Special Education for Beginners | Managing Paraprofessionals, Special Education Strategies, First Year Sped Teachers, Special Ed Overwhelm, Paperwork for Special Education Teachers

How to Effectively Support and Collaborate with our Paraprofessionals with Jenn Adams

• Jennifer Hofferber - Special Education Teacher and Coach • Episode 174

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Today, we are thrilled to have Jenn Adams return to the show. In this episode, Jen and I focus to one of my favorite topics: working effectively with paraprofessionals. We dive deep into strategies for building strong teams, defining roles clearly, and ensuring every team member is on the same page to maximize classroom dynamics and student success.

Key Discussion Points:

  1. Understanding Paraprofessional Roles: challenges teachers face, especially new ones, in defining the roles and responsibilities of paraprofessionals within the classroom
  2. Setting Clear Expectations: clarify expectations and responsibilities to avoid confusion and ensure a smooth classroom operation.
  3. Behavior Management: strategies to maintain consistency in behavior management among all classroom adults
  4. Training and Professional Development: The significance of tailored professional development and orientation for paraprofessionals
  5. Communication and Teamwork: regular meetings and clear communication are foundational elements for fostering successful partnerships
  6. Practical Classroom Applications: how to set up classroom stations to efficiently utilize paraprofessionals and engage students
  7. Documenting and Evaluating Work: best practices for keeping track of the contributions and effectiveness of paraprofessional work in the classroom

This conversation not only highlights the critical role of paraprofessionals in special education settings but also provides practical advice for teachers looking to enhance their collaborative skills and build a cohesive team, this episode is packed with actionable tips and insights. Be sure to follow Jen for more resources and support.

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Mentioned in the Episode:
Episode 32: How to Stay Organized as a Special Education Teacher

Product - Task Card Bundle for All 4 Core Subjects!

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Writing individual impact statements based on a student’s unique disability  and needs can be a big struggle AND a big time suck.! And in case you haven't noticed...extra time is not something you have a lot of.

My IEP Impact Statements Growing Bundle will give you  the resources you need to make writing impact statements a breeze.  





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Speaker 1:

Well, hey there, welcome back. I am thrilled to welcome Jen Adams back to the show today. Jen first joined us in episode 32, where she shared some invaluable tips on organizing our classrooms. As we approach a new school year, you might find it helpful to revisit that episode and if you are a new listener, be sure to check out episode 32, how to stay organized as a special education teacher to get some great organizing strategies. But today Jen is here to discuss paraprofessionals and give us some strategies that help us with that area of our jobs which, as you might know, is one of my all-time favorite topics to discuss. We are discussing how to effectively collaborate and support our paraprofessional teams to enhance our classroom dynamics and student success, and I cannot wait for you to hear it.

Speaker 1:

Hey, special educator, are you overwhelmed by the absurd amount of paperwork on your to-do list? Do you wish you had the skills to build a rock-solid team with your staff? Do you find yourself scouring the internet for how to meet the needs of each student on your caseload? Well, hey there. I'm Jennifer Hopperberg, an award-winning veteran special education teacher and current instructional coach, who has walked in your shoes through each of these challenges and, yes, I have the metaphorical blisters to prove it. I have cried your tears and felt your pain, and now I'm here to support you in the way I wish someone would have been there to support me.

Speaker 1:

Listen in each week as my guests and I dish out practical wisdom to help you handle all the classroom curveballs that are thrown at you and learn how to laugh in spite of the chaos, to celebrate those small yet significant victories that only a special educator can understand. So are you ready? Wipe your tears and put on your superhero cape, because together we are going to learn how to survive and thrive in the ever crazy, completely overwhelming laugh. So you don't cry. Profession of being a special education teacher. Well, hey there, jen, thank you so much for being willing to come back on the show and to support the listeners with your expertise in the area of paraprofessionals. So, before we get started, would you share with us your journey in the field of special education and what you are doing these days? Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

So well. A lot of my background is kind of a mixture of working in gen ed, working in early childhood, working in special education, but the majority of my experience is working in gen ed, working in early childhood, working in special education, but the majority of my experience is working in the self-contained special education population. I specifically worked in mostly autistic support classrooms at the middle school level and just recently, a few years back, I received an opportunity to not only support, you know, the students that were in my current classroom, but get the opportunity to work with other teachers in class at the school I'm currently working at. So now I am a special education instructional coach and I'm supporting autistic support classrooms, life skill support and emotional support classrooms at the school that I currently work at.

