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

Ask Us Anything Series: Part 7- Recommended Materials + Optimizing Paras

• Jennifer Hofferber - Special Education Teacher and Coach • Episode 171

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Welcome to the July segment of Ask Us Anything! In these fun episodes of the Special Education for Beginners podcast, Jennifer and her monthly co-host, Paul, answer the questions you ask. This episode is packed with practical wisdom and tips to help you handle the challenges of the special education classroom.

Today's Questions:

  1. Katie from Florida: "I am a brand new teacher starting this fall in a resource classroom, but I also will have some students who have higher needs and are with me a lot of time during the day. What resources or materials do you recommend for a new teacher in this situation?"
  2. Angie from Texas: "How can I best utilize my paraprofessionals?"

Talking Points:

  1. Resources for New Teachers:
    • Importance of Seeking Support:
      • Jennifer shares her initial experiences as a new teacher and emphasizes the importance of seeking support.
      • Utilizing podcasts, social media, and veteran teachers for guidance.
    • Scheduling and Grouping:
      • Paul's top recommendation: Invest time in creating effective schedules.
      • Collaborating with special education staff for optimal scheduling.
    • Visual Schedules and Behavior Management:
      • Creating visual schedules based on students' Individual Educational Plans (IEPs).
      • Implementing a behavior management system that is simple and sustainable.
    • Data Tracking Tools:
      • Using data tracking notebooks or spreadsheets for goal tracking and progress monitoring.
    • Sensory Items:
      • Preparing a variety of sensory tools and fidgets tailored to individual student needs.
    • Jennifer's Paraprofessional Handbook:
      • Jennifer discusses the handbook she created when she was struggling in this area which provides for effective paraprofessional management.
  2. Maximizing the Potential of Paraprofessionals:
    • Use a Para Interest Inventory
    • Practical Ways to Utilize Paraprofessionals
    • Supporting and Appreciating Paraprofessionals
    • Communication and Prep:

Resources Mentioned:

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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, 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 and welcome back to the podcast and the July episode of the Ask Us Anything segment with my co-host, paul Hubbard. On the day that this airs, I will be traveling for a 4th of July lake trip with friends and family, and so I'm so excited. How is your summer going, paul?

Speaker 2:

My summer is going good, it's been busy. Yeah, it's been busy. I've been transitioning to the new job, but I really have enjoyed it so far.

Speaker 1:

That's great to hear. I'm happy for you and I know that you're going to take all the experience that you had and all the expertise that you had and the love that you have for children and take it into that new job, and so they're lucky to have you.

Speaker 2:

I've been definitely enjoying it. There's definitely a learning curve to it, but it feels like the same industry, which is great.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, today we have two great questions that I'm ready to tackle. You ready to dive in?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, let's do it.

Speaker 1:

All right. Katie from Florida asked. She said I am a brand new teacher starting this fall in a resource classroom, but I also will have some students who have higher needs and are with me a lot of time during the day. What resources or materials do you recommend for a new teacher in this situation? So when I think about when I started, I think I was kind of in shell shock. I didn't know what to ask, I didn't know who to ask about what I needed, and so the fact that we have podcasts and we have social media and other things to bridge the gap between veteran teachers and new teachers, I think that's so important and just amazing, and having the opportunity to support new teachers in the roles that they are taking on, as I'm sure it does for you, it gives me a sense of fulfillment and purpose, and that's really why I started this podcast in the first place. It's just really rewarding to be able to pave the way for the next generation of special educators.

Speaker 1:

So I just wanted to say that before I dive into the recommendations of what she might need, and I also want to point out that, katie, it's okay if you're winging it at first. There's no shame in, you know, feeling like you're kind of struggling. That's okay. It's okay if you're just figuring things out as you go. No one expects you to be perfect and you know, every teacher just starts somewhere and it's completely normal to feel unsure. And just remember that everything that you are going to go through is what is going to make you a good teacher. There isn't just some magic wand that Paul and I can give you that will make all of your stress and all of your worries go away, and it's through those experiences that you're going to learn and you're going to grow and you're going to adapt to the unique needs of your students in your classroom. But maybe, with Paul and I's recommendations, we can make this all a little bit easier for you. So let's get her started, paul. What is your number one recommendation?

Speaker 2:

Number one. Can I list a top hundred? I don't know, there's just one that sticks out. Let's see.

Speaker 2:

The best thing, probably for resource teachers specifically, in my opinion, depending on grade level is you need to spend some time with schedules. You need to invest the time and schedules. It will pay dividends in the long run. Get with the person who made the schedule or is in charge of implementing the schedule. Get with them. Get with your other special ed teachers. Have a meeting before school starts if possible.

