A New School Year: How To COPE With The Professionals Who Work With Your Special Learners
Maureen Butler Mountain Lakes School District mbutler @ mlschools. org
Each school year begins with plans for lessons that teach, enrich, and inspire our music students, with the hopes that all of them, including our special learners, will grow in their understanding of music. Each school year brings with it not only students, but also a team of adults that may be involved in each student’ s home and educational life. Paraprofessionals and related staff members are part of this team, and how we work with them directly affects the successful music growth of our special learners. Sometimes music teachers can feel overwhelmed or discouraged and may not take advantage of the opportunity to network with others – and sometimes it may be difficult to do so!
How do you COPE with the important people on your students’ teams? Here’ s an acronym that I use that can be useful when working with these individuals: C – Be compassionate O – Be objective P – Be proactive E – Be educated
Being compassionate will help you understand what others are going through, and will help you be objective so that you can listen without taking criticism personally. Being proactive implies that you are educated or informed about the disabilities your students have and that you have put everything in place to ensure they have positive experiences in your class. Besides the IEP, our collaboration with paraprofessionals and other staff members is where we can get the most information to make that happen.
Working With Paraprofessionals What Can They Offer?
When individual paraprofessionals or teacher’ s aides work closely with one student, they may become an expert on that child, and can offer insight that will help us understand the child’ s special needs. They’ re also aware of recent developments in the child’ s life that may be affecting behavior and learning, such as changes in medication, a bad night’ s sleep, or a new baby at home. Additionally, they are with the student in every classroom setting, and can share specific strategies that may be successful for optimal learning in music class.
How do you best facilitate a relationship with paraprofessionals?
Keeping our acronym in mind, being proactive by presenting clear expectations at the onset of the school year will prevent misunderstandings later. You may wish to comprise an“ Individual Paraprofessional Plan” that states what you need. It can include such tasks as:
• Redirecting the student as needed to remain on task
• Helping the student learn to function as a member of a group
• Reminding the student of relevant directions
• Helping the student wait his turn when needed
• Assisting the student whose mobility issues present a challenge in movement and dance activities
• Helping the student who may be having difficulty with individual reading / writing activities
• Monitoring a behavior modification plan
Some teachers have expressed frustration when working with aides; teachers may be unsure how to make their needs known, and paraprofessionals may be unsure of what their role is. By communicating expectations clearly from the beginning you will eliminate much of the confusion. As the weeks go by, you may see other ways that they can assist your student and you can either add them to the list or express them verbally.
What if a paraprofessional is not doing what you’ ve asked?
It’ s important to build and foster a relationship with those we work with. That includes being respectful and appreciative. Just saying“ Thank you“ or“ You really made a difference today” can go a long way. Also, in being compassionate we remember that everyone has an off day, may not be feeling well, or is going through a rough time. However, if there is a persistent pattern of non-
TEMPO 56 OCTOBER 2016