Speaker 1:

That's great. I know the last time we spoke, we were both still working mainly with students, and now we're both supporting teachers as instructional coaches, and so I'm excited for today's conversation because we are focusing on a topic that I know is close to both of our hearts, and that is working with paraprofessionals. I know you have a wealth of experience in this area, so I'm looking forward to chatting with you about your insights and stories about this crucial part of our educational teams. So, to get us started, what are some common challenges that teachers face when they are working with their paraprofessionals? I know this is a struggle for many teachers, especially new teachers.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think a lot of where it starts for, you know, especially new teachers and I was in that same boat as well. My first year in self-contained special education. I had never worked with paraprofessionals in the same capacity that you know. I was in charge of their day-to-day and kind of figuring out how they were going to support the students in the classroom, how I was going to utilize them best. That was kind of all left to me. There was not a lot of direction and I've even shared, I think, across social media and other platforms. Just how, you know, nobody tells you in college that that's going to be part of your job. You think, oh, I'm just going to teach kids, I'm going to write lesson plans, and then when you go into self-contained special education, a big part of your job is working with those paraprofessionals. So I think that's the ultimately that's.

Speaker 2:

One of the first challenges is that you don't expect that to be your job, so you don't really think about it too much until you get there.

Speaker 2:

But then from there, I often see there being issues when it comes to, or challenges when it comes to, kind of defining the role of the paraprofessional in the classroom, so really making sure they understand what they're contributing, how they should be supporting, and those like overall expectations, and sometimes those expectations have to be so specific just to help everyone out.

Speaker 2:

So everybody's not like stepping on each other's toes and doing each other's. You know tasks and jobs and I think sometimes that can be hard to manage as a teacher because you're also trying to manage all the students in there at the same time. So getting that clarity on the roles that everybody's doing and the expectations is a big one, and then, of course, behavior management is another one. So trying to have everybody on the same page and I think even anyone that's a parent you can kind of relate to this as well when there's two parents or when there's a parent and a grandparent or any set of multiple family members trying to work together. It's a similar type of situation that everybody has to be on the same page, because if one person's going to allow the student to do something and the other's not, the student's going to learn really quick who they're going to go to to get what they want, and sometimes it's not always in their best interest to do that.

Speaker 1:

That's exactly right. It's funny that you said that about not knowing that that's going to be part of your job. My daughter was a first year teacher last year and she at the end of the year, like this job, the hardest part of this job was managing the adults. It wasn't the kids, it wasn't the behaviors, it was the adults. So I truly believe that the more that we can spread the message that this is a big part of it, I think the better off teachers are going to be.

Speaker 1:

And then you mentioned about clarifying those roles and responsibilities and really communicating that importance of doing that, and the best piece of advice I ever got from an administrator was to clearly communicate your expectations, and that has stuck with me for so long because it is so true. And if you don't do that, you're going to end up struggling even more. And so when everybody knows the responsibilities and it's communicated effectively, it really helps in creating a positive and productive learning environment. So can you share some of the effective strategies that you've come across throughout your career for training paraprofessionals to work with students in special education settings?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so. I mean, I feel like some of the things I'm going to say here are going to sound like a pipe dream to a lot of teachers, myself included. These are the things that you know. If we had the best case scenario to support teachers and paraprofessionals to work together, this would kind of be like my dream team idea. But obviously the first thing would be to have some sort of orientation to start for those paraprofessionals and kind of getting them to understand, prior to that first day when students come in, what they're getting into in that role, in that classroom.