Speaker 2:

Talk about scheduling, because for a resource teacher who's pulling in groups, that is the most important framework or groundwork that needs to be done for a successful year, because it's not only determining okay, what, what time do we pull them, but which kids do we pull at the same time, and that is hard to just do without a lot of preparation. So in my opinion, you should you know front load with the scheduling, because it will. It'll definitely help you in the long run. And if you don't understand it, ask a veteran special ed teacher what they do. You don't have to use their system, but it can help you, um, definitely. Also, it's good to know like well, are you pulling a lot of these kids from the same classes. That can help too. That can help you kind of group based on that. You should group based on skill if possible, but based on class if the schedule doesn't allow for anything else no-transcript see what they needed to work on and what skills they had and what they were missing.

Speaker 1:

But I struggled greatly with trying to learn how to be a good supervisor in all of this, and so, because I struggled so much, if you've listened to this podcast for any amount of time, you'll know that I created a paraprofessional handbook specifically for my own needs during this time, and then I eventually began selling it on TPT and it just provided me with this strategies for delegation or communication for team building, just to have something to give my paraprofessionals, to let them know the expectations that I had for them.

Speaker 1:

You know it included their schedule, included tips for working with different groups of students. It just had so much information in it and my parents were very happy to receive that. And so I think that that having something that you can because you're automatically, you're just a brand new boss and I don't like to use that word, but you are you're not their boss, but you're their supervisor and so being thrown into that situation when you have no background in that, when you don't know you know you went to college to teach kids. You didn't go to college to supervise adults and so I feel like I wish I would have had that day one.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, definitely. In my current role I am the boss and that I'm learning that dynamic and it's it's a challenge, it's nuanced, it's it requires a whole new set of skills than teachers are taught, so it's definitely a good resource to have some a starting point for that, especially since that you might not have any training going into.

Speaker 1:

Right. I think probably Katie needs some visual schedules. You know know what students kind of dig through those IEPs again and see what students need. Those visual schedules Not every child needs one. Probably every child can benefit from one, but not everybody needs one. And so look through your IEPs and see who needs a visual schedule and then get those prepped and created ahead of time. I think that would be important. And then some type of behavior management system. What are you going to do to motivate students, to reward them for behavior and for getting work done? What kind of system are you going to use? I think those are two important things that you need to be considering.

Speaker 2:

On that note on behavior, that's where my expertise is really solid. I've worked in a as a new teacher. I would highly recommend is don't overdo the rewards, because it's going to lead to this impossible exponential growth that they expect to be motivated. Keep it simple, keep it small, like, for example, this year. It saved me hundreds of dollars based on my previous you know I used to do a whole thing and it was still better than just. You know the subjective way that I had done it when I first started.

Speaker 2:

But I just did a sticker shop. I bought a bunch of cool, fun stickers and that's what they got. They got stickers and that was it, and that was like they get. You know, they may not like it at first but eventually they'll get into it and I let them decorate their desks, uh, with the stickers that they got. And they were, you know, nice quality stickers and so that you know, I got like Pokemon. I got like, uh, mario, um, from from Nintendo. I got a bunch of like, uh, like those mochis stickers, those plushy stickers, like I just got a bunch of stickers and I was surprised how quickly the kids were like, motivated by stickers, and they'd spend their entire day's worth of points on stickers, which to me was like, wow, that's doesn't seem like much, but they settled into that and it didn't require an exponential growth of my reward to keep them motivated, and I think that's very important, especially for a young teacher who's lower on the pay scale.

Speaker 2:

Let's be honest. Let's not spend all of your money on rewards to keep them motivated, because you're going to keep on increasing that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I agree. I see some teachers on social media and they have these treasure boxes and there's some really big ticket items in there and I'm like I've never done that. I've always just gone really small. Um, but do you have smelly?

Speaker 2:

stickers Because I would be motivated. Yeah, smelly stickers and those textured like sensory stickers that have like the fun textures on them. Um that works really well, and also fidgets. So I'll get like quiet fidgets that they can earn as well, which benefits me, because then like they're motivated to get a fidget, so I don't have to feel like I have to give it to them and then it's theirs and they can use it and they can utilize it and that's good.

Speaker 1:

On that note, I think that sensory items are important to have in your classroom Just a variety of different things that kids can use that you know, not every fidget is going to work for every kid and not every sensory tool is going to work for every child. So having a variety of different things that your school can purchase, I would definitely try to requisition through your school, because some of those items can get really expensive. But having different choices in a tub or somewhere some central location in your classroom, I think that would be a good thing to have. And then definitely have some sort of way that you can track data I think data tracking notebook where you're keeping all of your goals in that book and all of your progress monitoring sheets and all of your data all in one location so that you're not having to dig through different files all the time. I think that would be a great starting point for you.

