The Potpourri of ParaEducate

Perhaps the most unique aspect of paraeducating and running everything ParaEducate for Renay is the medley of work that sprinkles its way into daily life.

At the top of the list is something we’ve talked about for a few weeks here at ParaEducate. We were invited, with a host of many other Californians, to a Stakeholder’s meeting at the State Department of Education. This meeting last week was one of eight meetings held up and down the state of California, opened to parents, teachers, administrators, and professors of Departments and Schools of Education. Even on this day, we were in the first of two meetings.

Street sign for State of California, Department of Education in Sacramento, CA

The combined results from all of these meetings will be formally presented in December 2015 with the expected changes finally being implemented by 2018. The meeting wanted specific feedback in paths needed by general education teachers and special education teachers to become better prepared and able to rise to the challenges that the diverse populations are presenting. ParaEducate was quite honored to represent business owners and paraeducators in Sacramento last week. At this time, because even in the single meeting, there were three separate focus groups, we’re choosing not to voice our opinion on the outcomes available. We will keep you all informed about the changes as they become available.

The introduction piece before break outs

Oh the best part of the meeting? Being in session with the National Catholic Board on Full Inclusion’s Beth Foraker. Yep, this sort of meeting was a #BetterTogether moment to find a way to make things better for the future of education.

Yet another hat ParaEducate wears: consulting with paraeducators on strategies for addressing behaviors in classroom settings. We were contacted by a few paraeducators recently and have been doing some one and one consulting for professionalism within the work place. While some issues are being appropriately addressed by administration, now that ParaEducate has brought it to their attention, we’ve been made increasingly aware that not all paraeducators come into schools with a functional set of understanding how to scaffold academic interventions, understand how to highlight, or understand academic material beyond “this was how it was taught to me”. We’re going to start a series very shortly about skill building for everyone in the academic field. Feel free to message us with skills you want some help with and we’ll find a way to teach you how to do that skill through our blog.

Finally this week, it was safety week at work for Renay. And the cliff notes version of requests to all with regards to safety:

• Review with all the staff each bell that will be used.
• Reassure students. Sometimes there is a student who on the surface was “too cool”, but then will not admit to being quite nervous about the response emergancy setting in a new classroom environment. From every adult on campus to those nervous students, “In an emergency, I promise, I will do everything I can to make sure you are safe.”
• Provide substitutes with emergency information. Not just the student emergency information, but the responses, and how to get help, where to go when evacuating. Every campus is different. Knowing that they are more likely to need help will help everyone during real emergencies.
• Review how to use specific safety equipment like the campus AED. You may be officially certified by a First Aid or CPR agency, but that specific device takes some getting used to.
• Check if it is even possible for students with mobility issues or who use wheel chairs that they can travel the entire way to the evacuation point safely. Grass is an incredible barrier for some types of chairs, and if the evacuation path is muddy, wet, or covered in snow, it may not be safe to take that student to that exact location.

And in the last week, we’ve been arranging for guest bloggers. Expect our announcement of our first guest blogger this academic year very soon! We’re so very excited.

Do you have any comments about this week’s blog? Do you have a question for us? Find ParaEducate online here, here, here, here, and here. ParaEducate is company interested in providing materials, information, and strategies for people working in special education inclusion settings for grades K-12. ParaEducate, the blog, is published weekly during the academic school year on Thursdays, unless a holiday. ParaEducate shares their findings at conferences, through their books, and their academic adaptations.