The Storm
The week here at ParaEducate started pretty normal. Monday came and went. Nothing seemed out of place. And then the absences started flying. People were sick. People were sharing germs. It got messy pretty quickly.
Sick days are meant to be sick days. That is why they are built into the system. It may often feel like you cannot be absent, it is pretty important to take the sick days so you can recover. While we know many paraeducators work more than one job to make ends meet, one of the features of the job involves being able to take a sick day for being sick. This does preclude those who take a lot of sick days, that’s a different problem for some folks and it may address another need they have with supervisors.
But it is not just the missing coworker, some districts have a pool of substitutes ready to go in and fill the gaps. The information given to substitutes varies. But some information should be given to the substitute to best work with the student(s) they may encounter and the staff members they will work with.
Being sick is not fun at all. Things are always going on. But everyone works better when everyone feels well. And we all appreciate when our coworkers return healthy ready to tackle the challenges of every class every day.
Celebrations
There are two parts. The first is it’s the season of celebrations. There will be a staff party. There will be staff expectations: a potluck, a gift exchange, a white elephant gift. These events all happen pretty much during December, no matter which December holiday you partake in, if any at all. Be willing to participate. If you are not willing to participate, prepare for the ribbing for non-participation unless you have a religious reason.
The second is that we have an announcement this week: not only will we start our February off in Arizona for AZWINS, we will be found in San Diego for Cal-TASH. We cannot wait to share our presentations with you in those venues.
Who is your #EduHero?
This week, The National Catholic Board on Full Inclusion ran across #eduhero. We started exchanging heroes online via twitter. And there’s quite a list of heroes, especially when you go to our Inclusive list of special education minded folks. And they’re not just teachers in the trenches. There are professors whose research is helping to improve inclusive practices for all students. There are consulting professionals: doctors, OT, PT, SLP, APE, and Technology specialists. There are parents of people with disabilities and people with disabilities of all types.
The list is huge. And it’s growing. Heroes come from all over. And all heroes look out for each other.
ParaEducate will sign off for Winter Break, next week,December 20. 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.
