By Richard Finegan
I am a para-educator; specifically, a Spec Ed Tech; a special education classroom aide whose job exists only because of a legal document (the Individualized Education Plan or IEP) that says one or more special education students in the classes to which I am assigned need additional classroom support.
That is, they need more help than can be provided by the classroom teacher alone.
In my particular case, I “shadow” one student to all his classes. He’s in general education 100% of the time, because his difficulties are not academic.
We used to be called one-on-one aides but our school district, in its infinite wisdom, declared “There are no more one-on-one aides!” This was loudly announced in a large public meeting of para-educators I attended two years ago, even while I was assigned full time to one student, which continued until the end of that year.
For most of last year, I was again assigned full time to one student. So far this year I have been assigned full time to one student. And the person who loudly declared in a public meeting of para-educators that “There are no more one-on-one aides!” is still working as some mid-level administrator for the same school district.
Go figure. She doesn’t even know what the hell is going on in the classrooms of the schools she administers. But she knows the party line! Bet she’s a Republican. (Did I just say that? Sorry.)
So anyway, where was I. Oh, yes…
I don’t really care what they call me. Or whether the principal of the school I’m assigned to even recognizes me as a member of his or her staff. (I’m convinced more than one thought I was a substitute teacher which is why they kept seeing me on campus.)
Now in my seventh year, at my fifth school and almost all in general ed classes, I pretty much operate under the radar, usually reporting infrequently to one vice principal (we have three in our high schools) and otherwise being left to fend for myself.
I learned early that the very last person from whom to seek advice about what your role is as a para-educator in the general education classroom is the general education teacher. They will frequently think:
- You’re there to make their copies.
- You’re there to accompany kids to the office when they give them a referral for some misbehavior.
- You’re there to take attendance.
- You’re there to post grades.
You’re there to keep the “special ed kids” quiet so they can teach the other students.
While this is not a universal attitude by far, it is certainly common. Here’s my advice if you are new to this and don’t exactly know what you should be doing:
1) Never forget that you only have a job because a certain kid (or kids) in that classroom have IEPs. Get copies of the IEPs to learn precisely what additional supports which children need. If they aren’t routinely provided to you, insist on them. You cannot do your job if you don’t know what particular support you are supposed to provide to each child.
2) Once you have identified those kids with IEPs and what they need, then you proceed to help any kid in that class who needs help. You do not unnecessarily segregate your kids from the rest of the class and single them out (unnecessarily) from everyone else. Ideally, the kids without IEPs should not know who you are there to help, or perhaps even why you are there at all.
3) Remember that you are not the teacher’s personal assistant. Sometimes easier said than done, but if a general ed teacher is treating you like a “girl Friday,” then you should contact your supervisor and express your concerns, always in terms of what you are not able to do for your kids because of what you are being asked to do for the teacher.
We may not be certificated, but we are professionals with a legal role to play (much like the speech pathologist or the occupational therapist) determined by the students’ IEPs.
We deserve to be treated as co-workers in the classroom, not as go-fers.
