Paraeducators' Information

Our Colleague's Corner

Recently, the ROD Cooperative has established a committee to address the needs of paraeducators in the schools throughout our cooperative. The members of the committee include: Yvonda Kramer-Educational Consultant, Rick Whitmore-Educational Consultant, Lisa Beneker-Assistant Director, and myself, Lisa Cotner-Paraeducator. Our committee is participating in the Facilitator/Mentor Training Program sponsored by the Indiana Paraeducator Support Project (IPSP).

We attended our first training on November 13-14, 2003 at IUPUI in Indianapolis. This first training focused on identifying our priorities for paraeducator support. We felt our three top priorities were as follows:

Orienting & Training Paraeducators, Acknowledging Paraeducators, & Supervision & Evaluation of Paras. We then brainstormed ideas to pursue these topics. We decided to focus on two ideas. The first is this newsletter and the second is to hold topical discussions at several locations throughout the cooperative. These discussions would be led by Lisa Beneker, Assistant Director in conjunction with other ROD personnel. Attendance to discussions would be voluntary. Surveys regarding discussions have been given to paraeducators to get your input on the idea. The information obtained will be shared in this newsletter. Our committee will be going back to IUPUI in April and again in June. By attending these trainings we hope to gain insight in offering the best support to paraeducators.

Paraeducator Survey Results for Topical Discussion

According to the results of surveys obtained from paraeducators regarding the development of discussion groups, 50% of you stated that you would be interested in attending sessions. 24% of paras indicated that morning sessions worked best, while 48% indicated that afternoon was a better time. 27% of paras had no time preference. 39% of paras indicated that they were not interested, while 11% indicated that they could not attend sessions due to bus routes or other work duties. Our committee will be meeting to decide our next steps in this endeavor. Thank you for participating in the survey process.

Share Your Thoughts!

Some of the best classroom ideas can come straight from those who work with students on a daily basis. If you have ideas or strategies that may be helpful to other paraeducators, then we want to hear from you. Send your ideas to the following address or fax # so they can be included in future issues of The Para Provider:

Ripley-Ohio-Dearborn Special Education Cooperative

c/o Lisa Beneker, Assistant Director

P.O. Box 238

Sunman, IN 47041

or FAX to 812-623-2315