Our anniversaries in the past have been a reminder of all that we have done. Whether it was encapsulated within a year or a promise to keep working through the steps necessary to reach other paraeducators. With a dozen of years under our belt, how else do we continue to reach out?
The Books
We have had for a few years a workbook to parallel with ParaEducate in progress. While it has been eleven years since the initial publication, this workbook has been the most requested item for us to finish and to be honest, it is almost ready.
There have been several requests to update ParaEducate itself. To be fair to those who have asked, outside of the Every Student Succeeds Act, we have been stalling hoping for a new authorization of IDEA last reached in 2004.
The Curriculum
We are currently testing and preparing over three dozen individual lessons. Striking the balance between complexity and interesting topics has been a hard balance to provide the wide range of educational experiences we want to continue to provide students. We continue to address the “the student will never get this” from both teachers (special education, general educators) and paraeducators alike. Our curricular pieces are both in books and online for download. We are in process of expanding our library for more history, science topics, ELA experiences, and will be introducing art topics very soon.
Other Professionals
We have a vast network of professionals—other educators, support providers, and professional connections– we have been honored to work within classrooms and in conferences. We have not leveraged the range of professional connections we have before. And it’s about time we start doing this. This means more blog posts, more interviews, and more sharing of materials between more locations across the United States, and the globe. We are not the only voice in the pursuit of inclusion for students with disabilities.
Advocates and their family
Like our professional connections: we know many advocates who are working on their voices. It has been a long time since we connected with advocates at all age levels to make sure that the world they are seeing becomes as inclusive as possible.
Our Story is still being written
We continue to connect educators with resources. For eleven years our reach has been this world that we have not just spoken about, not just advocated, and worked within. Inclusive education for students with disabilities is for everyone.
We thank all our supporters for the days, weeks, months, and in most cases, years of support. company providing materials, information, and strategies for people working in Special Education Inclusive settings for grades K-12, specifically Paraeducators, Instructional Assistants, or Paraprofessionals. We publish the blog during the academic school year. ParaEducate shares their work at conferences and online.
Do you have any comments about this anniversary blog? Do you have a question for us? Would you like to have an opportunity to pilot some materials at your campus? Find ParaEducate online here, here, here, here, and on our website. ParaEducate is a company providing materials, information, and strategies for people working in special education inclusion settings for grades K-12. ParaEducate, the blog, is published once a month during the academic school year. ParaEducate shares their findings at conferences, through their books, and their academic adaptations.
