winter 2014 the paragraph utah paraeducatorsutahparas.org/newsletter/2014-winter-paragraph.pdf ·...

In this Issue:

the

PARAgraph Utah Paraeducators

W I N T E R 2 0 1 4

Page 2-7

Letter from the Editors

Highlights of the 2013

Paraeducator Conference

Pages 8-12

2013 Outstanding Paraeducator

Awards

Pages 13-14

Start Where You Stand

Joyful Teacher Self Assessment

THE PARAgraph WINTER 2014

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2014 It is going to be a great year!

It is a known fact that many people set goals for themselves at the beginning of each new year. Why does one choose to do that? Is he/she not happy with life, does he/she want to eliminate old habits and/or incorporate new habits into his/her life? Either way, we feel that change is good, if it is for improving our life or the life of another. Being educators, we are always trying to improve our lives and/or the lives of the students that we interact with each day. If you made goals at the beginning of the school year, and have not accomplished them, don’t give up. Look at those goals and maybe change them a little to make them more achievable. Did you set realistic goals? Did you set goals that were/are too hard to achieve? I’ve always been told, “one can eat an entire elephant, if one eats it a bite at a time.” Do you need to break your goals into smaller, achievable goals? Some of the goals we could set this year are:

• To be more forgiving of others and of ourselves. • If we don’t achieve a goal by a certain date, then we could sit down and reevaluate that goal and

how to make it achievable. • If others have offended us, we can choose to forgive and to let it go. Life is too short to carry

grudges. • We can forgive and move forward to better days. • Be more kind. We can greet students, co-workers, family members, neighbors, etc. –with a smile.

That smile may be the only one the other person receives that day. It is a great feeling to be able to retire at night and know that you made someone else smile and cheered up his or her day.

Stop and ponder on how you can make the remainder of this year a great one.

Be happy with yourself and those around you. Try to have at least one positive

thought every thirty minutes.

Hang in there.

Never give up on yourself or on others,

Jerolyn, Jody and Marsha


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Highlights of 2013 Utah Paraeducator Conference

What would we do without you? Thank you; thank you for your long hours

and sleepless nights of planning, coordinating, and hard work for a very

successful and fulfilling conference!


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Lisa Smartt Lisa Smartt lives on 16 wooded acres on the outskirts of Dresden, Tennessee,

with her more-than-wonderful husband of 24 years, two way-above-average teenage sons, and a misguided cat named, “Hobo”.

She travels nationally as a motivational humorist and writes a weekly newspaper column called, “The Smart View.” Her future aspirations include organizing her purse,

eating more green leafy vegetables and cleaning out the hall closet.

• Fifty to sixty years ago we called challenged kids "stupid." Now we know more about

disabilities and why we are different. • If you think you are better than others-that’s the first sign you are not. • We need each other's differences. (She told us how to determine "the cleanies" from "the messies.") • Own your own mistakes. You can't grow from the position of excuse.

• Assume the best. • Do the very best work you can do but don't sell your

soul to someone who won't be to your funeral. • No gossip-anything inappropriate about anyone. • Forgive those who hurt you. • When in doubt show mercy. • She said that if we want everything to add up, we

should be an accountant. • She also said to be kinder than necessary because

everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle. How true!


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“Bullying Prevention in Positive Behavior Supports” by: Scott Ross

Scott Ross is from the Special Education and Rehabilitation Department at USU. He stated that our goal for the next 90 minutes would be to define real strategies:

• Objective 1 - Understand the problem • Objective 2 - Student response and adult response

First off he paired us up with a partner and instructed us to discuss and evaluate

strategies that we currently have in place at our schools. My partner was Lisa Smart the keynote speaker at the conference. She decided to come early and attend this session. She told me that she and her husband have two adopted sons. This last year they chose to home school their twelve year old because of the severe bullying that he has been subjected to at school. She said he was diagnosed when he was younger with Aspergers Syndrome and he literally was broken and could not take anymore bullying. She said, "Did we want to home school him? No, but if your child falls in the water do you try to rescue and save him?"

Dr. Ross said that bullying is the most enduring and underrated problem in all schools and nearly 30% of students have reported being involved as a perpetrator or a victim. He went on to say that if we asked most kids what bullying is they would say big physical violence, punch in the face and bleeding.

