Post on 30-Jun-2015
Session III: On-the-Job Training with Your Paraeducator
PDE 2954
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.
PDE 2594
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
PDE 2954
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?
PDE 2954 Showing our
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
the PDE 2954
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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