Speaker 2:

I did. I create a spreadsheet and I'm a bit extra when it comes to Excel. I'm a little excited by it, a little too much, so I don't expect everyone to do this. But I had a master worksheet that I would have that I could add data to and I would have, like it would automatically generate a page for each of the students that I could track. But it also had it all together so I could see it and it also helped me keep track of, like, okay, who has related services, who has, uh, which goals whose goals are similar, who would be a good, you know, small group pairing, and it helped me have that big picture view. That really helps.

Speaker 2:

And, um, I couldn't even begin to describe how I made it. So you have to kind of figure out you know your system if you're paper, pencil or power to you, Uh, I just like the automatedness of of a spreadsheet and auto calculating, like I can put in there reading fluency scores and automatically gives me the average and I again extra, but it's so useful to see everything in one place. So, whether that's a notebook or a spreadsheet, I think that's definitely beneficial to put some time into.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think you're the techie person and I'm not techie. Before we started recording, paul had to help me get my microphone working. Not techie, before we started recording, paul had to help me get my microphone working. So, yeah, if you are techie, great, do that. Do it that way, but at least have some sort of system of how you're going to. You know track all that data. And then I think the last thing that I would recommend is just having some type of information card on a ring where you can easily access. You know parent phone numbers, allergies, seizure activity, you know all those health things. All have it all on one card and you know just. You have a ring of cards hanging right by your computer and so at any time you can just look at quick, like a little snapshot of their IEP, and it's all right there together, all right.

Speaker 1:

Moving on to our second question, which is about maximizing the potential of paraprofessionals. The question is how can I best utilize my paraprofessionals? And it's from Angie in Texas, and Angie, there are just so many ways that you can utilize your staff. Start scheduling all of this. I don't know what your situation is.

Speaker 1:

I don't know what type of program you have or how many paraprofessionals you have, but I would urge you to administer a para interest inventory before you get started even thinking about where you want to put your staff, because every one of them is going to have different strengths, they're going to have different weaknesses, they're going to have different preferences, and so if you can give them some wins in their schedule, they're going to you're going to gain a lot of respect from them, because you are taking that information and you're using it as a consideration for scheduling. And so I do have a free interest survey I can link for you. I also have a digital one that I sell in my store. But either way, I'd recommend that you do that before you get started. So, paul, how did you use paraprofessionals in your classroom?

Speaker 2:

Well, I've had. I don't think I ever had as many paraprofessionals as you've talked about having but I have had as few as one and as many as three, and the classroom dynamic changes a lot based on that number and the the type of person that the paras are. And there's a lot of stuff that goes into that. I would say for me from my experience is that you should always do as the teacher what is what you're educated to do, what you've gone to college for, your specialist, you, you have a particular set of skills, so find the things that you should be doing and then figure out what still needs to be done and have the paraprofessionals do that. Um, and that can be like. So, for example, I should be teaching the small group. That's the lowest. I should be the one that's leading that group, always because they need the highest level of intervention and I'm not going to expect to to put that on someone who hasn't had the education and experience that I have. So I always take the lowest, what I have.

Speaker 2:

My TA do maybe work on the, you know, work with the group during the small group. That is more of a uh, helping them with their online intervention or their independent intervention or their independent station. Have that be you know, set up materials for the next group rotation, whatever that looks like. Um, I had, for example, this last year. I had able to use my training, while the ones that would have been bored by that same content had something that they were actively doing and being supervised. Doing led to the overall classroom being performing better.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, definitely small group instruction. I see your point on working with the low students, but I do have paras who request to work with those students. That's their jam, that's what they desire, you know, that's their strength area and they want to work with those very low students. And so I would give them that schedule and let them work on those alternate skills you know, those life skills and then I would teach the students who you know were closer to grade level and that I could feel like I could bump them up. So I think it's just however your program runs and what works best for your staff. And again, it goes back to that survey to see where they want to be and where they think that they can make the most impact.

Speaker 1:

But definitely small group instruction, one-on-one support in a classroom setting. They could help with that, go into inclusion and provide support in there. They can help with behavior plans. You set up the behavior plan and teach the para how to follow it and how to provide that support for the behavior and make sure that they follow it specifically the way that you have set it up, and I think that's another way that they can help. And then data collection they can collect data for you. If you have a goal that you're working on, they can get those data points for you throughout the week or throughout the month, and you know there's so many different ways that you can utilize a para.

Speaker 2:

I also on the behavior side. One of the things that has been my strategy is I don't I don't make the paras be the bad guy, I'm always the bad guy. So like they can tell me about a situation that happened in PE, that they were there for, or that happened in the hallway as they were transitioning, and then I give them the consequence as like oh, I'm sorry to hear that this is a consequence. I always would do it that way. Instead of giving you know, giving the, the paras, the, the you know, wielding scepter that says you know what, what is being done, or giving them the direct line in the student's eyes of they're the ones that got me in trouble, they're the ones that got me in trouble. Instead they would share the information with what happened and then I would give the consequence. Instead they would share the information with what happened and then I would give the consequence.