He said that language makes all the difference when it comes to this subject. If we leave the word Bullying out and go into a school and ask the students how many times last week were you kicked, punched or shoved they would tell you and it would be a lot. The problem is the driving force behind bullying is fear and the victims fear reporting it as well.

Dr. Ross told us that some schools in Canada have put video cameras inside and outside of their schools. They also had students wear a lanyard with an audio recorder on it around their necks. They found that 80% of the time someone else was cheering on the incident but was afraid to report it for fear of being bullied themselves or another victim. Dr. Scott introduced and then demonstrated the BPIPBS curriculum. I thought it was excellent. He said an intervention has to be in place for six or more years to really be done correctly. He did an object lesson using a candle to make an analogy of the driving force or air and oxygen, which is the bystander, and if we remove the peer attention (fuel) long enough it will go away. This 90-minute class was very informative and I feel the program would be very beneficial to our schools.


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“The Pro-Active Paraeducator”

While attending one of the classes at the Paraeducator Conference this past November of 2013,

participants were given a nifty little booklet entitled, “The Pro-Active Paraeducator.” Betty Ashbaker and Jill Morgan created this booklet. It was designed to help Paraeducators and it has more than 200 nifty ideas for people who help teachers. In this class, we discussed:

• There are many aspects of your work, which require your initiative and these decisions can be made beforehand. The decisions should not be made on the spur of the moment in reaction in student behaviors.

• You need to decide how you will present material, decide what questions you will ask to monitor student understanding, how you will supervise the students assigned to you, what incentives you can offer for good work, and how you want students to indicate that they want to speak or answer a question. You, as a paraeducator, may have to check some of these decisions with your supervisor, but they do need to be thought out carefully in a proactive manner.

In the booklet, many of the suggestions were made by paraeducators, who have learned from experience what works best in their particular situation. There are also suggestions from teachers. Some of the suggestions in the booklet are:

• Be sure to get to class on time. When students are waiting they get restless and it takes longer to get their attention.

• Establish a schedule of subjects, and post a copy where all students can see it. • Use a hand puppet to get and keep student attention. Younger students especially are likely to pay

close attention if the puppet does the “teaching”. • Teach your students an attention-getter, such as a short hand-clapping rhythm, so that they have to

stop whatever they’re doing and repeat whenever they hear it. • Every time there is a transition from one activity to another, teach/tell the student what behavior

you expect to see, and then compliment those students who live up to that expectation. • Plastic totes or crates may be helpful to store materials near to where they will be used. • Have meaningful extension activities planned for students who finish assignments early, to help

them further develop the skills they have been practicing. • To get students’ attention at the beginning of the class use index cards with review questions

written on them. If you distribute the cards as students are sitting down, it gives them something work-oriented to focus on.

• Explain to your students the purpose of goal of a lesson, together with a rationale, or reason, for it. • With elementary or young students, use your students’ names in the examples or illustrations you

give. This gives them more of a sense that the example applies directly to them.

The booklet, “The Pro-Active Paraeducator,” is available to purchase. You can search the web for: Kindle Books, Ashbaker. The ISBN number is: 1-56861-052-2.

There are indeed a lot of great ideas for a paraeducator to implement into teaching.


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When you think of math, do you think of it as a four-letter word, or as a challenge, of “bring it on?” Do you enjoy teaching math to students, or do you dread the idea each day? Do you prepare in advance for your lesson or do you wait until the last minute to read it and hope that “it goes okay?” When one attends the Paraeducator Conference each year, he/she has the opportunity to attend different math classes, which give great ideas on ways to “spice up” the lessons that he/she will be teaching. The ideas always seem to help, so your lessons are not dreaded each day. This past November, Becky Unker, who is employed with UPDC, taught two classes during the two-day conference.

• One of the classes was entitled, “Beyond Pizza: Strategies to Teach Fractions to Students.” During the class, participants got to learn different ways to teach fractions to students without always using the pizza circle presentation. The participants got to work together in making items that taught the principle of fractions.

• Another fun way was to play a game called “Fraction Showdown,” which requires a deck of cards for each pair of students. Students are each dealt twenty cards. The first player draws two cards off of their deck and must make a fraction with the two numbers that are shown on the cards. Then, the second player does the same. The player that has a fraction closer to the number one wins the cards from the other player. The game is played until one player has won all of the cards, or a time limit can be set for the game.