Speaker 2:

Every classroom is different, every teacher is different, so you can't necessarily say, oh, I've been a paraprofessional for 10 years, I know what I'm doing. I'm sure there's plenty of things you know how to do well, but this is a different classroom, even a different set of students. I know myself. Every year my classroom ran differently because of the nature of the students that were in my classroom. No year ever ran exactly the same no-transcript to do and I felt that burden myself in my own self-contained classroom. If I wanted my classroom to grow and get better, I was going to have to provide that for my paraprofessionals. So that's definitely one thing I think can be helpful to keep that, you know, keep everybody fresh with that professional development, the hands-on training and getting that experience.

Speaker 2:

And then of course you mentioned it earlier about that clear communication, making sure everybody clearly knows and is communicating with one another so that everybody's on the same page about everything.

Speaker 2:

And I always, in my first few years, I got myself caught in not explaining enough and just kind of assuming that people understood what I meant. And then I would learn, you know, later that they didn't understand what I meant and that wasn't their fault, it had to be with the way I was, clearly and you know, explaining my expectations of things, the way I expected things to look, all of that. And then I think after that, once you can get that clear communication going in your team there, it's that continued supporting each other, working together as a team, for sure, and then providing, you know, the professionals with a positive reinforcement when they are doing the things that you like to see. Because it doesn't just work with our students. Everybody, whether we want to admit it or not, loves to hear when they're doing something right. I mean, I don't know why you wouldn't, but doing that has definitely been another way that I've been able to help my paraprofessionals in the classroom.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you mentioned that PD piece and in my district our paraprofessionals get a lot of PD, but it's not you mentioned that being specific to the classroom. The same thing goes for PD. I think it needs to be given to them so that it's meaningful, so that it's not exactly what that parent needs, and some parents have strengths in some areas and weaknesses in another area and I think that, again, all of your parents don't need everything. I think you need to be able to kind of, you know, evaluate the situation and give them a little bit of what they need and, you know, not have them go to that PD if it doesn't apply to them. So I think that's important. So what role do you think that meeting together and communication plays in fostering a successful partnership between the teachers and the paraprofessionals?

Speaker 2:

So I think you know communication is everything. Everybody needs to be communicating and on the same page constantly in order for things to run successfully in the classroom. So you know that is vital to things going well. And then of course we need everybody, you know, to kind of know what everybody else is doing so that there isn't any confusion, anybody isn't kind of doing someone else's role, and I think it just helps with that overall kind of smoothness to the structure and the way that the classroom runs and then, of course, being able to collaborate with one another.

Speaker 2:

I often worked with my paraprofessionals on, you know, getting their insight and input on things to help to kind of mold certain areas, maybe places where we needed to make some tweaks or kind of fix some things or get better procedures in place, and I would utilize my paraprofessionals as the eyes and ears that could kind of give me some insight to making that better.

Speaker 2:

And I think that that helped to establish some value with my paras and understanding that I saw them as valuable team members that could contribute and support our classroom in a lot of different ways.

Speaker 2:

I also used to really try to show I trusted and respected them so that they felt that they were being valued and heard in different scenarios.

Speaker 2:

And, of course, I would certainly always try to convey that I respected my paraprofessionals and did not see them as people that worked in my classroom, that you know there wasn't a role that they did that I wasn't willing to do as well.

Speaker 2:

