Session III: On-the-Job Training with Your Paraeducator

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Prerecorded Session

Learner Outcomes for Session III: Discuss observation &

modeling as a training tool Know how to provide positive

& effective feedback to your paraeducator

Examine data collection methods & recording objective observations you and your paraeducator can utilize

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Does your Para “help” or “hover”?

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You Should be Your Paraeducator’s Mentor*

Dr. Kent Gerlach lists 17 ways a teacher can mentor his or her paraeducators.

The teachers who mentor their paraeducators share invaluable knowledge and skills.

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Some ways to mentor…

Set expectations for your paraeducator’s

performance.

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Offer challenging ideas.

Help build self-confidence.Encourage ethical and professional behavior.

Offer support.

“Mentoring is a process whereby the mentor and mentee work together to discover and develop the mentee’s abilities to provide the mentee with knowledge and skills as opportunities and needs arise, and for the mentor to serve as an effective leader and tutor.”

* ©Gerlach, K., Pacific Training Associates 2006, Seattle, Washington

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Modeling for Your Paraeducator* Model a caring and

respectful manner when interacting with students.

Model a behavior that is trustworthy, cooperative, and active in school-wide activities.

Model respect, patience, and persistence in carrying out educational benchmarks.

*Gerlach, K., 2006, Pacific Training Associates,Seattle, Washington

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Monitoring Paraeducator Performance through

Observation

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Monitoring Paraeducator Performance

Observing Paraeducator task performance & behavior is essential

Teacher’s role is to occasionally step outside instructional function

Administrator’s role: Two requirements to support teachers

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ObservationTechniques

Two Types:

Unfocused & Focused

• Unfocused observations are not preplanned and the observer has no particular skill or behavior in mind

• Unfocused observations is like a wide lens on a video camera: It picks up many different occurring simultaneous events and takes in all it sees.

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Observation Techniques

Focused Observations involves preplanning and identifies what the focus will be.

• Observations can be recorded in the form of checklists, scripting or selective verbatim

• Checklists simply identify the presence or absence of a particular behavior

• Scripting is useful when trying to capture the interactions between paraeducator and students

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Providing Positive & Effective Feedback

9 Expectations Paraeducators expect from their Supervisors!

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What can you add to these expectations?

Brain Break!

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What is Formative Feedback?

Feedback occurs when the teacher provides information to the paraeducator about how well he or she performs a certain skill or strategy and understands the concept.

Think of formative feedback as en route checkpoints,

done frequently. Formative feedback should be ongoing and helpful.

The best feedback is descriptive

rather than evaluative. When

giving feedback, be as specific, as

constructive, and as supportive as

possible.

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Essential Components of Formative Feedback

Performance Specificity Honesty Frequency Consistency

Feedback Tips:

Be Positive.Be

Attentive.Be Precise.Be

Mindful.

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The Role of the Administrator in Providing Feedback

Legitimize the teacher’s role as leader & supervisor of paraeducators

Mentor and support the teacher in performing these supervisory responsibilities

Clearly delineate teacher vs administrator roles pertaining to paraeducator supervision

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Coaching Involves watching the

paraeducator perform the skill or apply the concept on the job, and providing feedback so that the paraeducator can refine his or her use of the skill or application of the concept.

The Administrator’s role as a coach to teachers: The

administrator as coach is all about helping teachers improve their performance. Administrators can support teachers who mentor their paraeducators in several ways…

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Coaching is Essentialto Improvement

Takes supervisory skill & time

Ensures that the skill, attitude, or disposition will be applied in the classroom

Be a coach, not a critic, to your paraeducators.Recognize the strengths of the paraeducators you work with, qnd whenever possible, focus on building and expanding those strengths rather then pointing out weaknesses.

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Data Collection & Objective Observations

Why should your Paraeducator collect data?

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paraeducators how to provide & record

instructional prompts used with students is a method of collecting

authentic data. Recording these objective observations

provides valuable information for the TOR (“teacher-of-record”).

See sample

data collection

handouts in

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Session III

icon.

References & Acknowledgements

Gerlach, K. (2006). Let’s Team Up! A Checklist for Paraeducators, Teachers and Principals (4th Ed.). National Education Association of the United States. Gerlach, K. (2006). The Paraeducator and Teacher Team: Strategies for Success (10th Ed.). Seattle, WA: Pacific Training Associates. Mooney, T. & Brinkerhoff, R. (2008). Courageous Training; Bold Actions for Business Results. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

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