Each participant, who attended the class, was given items that can be used in his/her classroom. Becky gave lots of other wonderful ideas, also. If math continues to weigh you down, I really suggest that in the future, if you attend the Paraeducator Conferences, try to attend some of the math classes that are available.

“Math: A Four Letter Word”

by: Becky Unker


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Utah Outstanding Paraeducator Awards for 2013

Three people were at work on a construction site. All were doing the same job, but when each was asked what the job was, the answers varied. “Breaking rocks,” the first replied. “Earning my living,” the second said. “Helping build a cathedral”, said the third.

We have the privilege to honor 12 paraeducators, who like our third construction worker, are not merely doing a job, they are making a profound difference in the lives of students.

They are Navigating Student Success! Henry George stated, “Let no man imagine that he has no influence. Whoever he may be, and

wherever he may be placed, the man who thinks becomes a light and a power.” As we read the accomplishments of these 12 Outstanding Paraeducators, it is obvious that they

believe implicitly and unquestionably in what they do! Thank you for the great influence you are.


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2013 Outstanding Paraeducators


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Exhibitors USEA – www.useautah.org The Utah School Employees Association has been in force for classified employees in Utah since 1969. USEA is the acting voice fro Utah’s classified professionals. They actively effectively advocate for the rights and needs of classified professionals working in Utah’s educational system. This organization provides services and benefits that will enhance the lives of our members. U of U – [email protected] (Rob O’Neill) This exhibit provided application and programs information for the Department of Special Education Teacher certification and graduate programs in the area of mild/moderate, sever, sensory, and early childhood special education. WGU – [email protected] (Jenny Pink and Dan Bseiso) Western Governors University is the only accredited university in the United States offering online competency based degree programs. Tuitions is a flat rate for each 6-month term, often less than half the cost of comparable programs. USU – [email protected] (Julia Lyman) Utah State University Mild Moderate Distance Education teacher preparation program. The program operates at select USU Extension sited across Utah providing classes during evening hours, for convenience. USU – [email protected], [email protected] (Bob Morgan and Rebecca Morgan) This exhibit described teacher preparation programs at Utah State University, including on-campus programs (mild/moderate, severe, and early childhood disabilities. It also an alternative teacher preparation program in Salt Lake City. WSU – [email protected] (Natalie Allen William) This exhibit described the Special Education programs offered at Weber State University. For more information, please contact the representative listed above for each university.


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Start Where You Stand by: Berton Braley

Start where you stand and never mind the past,

The past won’t help you in beginning new, If you have left it all behind at last

Why, that’s enough, you’re done with it, you’re through; This is another chapter in the book,

This is another race that you have planned, Don’t give the vanished days a backward look,

Start where you stand.

The world won’t care about your old defeats If you can start anew and win success;

The future is your time, and time is fleet And there is much of work and strain and stress;

Forget the buried woes and dead despairs, Here is a brand-new trial right at hand,

The future is for him, who does and dares, Start where you stand.

Old Failures will not halt, old triumphs aid, To-day’s the thing, to-morrow soon will be;

Get in the fight and face it unafraid, And leave the past to ancient history,

What has been, has been; yesterday is dead And by it you are neither blessed nor banned; Take courage, man, be brave and drive ahead;

Start where you stand.

The Joyful Teacher Self Assessment

Usually Sometimes Seldom

1. I love to see Monday morning come.

2. I get to school early.

3. My day passes quickly.

4. I laugh with my students.

5. I like my students.

6. I find many things in student work and behavior to compliment. 7. Students volunteer to help others and me.

8. Students smile when they see me.

9. My lessons are fun, exciting, varied.

10. I make time for outside interest, relaxation, and personal growth.

Total:

W I N T E R 2 0 1 4

Directions: Read each question. If the answer is Usually, write a 10 in the box. If the answer is Sometimes, write an 8 in the box. If the answer is Seldom, write a 6 in the box. Total your points. Use the key below to grade your assessment.

Key: 94-100 = Joyfulness Personified 86-93 = Above Average 80-85 = Average Below 80 = Joyless

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