Training and Supporting Paraprofessionals

1. Training and Supporting Paraprofessionals Getting by with a little help from our friends!

2. Training and Supporting Paraprofessionals Getting by with a little help from our friends!

3. Objectives

4. Expectations • Demonstrate good audience skills • Silence cell phones • Hold side conversations out of ear shot of others • Engage in active listening • Participate in partner discussions • If you need a break, take one

5. Partnerships • Pick someone near you to be your partner. • The person with the next birthday is coffee. • The other person is cream.

6. Paraprofessionals = • Instructional assistants • Educational assistants • Paraeducators • Teacher’s aide • Teacher’s assistant • Title 1 assistants • Special education assistants • ELD assistants • Consider 1:1

7. Types of Training • Awareness • Conceptual Understanding • Skill Development • Skill Application

8. Simon Sinek

9. Rolls have changed • No longer just copy, recess, lunch, bulletin boards and clerical work

10. Targeted trainings • We only have so many arrows!!

11. Targeted trainings • The right people with the right knowledge • Not everyone gets everything • This is a resource issue

12. NCLB requirements for Title 1 • Title I paraprofessionals must have the appropriate knowledge and ability to assist in instructing students and be competent in required instructional techniques and academic content areas. They must also demonstrate that they are competent in basic literacy skills, including the ability to speak and write standard English. • All Title I paraprofessionals must have a secondary school diploma or its recognized equivalent. • Additionally, paraprofessionals working in a program supported with Title I, Part A funds must have: • Completed two years of study at an institution of higher education; or • Obtained an associate’s (or higher) degree; or • Met a rigorous standard of quality and be able to demonstrate, through a local academic assessment, knowledge of and the ability to assist in instructing, reading, writing, and mathematics (or, as appropriate, reading readiness, writing readiness, and mathematics readiness).

13. High expectations • Most skilled with the most needy • We cannot expect the any educator to do great work if we don’t teach them how! • They are there to close the gap, to expect continued low results. • Fixed vs. Growth mindset

14. Builds community • Our paraprofessionals are the backbone of our system. • When we train them, we acknowledge that they are professionals and we need them. • In many systems, it is the paraprofessionals who are closest to our community. • Breaks down the certified and classified barriers.

15. Establish Clear Rolls • Clarity around lesson planning vs. lesson delivery • Through training we can provide clarity to specific duties. • Trainings in one area, builds strength in other areas.

16. "in loco parentis" “in place of the parent" • Establishing boundaries to avoid improper relationships • Legal issues • Conflict of interests

17. Talk Time • Cream please answer the following question: • How have rolls changed for the paraprofessionals in your school? • Coffee please answer the following question: • Which of the reasons to train your paraprofessionals resonate with you? With extra time switch questions

18. Simon Sinek

19. Capacity building • Who is going to provide the professional development? • Administrative staff • Licensed staff • Paraprofessional staff

20. Pre-service “Pre” means before. Think about the before! • Plan • Budget • Calendar (for everyone and to everyone!!!) • Trainer • Content

21. Pre-service • Where is the need? • District level vs. building level • What is the “what”?

22. Pre-service • What capacity does your district have to create this PD? • Internal vs. external • Paraprofessionals training each other

23. On the Job • Coaching (not the job, but the action) • Side by side with certified • Side by side with peers

24. On the Job Fidelity checks with feedback “For valid [LD] disability determination to occur, a diagnostic team needs to be able to determine that a student has received appropriate instruction in the general education classroom. Implementing instruction with fidelity satisfies one of IDEA’s legal requirements for appropriate instruction.” Johnson, E., Mellard, D.F., Fuchs, D., & McKnight, M.A. (2006). Responsiveness to interven­tion (RTI): How to do it. Lawrence, KS: National Research Center on Learning Disabilities.

25. On the Job • A Reading program has pieces that are standardized across the district that provide guidance and clarity as to the expectations for instruction.

26. On the Job Video lesson study • Curriculum based • Behavior based • Instruction based

27. On the Job Video lesson study • Video study guides – guiding questions to focus watching

28. On the Job Video lesson study • Sources for videos? • Online training • Curriculum • Peers • Certified • What is happening in core to increase alignment • http://www.mhpdonline.com/ • http://www.explicitinstruction.org

29. On the Job Text study • Book study • Explicit Instruction • Article study • Educational Leadership, Leadership and Learning • Consider time and contract issues

30. In-service In-service days • When you have training for certified staff, do you have paraprofessionals there at school on these days? • Do you expect them to know this content? • How can you leverage resources to have paraprofessionals at the training? • Trade days • Training of trainers • Video

31. In-service After school trainings

33. In-service Shut down services • It is appropriate to shut down services in order to bring quality services.

34. Schedule • Scheduled in-service days • Schedule of assemblies • Schedule of field trips These are “Free” time to train

35. Prep time consideration • Training time vs. prep time • Targeting prep time with trained strategies

36. Talk Time • Coffee please answer the following question: • Which area of types of training, pre-service, on the job and/or in-service do you currently use? • Cream please answer the following question: • What challenges does your school face in how to train paraprofessionals? With extra time switch questions

37. Simon Sinek

38. Let Data Guide your decisions

39. Talk Time • Read over Paraprofessional Skills Inventory. Share your thoughts and how you could use this in your school with your partner. • Cream share first, then Coffee.

40. What? • Instruction • Curriculum and content • Behavior management • Assessment and data • Communication • Law and ethics

41. Instruction Small group instruction strategies • Clear expectations about what is to be learned • Clarity of presentation • Multiple opportunities for student responses • Active monitoring of responses • Frequent evaluation and feedback Christenson, 1989

42. Instruction Instructional strategies

43. Instruction Engagement strategies

44. Instruction • Lesson architecture Introduction/background knowledge I do We do Y’all do You do Closure

45. Instruction Part firming • Corrective feedback 1. Teacher notices error 2. Teacher gives the correction 3. Teacher asks the student to try again • Provides opportunities for us to prevent continued errors • Always stay positive

46. Instruction • Teaching for generalization (behavior and academics) • It is always about the student being able to “do this without us”

47. Instruction • Corrective feedback 1. Teacher notices error 2. Teacher gives the correction 3. Teacher asks the student to try again • Provides opportunities for us to prevent continued errors • Always stay positive

48. Curriculum and Content • Training on how to implement the program • Must do this before we check fidelity • Don’t forget that there is often online trainings

49. Curriculum and Content • It is important that instructors have strong content knowledge in order to explain thinking and extend conversations. • Content • Big 5 • Common Core • NCTM focal points

50. Behavior management Understanding why students act out A Antecedents are the events that happen BEFORE the student behavior occurs. B Behavior is the specific way the student acts. C Consequences are the events that happen to the student IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING the behavior.