It is important for paraprofessional's and students to establish a relationship. There
are times however that students do not want the help of the
paraprofessional. Discuss the best ways to handle this situation.
Small group instruction is where the majority of the paraprofessional's time is spent. Choose
one of the types of small group instruction for the classroom and
elaborate on how best to utilize this instruction with the students.
Respond to 2 people.
This reminds me of my first teaching assignment. I taught fourth grade general ed. and decided to do cooperative groups. They got one paper for the assignment and the four of them had to do it together and would all get the same grade. The groups were heterogeneous with one high achieving student, one low achieving student and two average achieving students. Rather than one or two students doing all of the work while the others sat and watched, the students all had their own opinion of how the paper should be completed. The lesson I learned as a new teacher was that cooperative learning works for some, but not all. Education is not a "cookie cutter" one size fits all process.
ReplyDeleteAmbermi, You are so right about education not a one size fits all. And this is how we learn to quickly come up with alternate plans!
DeleteWhen I sense the student doesn't want help in the classroom with peers close by, I ask them if they would like to go to another area or room. Usually they appreciate this and go and sometimes they suggest it. If the student just flat out refuses help, I turn it over to the supervising teacher.
ReplyDeleteMastery learning takes place every day. There are so many ways to provide the means to learn a skill. I often use white boards, games, short songs or rhymes, hand signals, or movement to help them learn and remember a skill. Teachers usually accept an alternate method that proves the student has mastered the skill.
That's a very cool ideal I think with a few of our students we would benifit from that with one that does not like to talk first off we need to keep that in mind thanks for sharing
DeleteWhen I have a student that I see needs help but doesn't exactly want my help I ask them if they would like to go to the library or to different room to work with me. This usually works for them and we go work one on one. There are times that some students well not want my help at all and refuse to do anything. When this occurs I usually give them the option to work with a partner if the teacher allows and even if that don't motivate them I end up taking it to my supervisor.
ReplyDeleteReal -Life Learning is really good to use everyday with these students. It teaches the students how to become more independent and to become a part of society. We have students who we take to work study this is a small program where they work at a store and get paid and learn to become more sufficient at there job. We also have them cook on certain days and wash there clothes. I believe this is a great way for them to see that they can do what there peers do even if they have to have some supervision.
Kudos to you! I agree that real-life learning benefits our students. Since I work in the elementary school, I only get to establish the first steps our students take on the road to being independent.
DeleteAgreed!!! i feel it is also part of our job to help the students become independent. know they can also ask the question and be able to do somethings on their own instead of being "helpless" because most students aren't helpless they have just come to rely on others doing it for them.
DeleteIt is very important that we have a good relationship with our students. If u dont have a good relationship then everythime thast you are with the student they arent going to enjoy the time with you and you won't enjoy the time with them. I have this one student that would think i hated her because i would give more attention to the other student. I just gave them both the amount of attention and it all woeked out. When we had that problem i felt bad and everytime the student was with me i would feel terable and so did she. We both talked and i let her know that i didnt hate her and everything was so much better. So haveing a relationship is very good with the student. But to much can be bad because then the student feels like you're more of a "friend" then a para.
ReplyDeleteMastery Learning is used alot with us. We always try and find diffrent ways that the student can better understand what they are learning. Helping the student master the skills in a diffrent way will be better for the student because everybody is diffrent and learns diffrent.
i agree with Ambermi and you on the being a "friend". if you are just their friend, when you need to discipline the student for a bad behavior, they won't take you seriously and will continue to act out. It can be a fine line if you aren't careful
DeleteI agree with you also, because if the student sees you as a friend then they will think that they can get away with things.
DeleteYour point about being a "friend" instead of a para is one that we must be very careful to avoid. Ultimately, you are their authority as you are the adult. Most students want this authoritative figure rather than another friend. They have many of those and most of the time they need an adult who will keep order and help them to learn.
ReplyDeleteEstablishing a relationship with a student can be easy or hard. it is good to have one though because it makes it easier to work with them and easier for them to want to work for you or with you as the para. when a student refuses help or does not want help, you can quietly and no invasively and not attracting attention from the peers, ask if they need help, ask if they want to go somewhere with no distractions. i have a student who jumps at the chance to work one-on-one because they get more work done that way. however there are somedays they flat out refuse and just don't care. its best to document the behavior, date it, discuss with the supervising teacher to get some suggestions or how else to handle the situation.
