Para Professional Relationships
Being a special education teacher can at times bring up a lot of challenges. In college you learn all about curriculum, how to handle behaviors, write IEP's and work with parents. Even though those are all necessities in the classroom, I personally feel one of the most important things a teacher should know is how to work with and develop positive relationships with para professionals. Let's face it, without para professionals, our jobs would be 100 times harder. There are so many things we are responsible for during the day and there is NO WAY I could get it done without them. I am so fortunate to have amazing paras in my classroom but I know that not everyone is so lucky. So I have come up with some Do's and Don'ts when building, re-building or maintaining para relationships. DO's Treat them as equals : yes they work in our classrooms but we are in no way their superior. Have an open line of communication : make sure to communicate the good and the bad. Don't...