Essay On Teacher Assistant

Paraeducators play a very important role in the education for students with severe disabilities. In order for paraeducators to perform to their best it is essential that teachers train them properly. General education teachers ought to understand that paraeducators are looking to the teacher for leadership and management.

The authors went on to state that paraprofessionals “reported that they had some familiarity with the concept of self determined behavior for students with disabilities, with even lower levels of access to professional development opportunities pertaining to self-determined behaviors” (Lane, Carter, & Sisco, 2012, p. 246). Paraprofessionals are expected to play key roles in the education of students with severe disabilities, but they are not given the proper tools to complete this task successfully. Teachers, students and paraprofessionals would be greatly benefited if every person involved in the education of a child was properly trained.

Currently, I am a Personal Care Instructional Aide for a nonverbal Down Syndrome student at West Hempfield Elementary. I work hand and hand with the special education teacher to devise lesson plans to suit the needs of my student. I am responsible for implementing the lesson plans one-on-one with my student in Language Arts, Mathematics, and social skills interactions daily. On a daily basis, I am also responsible for molding and shaping my student's behaviors and prompt when necessary. Working in the learning support room has taught me a variety of ways to incorporate differentiated instruction to suit the needs of all students. It has also shown me the type of teacher I should be, a teacher who adapts content to meet the needs of all learners and the importance of inclusion.

Time is passing and opportunities are opening for more students with special needs. Many students in college are getting more interested in Special Education as career that will allow more organization to have more workers with a big potential that will have an important impact on these kids with disabilities. However, this will require more training for the students that organizations around the country can give them. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,“the career outlook for special education teachers should remain steady through 2024, with an increase of 6%, the national average for job growth in the United States. The median salary for this position is just over $55,000 annually,” (“Master in Special Education”) The approach the

What does a Teaching Assistant (TA) do? there are many variations to this role making this not a straight forward question to answer. There are class teaching assistants, Special Educational Needs (SEN) teaching assistants, specialist subject teaching assistants, Higher Level teaching assistants (HLTA’s) to name a few. The job role will differ from school to school as TA’s are present in schools from Early Years classrooms through to senior and upper schools, making the role of a TA an extremely diverse and varied one.

When asked why I want to be a graduate school teacher’s assistant (TA), my honest answer is the financial benefits. Being an out of state applicant, the financial responsibility is significantly higher. The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee is my dream graduate school. The clinical opportunities, unique elective offerings, and welcoming staff are only a few reasons why I am so drawn to this program. Throughout my undergraduate career, I have worked tirelessly to get to where I am today with selecting a graduate school. After working so faithfully for the past 4 years, I do not want to let financial liability stand in my way of committing to my desired school. Being a TA will provide me with the financial backing needed to make my aspirations a reality.

While obtaining observation hours for ASHA, I had the privilege of viewing therapy sessions of students at Oscar Smith Middle School. I never had the opportunity of meeting children with disabilities personally until I began my observation hours. During a treatment session, two young ladies with Intellectual Disability (ID) captured my attention and changed my perspective on the part Speech Language Pathologists (SLP) play in providing these students with the critical skills to communicate with their special and general education instructors and others they may encounter through their environment. Witnessing the middle school students’ interactions with their SLP and myself gave me a glance at the rewarding aspects

The issue of teacher shortage today is continuing to grow. The effects of the achievement gap are reaching the teachers, not just the students: “...good administrators and teachers, who are doing their best under difficult circumstances, will be driven out of the profession…,” (Boyd-Zaharias 41). The achievement gap is part of the reason teachers feel they are underpaid, which happens to be one of the leading cause in teacher shortage considering, “Teachers were paid two percent less [than comparable workers] in 1994, but by 2015 the wage penalty rose to 17 percent,” (Long). Being a teacher requires passion in order to stay in the field, especially if the money in teaching is decreasing. Money is an important aspect for people when it comes to their careers, therefore, fewer people want to become teachers. This lack of teachers and the lack of college students studying to become a teacher leads to unqualified teachers and larger classroom sizes (Ostroff). Both of these causes are eventually affecting students’ learning environments. I chose this issue in education for my project because I have personally felt these effects, and I know others who have as well. As a future educator, I want to see better wages and better benefits, but this can only happen with qualified, passionate teachers. I plan on being one of them, and I plan on sparking a change. I am a future educator fighting to end teacher shortage.

As in every profession, roles, responsibilities and boundaries are set in order to define the line indicating the acceptable limits.

After reading your advertisement for a Teacher Aide’s position, I instantly decided to submit my application as my attributes closely complement your needs. I am very ambitious to make a significant difference in the lives of children and am confident that this eagerness and passion will go a long way in contributing to your school.

“Special education labels don’t define children; Children define themselves” (Dalien, 2015). I am interested in becoming a special education teacher because I have always loved being around children, and I have a soft spot for kids with autism and other disabilities. The first time that I ever thought about working with special needs children was when I was in the fifth grade. My mom worked at my school as a teacher assistant in a first grade classroom, so in the morning I would go to her classroom and wait for the bell to ring. A little boy named Alex who had Cerebral palsy and a spinal problem, came into class early as well. I immediately connected with him, and began going to my mom’s room every morning to play with him before class. It soon became the highlight of my day. Alex could not talk very well and could not walk, so we rolled cars around the floor, traced shapes on to the whiteboard, or sometimes crawled on the floor chasing each other as monsters. I loved seeing how me playing with him made him smile so big and become more outgoing. My dream is to give kids like Alex a reason to smile and help them reach their full potential. In this speech you will learn all about special education teachers, including, but not limited to: What they do, where they typically work, their environment, how much they get paid, benefits the job entails, the education and skills required to become a special education teacher, and information on the job outlook.

The teacher I interviewed has taught for more than ten years at the same school. She started as a fourth grade teacher but she now works as an interventionist.

I believe education is one of the most important tools a person can have in life. Every child deserves to receive the best education possible.  It has always been my passion to help each child discover their individual God given gifts and talents and to reach their full potential.

It’s common to observe teachers and parapeducators working together in an educational setting. Paparaeducators are tasked with numerous roles, which includes spending 47% of their time instructing (Carter, O’Rourke, Sisco, & Pelsue, D, 2009). However, paraeducators remain inadequately trained and supervised to perform many of these tasks, whereas teachers have not received any training on how to supervise paraeducators working in their classroom (Dettmer, Knackendoffel, Thurston, 2013). After several informal conversations and one formal interview with a teacher and paraeducator, I was able to explore each role’s perspective of school and responsibilities. The interview participants were working at a low-income alternative high school, with 90-95% of the students being Hispanic males, and 30-50% having documented special needs. During reflection, I researched strategies to improve teacher and paraeducator relationships, as well as possible solutions to the problems they identified with their school function.

When I think about teachers that I have had in the past, several different ones come to my mind. Each of these educators stands out in my mind for a variety of diverse reasons. Whether it is their sense of humor, their tactfulness, their love of the subject matter, their fanatical and sporadic behavior, or their yearning to be childish themselves, I can still remember at least one quality of every teacher I have ever encountered. Every one of these teachers conveyed subject material to their students just as they were educated and employed to do. However, I trust that every professional in the world has an abundance of opportunity for improvement; teachers could discover and improve themselves merely by having