ReplyDeletei'm choosing real life learning because in my opinion, i don't agree with some things that are taught, that i was taught just because i haven't used them in real life or in my lifetime anyways. that is just my opinion though. because i did learn the same things in school which i am now relearning to be able to help my students. with real life learning, you can give the students a head start on real life scenarios and thing they will encounter such as money and measurement in cooking. by giving them these lessons early and continuing to work on it. they can be confident using money by themselves or baking a cake for mom and dad ect.
We are doing everyday activities as in counting newspapers lunch count and empty trash wiping tables,also showers, for them as in everyday activities it's very helpful for a few of our kids
DeleteThere are several ways to be professional and to be a good role model and para for the students we work with them and give positive feed back on class work and other assignments through out the day and they have good results of class work the teachers work well with us to keep us up to date with work in the class and what they can and can't do we also have bell work when they come into class to help get away from other class work to breathe we try to make things as comfortable for them in our room as possible if they need to sit study or just need quiet time to re group before working on work or returning to class we have computers iPads and paper work and everyday activities for them to work for everyday life it's nice
ReplyDeleteI agree positive feed back is very important. I have learned that the students work harder when they know you are proud of them.
DeleteI agree with mike because feed back is important. the student will give better results yes you are right by having a good relationship.
DeleteHaving a good relationship with your student is very important, because then the student will feel comfortable working with you and ask questions. When my students work in a group in the classroom I usually make them participate, while I usually stand back and watch. In class I have a few students that refuse my help and want me to leave the classroom, which I dont. If I know for sure that they know what they are doing I sit back away from them, but if I see them wandering off or not working then I will take them out to homeroom and work with them there. I also have students that want us there and they feel more comfortable with us in class and go sit with us so that we can help them when they need it.
ReplyDeleteReal-Life is good to use with student everyday. We have a couple of students that we have them do thing with our supervision. It helps them be more independent of themselves and there are times that we tell them when they do things to go home and surprise their parents and show them what they have done and learned.
One of our students we have him do his laundry ( wash, dry and hang them on hangers) for his work study job.Then we have days that we do cooking. There we make them right the ingredients and measurements down then we take them to the grocery store and they have to find the ingredients and compare prices and to see if they have enough for what the recipe asking for. When we do the cooking we teach them that hygiene is very important especially when handling food. They have to wash their hands and are not allowed to touch their hair, face area, and any of their clothes. If they do they have to rewash their hands.
I work with grade school students so my real life teaching is like using pizza slices as an example to teach fractions and so forth.
DeleteI total agree with irene students need to feel comfortable to achieve their goals and real-life is good they need their independence at some point in their life and parents will feel proud of the children.
DeleteI agree allowing the students see that they can do the activies like everyone else helps them and benefits them to better understand that they are not so different and can get things accomplished.
DeleteYes having a good realtionship with your students is very important. It makes bith the student and the para more comfortable with each other. When a child does not want my help I will let them do it on their own, but i will make them say the steps they are taking and whhy out loud so i know that they understand.
ReplyDeleteAt the school i work at we use assive technology, real-life learning, peer tutoring and leadership opportunities. We have a student that uses an ipad to do his work with. He will speak the answers and it will write them down for him.
I think having a good relationship it is very important. the student needs to feel that he/she can trust someone. a good relationship with the student will make the work be easy good for the student and para. if a student doesn't want help the best way i think is to step away for a moment an let him work and if you see if he/she still struggles ask he/she if he/she wants to go to a different environment maybe its to loud for him/her and can't concentrate or maybe he needs a break. taking a break will help them concentrated.
ReplyDeleteI choose mastery learning because the teacher from my classroom use this. she used different ways for the students to understand the lesson. in my opinion students needs the differ on learning something because not every learn the same way and if the student see the same material but in different way he will be able to understand the material better.
I agree with you that if a student has trouble concentrating they should get a little break, usually in our situation we tell them to go to the restroom, or go get a drink of water, or walk around the classroom then they get back to work without trouble
DeleteI agree we should have good communication with our students to better understand what they can and can't do. If they tend to get fusturated it's better to give them a break and let's them get back to a level where the both of us can work together again.
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