So I know, a lot of the times paraprofessionals are doing different things, such as maybe taking students to the bathroom and assisting them with eating and maybe helping with some of the more functional skills, but I always wanted to make it very evident to my paraprofessionals that I was not unable to do those things as well. I used to tell them I am willing to do everything that I'm going to ask you to do, and I didn't just say it, I actually did it. So if I was able to, in a moment, step aside and help, you know, in a bathroom with a student that needed support with toileting or a behavior or something else that typically they would handle, I would try to step in. If I had the opportunity to show them that you know I appreciated what they did and that I wasn't also willing to do it as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think that goes a long way in building that trust. And you know you have to communicate through your actions and not just your words. So I think that goes a long way in building that trust, and you know you have to communicate through your actions and not just your words. So that's really important. So I've learned from experience that having those regular meetings and having that open communication, just it can't be overstated enough, and it's super important to build that partnership with your staff. So, with this strong foundation in place, I'm curious to learn more about how you translate this into practical application within the classroom. So can you describe how you set up stations in the classroom that both engage students and efficiently utilize your paraprofessionals?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so. One of the big things that I knew I needed to do right away was, as part of establishing what I said earlier, those clear expectations and roles, was setting up stations in my classroom that my paras could be a big part of. I wanted to give them a pretty big responsibility in running their own stations and if I ever found I had a para, maybe that wasn't as experienced or was just brand new, maybe I wouldn't give them quite this role right to students. So, determining what type of station I was going to create in my classroom based on my students' needs, and then I'd also try to pair that with my paraprofessional's strengths. So, while you know, everybody has things that they are good at. Some people are good at drawing, Some people are good at writing, Some people are good at, you know, captivating students' attention when they read a story, because they have a lot of, you know, intonation. I would try to play off of my paras' strengths to create stations so that not only were they feeling successful running them but they also were motivated as well. So once we came up with that the idea of what station I was going to run then we would obviously gather materials that were needed to set it up. So, whether that was academic materials, functional materials, I've had life skills stations in my classrooms where students worked on different things like sorting silverware and folding towels, and I had a para that would oversee that station to help students learn those skills. And then I had other ones that were more academic focused. One year I had a writing station where a para really excelled at doing that, so we needed a lot of writing materials. Once I came up with the materials and the theme, then we added it into our class schedule. I typically tried to do this within the first month of school so that we could set that clear expectation and that clear you know, part of our day is that was something that we did all year long. But sometimes you have to go, you know. Sometimes later in the year you shift things and adjust and you add it later. But adding it to the schedule was definitely a necessity for both my schedule, the student schedule and the paraprofessional schedule.

Speaker 2:

And then, of course, talking with them about the expectations of what should be done in that station and providing those clear instructions and then letting them run it, but not just kind of dropping off after that, making sure that you are giving them a way to give you feedback on how things are going in that station. So, for one example, I had that life skills station. I didn't just give that to the para and let them run it and never talk to them about it. The rest of the school year I would check in and ask how each student was doing and some of the different tasks and we'd talk about where you know the trouble spots were. And you know Sam always had trouble sorting between the spoons and the forks.

Speaker 2:

So we would come up with a way to do that. Maybe we needed to add some visual supports and I'd allow the para to kind of maybe problem solve a little bit, take some ownership in how to figure that out. And then, of course, the other thing I tried to integrate as well is some form of data collection so that the paras could see that what they were doing was valuable, and then using that data to then make further instructional decisions, tweaking things, deciding what students already knew how to do, what they needed more help with, so that they could see that there was a value in the work that they were doing. A lot of times I noticed in my first few years one of the mistakes I made was giving paras a lot of roles and responsibilities that they couldn't clearly see how it was impacting the students and the positive results that were coming out of the work they were doing. I know a lot of them found motivation when I was able to kind of show them that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, those are really good points. I think it's funny. You said that you need to play on their strengths, because I had a parent and she was in an inclusion math class in fifth grade. She came to me she's like is it possible for me to change my schedule and not do fractions in math? Because I don't know how to do fractions and I felt horrible. And so I always make it a point to see what their interests are, see what they are strong in, what they're weak in, and so that we can have a good match with whatever it is they're doing during their day. So that's, I think that's really important. So find their strengths, leverage those strengths and then align them to the needs of the students to create a meaningful learning environment. I think you said that perfectly. And then, from your experience, what are some of the best practices for documenting and evaluating the work done by the pair? As you said, it was important to keep track of that. So what are some of the ways that you've done that? Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

