Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Setting of Conversation: After all students left the classroom, I will set up two chairs by the
teachers desk.
Conversation:
Me (excitedly): Im doing really great! Thanks. Earlier today I walked by Susies kindergarten
classroom, and saw you were supporting her during the large-group instruction time. I am sorry
that I observed your performance for about two minutes without any notifications.
Paraeducator Campbell (understandably): Oh, that is totally okay. I hope I did fine.
Me (calmly): Oh, the most parts you did fine but there are little things if we work together and
Paraeducator Campbell (calmly): I have some time, let us talk about it now!
Me: Great! I absolutely enjoy how you love and care about Susie. However, from my
observation, she was not engaged in the activities that her peers were doing, and I could think of
two ways to improve this. First, Susies assigned spot was too far away from the teacher, so her
attentions could easily be distracted. What do you think about this situation?
Paraeducator Campbell: Yeah, I am with you on this point, and I think she needs to be re-
Me: Yes! I totally agree with you! So, I am going to talk to Ms. Harris tomorrow morning, and
see if she is willing to re-assign her spot or she is willing to move around the circle while giving
Me: Great question! I like the way you are thinking! This is the second part that I would like to
talk about. I know that at the beginning of the semester when we did the orientation, we did not
spend a lot of time on how to support them being included with their peers. That is not your fault,
and please do not feel bad about it. We are going to figure this out together! Sounds good?
Me: Nice! I have two things that I would like you to try tomorrow. First, I would like you to take
a few steps back when Susie is participating in the class, and leave her some open space so she
can learn to ask for help. Moreover, when her peers see that she is struggling, most of the time
they will help her. Cannot lie, their help is the most natural way to provide supports. If they are
still cannot figure it out, that is the moment you or Ms. Harris should jump in and support them.
Paraeducator Campbell: Yes, I do, so I just stay back and observe them?
Me: Partially, yes! You can also go help other peers in their group activities during that time. In
addition, if you do not feel comfortable of helping other groups, you can fill out an Ecological
Inventory sheet that provides me some feedback about Susies performance in that class so I am
able to develop some modifications, adaptations, or accommodations that can best help her in the
classroom.
Paraeducator Campbell (happily): I like these ideas, and I never thought about it. I would love to
Me (happily): Awesome! I would love to see how it goes tomorrow! I appreciate your patients
Setting of Conversation: Ms. Williams (general education teacher) and Ms. Moore
(paraprofessional) and me (special education teacher) will meet in the conference room during
planning time.
Conversation:
Me (cheerfully): Good afternoon Ms. Williams and Ms. Moore! How are you guys?
Ms. Williams and Ms. Moore (cheerfully): Im fine! How about you?
Me (excitedly): Im really good! Thanks! Today we are going to look at a picture first and we are
going to discuss about what should we do to change or avoid this happen in our classroom. This
picture is called Island In The Mainstream. As you can see from the picture, Fred, the student
with disabilities, is located in the far side of the classroom, and he has Mrs. Cooper who is his
paraprofessional provides direct instructions while Mrs. Jones is teaching. In addition, Mrs.
Cooper and Mrs. Jones are still trying to figure out why Fred does not feel like part of the class.
What do you think about this situation for Fred? And what would you like to do to change this
environmental challenge?
Ms. Williams: Interesting topic, nice job picking this picture out! I think that Fred has a hard
time to be involved in the class because he is in his own island and Mrs. Cooper is directly
teaching him. If I am Mrs. Jones, I will re-sign Freds seat to the front of the classroom so he is
able to clearly look at the blackboard and physically be a part of the class. If possible, I also will
change the arrangement of their seats into small groups so they are able to support each other and
Me: These are some useful ideas Ms. Williams. In my opinion, changing Freds location is just
part of the process, and providing peer supports, even peer tutoring will extremely help him in
this situation. For example, I will help Fred find common interests with his peers by using a
common interest worksheet, and after he got matched with one of his classmates, he will
participate different activates with this peer during the day and different classes. In the picture, I
think the paraprofessional could do a better job supporting Fred. Ms. Moore, what is your
Ms. Moore: I enjoy listening to the good ideas that you guys just talked about. I think that Freds
paraprofessionals is not the teacher who should be teaching the lesson because Mrs. Cooper is in
a supportive role and his job is to provide modifications, accommodations, or adaptations from
the lesson plan that Mrs. Jones wrote. I understand that paraprofessional is an important role in
the education teams because they are able to free the general education teacher when doing
clerical tasks, engage in follow-up instruction, provide personal cares, facilitate social skills and
peer interaction, and provide supervision in group settings. However, in the one-to-one support,
paraprofessionals should give the students with disabilities some space while they are working
on a task or engaging in the class. In addition, they can walk around the classroom and help other
students or groups so the general education teacher has time to provide direct supports to the
Me: Awesome responses! I think you totally understand the paraprofessionals role in the
educational team, and I think all three of us need to communicate and collaborate each week
during this time in order to improve our teaching. What do you guys think?
Ms. Williams: Sure, I think it is a great idea to communicate and collaborate at the same time
every week. Also, we can discuss the next weeks lesson plans during this time so you and Ms.
Moore have enough time to talk about it and be on the same page of how to support the student.
Ms. Moore and me: I like this idea, and I would love to do it! Thank you very much!