Speaker 2:

And I explain that you know, mrs Watson is me when I'm not able to be there and if you're not going to follow her expectations, you have the same consequence if you didn't follow my expectations because I put her in charge for this specific time and that gave both made my parents feel supported because I was like I'm not blaming them, I'm not throwing them under the bus, even though, like, I've had parents and this is maybe something we can talk about a little bit that are very old school when it comes to how they approach students specifically with behavior, and that really sets off a lot of kids, that old school mentality sets off a lot of kids.

Speaker 2:

Um, that old school mentality, and so I think that um taking like taking responsibility for the behavior system and having it be like this is I'm doing this. You know, johnny, I am giving you the consequence. The reason why is because my the adult in the room that was with you at the time, that was that had my authority, says that you didn't do something and and I would really follow through on that, and it made my paras feel supported because I had that conversation with students. But it also gave the kids um kept the paras from. Paras aren't paid enough to deal with the direct retaliation of behavior students specifically.

Speaker 1:

Right. I agree, I think when they know that they are supported, they're going to do a lot better job for us and they're going to. You can't do your job without them that you have to have your paras and you have to work as a team, and I think supporting them builds on that team mentality. Another thing that paras can do is they can prep materials. They can. You can utilize them to like make those visual schedules I was talking about earlier. They can make copies of any papers.

Speaker 1:

I don't I don't ever make them feel like that's exclusively their job. If I need to make my own copies, I'm going to go make my own copies. I'm not going to rely on somebody else to go do that for me. I want them with the kids as much as possible and I don't want them to feel like they're just, you know, a secretary to me. So definitely try to get them in with the kids as much as possible.

Speaker 1:

And then, one thing that I don't utilize them for is communication with parents, and I don't think that that's their place. I think it's my job to communicate with parents and I don't think that that's their place. I think it's my job to communicate with parents. And so, like you mentioned earlier, I did have a big staff. We had probably 12 at one time, between you know, two or three teachers, it was just our whole department. But they will come to us and say can you communicate with so-and-so's mom? And so that's how we did it. They didn't have that direct communication or contact with the parents, didn't have that direct communication or contact with the parents.

Speaker 2:

And lastly, I want to share that you should really try to advocate and appreciate your parents. Yeah, advocating specifically, I had so many instances where, because of our school being short-staffed, when we'd have one-on-one aides that were gone, they would just pull my aides and just say like oh, you're the one-on-one today, but but I advocated, for I was like, listen, it's illegal for my kids to also not have someone.

Speaker 2:

This is something that needs to be figured out in another way, because trading one illegal thing for another is not effective. You know, and also advocate for their breaks. Ask them have you gotten your breaks today? What can I do to make sure you've gotten your break today? Because that shows them that you value their uh, their rest, they're recuperating their self-care and and that can be very important I I like I don't know how many times I would say have you gotten your break? And and my tia would say, well, no, but that's okay. And I would be like, no, it's not okay. Go take 15 minutes, do something, go for a walk around, but you're off, off of responsibility for 15 minutes. And because, like teachers, paras will get sucked into this. I'm, I'm giving everything, all the time.

Speaker 2:

And this like almost like, um, like charity work that it's off. Education is often compared to which it shouldn't be, because it's it's requires so much more than is able to be accomplished by a charity, you know, by volunteers. So making sure that they feel advocated and then appreciated. So I learn my para's favorite things, and it can be small. It can be like picking up a pack of peanut M&Ms up when I get my morning coffee at the gas station or whatever you know. Whatever it may be. Do that regularly. Make that an active part of you, know, your everyday. If they have a really hard day, find a way to make sure they feel appreciated.

Speaker 2:

Thank you notes. Thank you notes is a great way. One of the things that I think makes thank you notes special uh, because it's definitely not my calligraphy skills. Uh, I, I got a kit, a wax seal kit, and that just as a little special touch. There's no, it's like a penny for to do it, but it shows that intentionality, the time taken to do something extra and beyond and that couldn't just be done last minute had to be intentional and that can really make a difference in the eyes of the people that you supervise.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I totally agree. I think appreciating them is super important. I know when we would have a really stressful week, we would bring in donuts on a Friday or you know, order a pizza and everybody just ate together and we kind of just decompressed as a team and I think that, again, going back to that team mentality, that is just another way to truly build that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Okay, well, thank you for joining us today on the Special Education for Beginners podcast. A big thank you, paul, for your insights and for all of your thoughtful responses. Hopefully you all are enjoying your summer, whether you are working, like Paul is, or spending time with friends and family, catching up on some good Netflix series, reading, vacationing, whatever it is. I just hope that you are taking some time to recalibrate and refresh and we will catch you next month for the August segment of the Ask Us Anything series. Thanks, paul.

Speaker 2:

Thank you.