The countdown is on the board. And for some campuses, the days are under ten days left in the year, others are just under twenty.
The unique things about the end of the year, students are getting the processes that have been asked of them all year. And a few students who you might not have imagined getting to this point in the academic year are overcoming challenges you were pretty certain at the beginning of the year you wouldn’t have imagined trying back in September. Being flexible with a different schedule. Walking a different way to class, staying with the class instead of running outside, addressing peers by name, reaching a little further to stretch to get an object they want, presenting in class, or reading out loud in class, many students have made great strides in their academic, social, and emotional progress.
Additionally, you rose as a professional. You were calm when the situation was frantic. You know how to navigate the difference between avoidance behaviors and honest trouble the student is experiencing. You can navigate the halls during busy times, you know how to run out of class silently and grab a bathroom break, and you know how to get help for a situation and not feel embarrassed about needing help.
If you really think about the changes all the students and staff encounter in an academic year, it’s rather daunting really. At the beginning of the year a social contract of “We will take the student and they will learn..” what that ‘learn’ is can be debatable, some learn life lessons, others learn smaller incremental lessons that may not be remembered due to the nature of their disability. By the end of the year, though the learning looks different for every student, somethings have caused growth. And no one can take that away.
While I have you here…
We are preparing a book for publication to be released this summer. While the material has not yet been sent to the publishers, we do know that it is potentially very useful to many folks. We can’t wait to share the release of this book with you.
ParaEducate will sign off for the 2016-2017 academic year on May 25th.
ParaEducate ends on May 25th for the 2017 academic year. Do you have any comments about this week’s blog? Do you have a question for us? Would you like to be a guest blogger? 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 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.
