go on. No, I have kids who I let them use the calculator to be able to pass it or I give them, you know, a lot more time to be able to pass it, but they're all working on it at some point during their day or their week. So if you want access to that, I'll put a link to that in the show notes, but it's just something that has benefited me in my career.
Speaker 3:And one last thing to shout out to Ms Burleson, my math teacher, growing up, great teacher, but, ms Burleson, you always told me I would not be carrying arounda calculator with me at all times. And that was a lie, a lie. I can't. I have one on my wrist, one in my pocket, one in the near vicinity, It's's everywhere.
Speaker 2:So you are right I.
Speaker 3:I am not going like I think it's valuable.
Speaker 3:If a kid just can't get those facts teach them how to use a calculator, because they will have one with them before long. It'll be embedded in your eye. You'll have one right there in your in your eye socket. You I don't know what the technology nowadays like. I just, I, uh, want to acknowledge the fact that, yeah, it's important to know those math facts, but for those kids that just can't get it, it's okay to build in using a calculator. You know, have them be able to do that and in doing so, um, they can have success with their peers, but not have the maybe they can't do it in their head. They're always going to need that calculator, but they'll be successful and move on to concepts that are more complicated. With that accommodation in mind, Very good Closing out point.
Speaker 2:All right. Great answers, great questions. Keep them coming. If you want to submit your question, I'll put the link so that you can submit your questions in the show notes. So, paul, I will talk to you next month.
Speaker 3:All right, looking forward to it.