So some of those best practices I feel like should already kind of be easy for you to build in onto what's already being done. So I mentioned that life skills station. So maybe we have some task analysis type data collection that we ask the paraprofessional to complete. Is folding towels, you know we go through each of the steps and I have a data sheet there for the para to put the student's name on and add in how much prompting is needed. Do they need hand over hand support? Do they need some verbal prompts? Do they need, you know, gestural prompts to point at something so that they know what to do next, or can they do it completely independently? So all of that is data that you can give to your paras as part of their role while they're running those stations and make it so then again you can make those adjustments, make those instructional decisions to decide kind of where to go next. And then another example I have is I called it a fluency station that I ran in my classroom and the only reason it was called fluency is if you're familiar with the term fluency from a reading or language arts perspective. Typically we're looking for consistency. Right, you're reading at a certain rate consistently. So the fluency station I ran was not based on reading or language arts. It was more based on students' fluency skills when it came to being able to quickly be able to recall information. So a lot of people are probably familiar with hearing math fact fluency, right, that ability to look at some flashcards and be able to go two plus two is four Okay, two plus five is seven and be able to really like rattle that off quickly because you've mastered that skill pretty strongly. So in the fluency station that would be one example of what we would do.

Speaker 2:

But I added a ton of different skills in there. We would do letter identification, we would do rhyming words, we would do answering WH questions. I even started to add as I got more experience with the verbal behavior operants. We would do things like motor imitation, we would do intraverbals, all kinds of things in this fluency station and I had a para who would just keep the data on that. We would figure out which areas we wanted them to work on with the student. I'd have those materials ready and we had little tubs with everybody's names on it with the materials inside and then data sheets to go with it that we would then track.

Speaker 2:

And every time a student, she would know what the mastery level was because I'd put that at the top of the sheet so she would know, okay, if so-and-so gets 80 percent mastery or 90 percent, whatever we were shooting for on that skill, she knew then to let me know so that we could adjust and figure out a new one.

Speaker 2:

And it was very, I could tell, for her. It was so rewarding for her to be able to hand me that sheet. I want a student master the skill because she was like I feel like I kind of did this and I'm like you did, so I think that like that really helps. I mean us as teachers we feel the same way. Anytime a student masters a goal and even though it may not be as quickly as we'd like it to be sometimes right, some of the biggest wins we get in our and the most fulfilling pieces of our jobs, I think in special education, is when we have that student that maybe somebody says couldn't master something and then they do and you were a part of it, and how that can really kind of motivate you to want to keep doing it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think it's important for our parents to have those wins and to see that progress being made. I think it kind of helps them come to work every day. Yeah, absolutely so. Jen. I know you create resources to help teachers. Do you have anything specifically designed for training or supporting paraprofessionals? I'd love to hear about any tools or materials that could be especially useful for teachers.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

So I do have some materials in my store.

Speaker 2:

The first one that kind of comes to mind is I was mentioning, you know, flashcards. I typically used a lot of task cards and I have task cards in all different subject areas, both academic, so math and reading, science and social studies, but then also functional ones as well, for things like counting, money, telling time, things like that. So any kind of task cards in my store would be great if you wanted to kind of set up some kind of a fluency station, like I mentioned earlier, where that paraprofessional ran it, and track the data. And then the other thing I had in mind to share with everyone is I do have a free resource and it's a set of fluency data sheets. So they're data sheets that you could use for those paras. So if you utilize task cards or those flashcards for the materials to put in front of the students, but then needed some data sheets to track the student's progress, these would be a free resource that I have available as well for teachers or paraprofessionals to use to be able to track that student progress.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's great. I will add those links to the resources in the show notes. And, Jen, thank you so much for joining me again. I always enjoy chatting with you and I know that you have great advice for the listeners. So where can we find you to learn more you and I know that you have great advice for the listeners.

Speaker 2:

So where can we find you to learn more? Absolutely so. You can find me on my website, which is would be wwwteachloveautismcom, and then, of course, pretty much all the social media channels. I'm on Facebook, instagram, tiktok, pinterest, all of those places, and the my handle in every single one of those is also teach, love autism. So I would love to connect, love, talking with other teachers and paraprofessionals and service providers and just trying to find ways to support them and be able to work together, because we are a small community in the special ed community and we need to kind of work together and kind of help each other out as much as possible.

Speaker 1:

That's right, all right. Well, thank you again, jen.