Paraprofessional Puns

I start my new job as a life skills paraprofessional in fall at a high school. I have experience in similar jobs but new to actual in school work. My style is dark, goth and/or emo style would be okay. There is no real dress code except professional causal so just trying to judge what that means. I wear dark jeans, dark vans or doc martens. Usually a dark men's shirt sometimes with skulls or what not. I also wear gauges like my trex ones they are only a 2. I guess what I mean is I'm almost 30 never out grew my emo stage and I can't imagine myself in a preppy or normal teacher clothes. Any help or opinion welcome thanks in advance.

Hello, i am currently in college pursuing a degree in elementary education, i have seen a paraprofessional opening recently and i begin to wonder if it would help me get a teaching job in the future?

if i got this job in the district that i’ve always wanted to work and grown up in, is it likely that taking this job will give me a good chance to move up to teaching upon getting my degree?

Edit: i am only 2 years into college so i still have 2 more before getting bachelors

Because I'll be a SPED Teacher in August!!!

Had an IEP myself as a student with ADD and LD, also had a speech impediment.

Bit of background: My original certification is Social Studies and I am working toward my SPED certification and Master's now. I was originally hired in my district to teach credit recovery at the local juvenile detention center and I did that for 2.5 years. That position didn't count towards my professional license, wasn't direct instruction, and the juveniles kind of burned me out. I left Education and worked at a warehouse for six months, yet I still substitute taught on the side. Eventually decided to retake the Praxis and Social Studies content exams again. In order to take the tests and pass the first time, I decided that I should study for them. That's why I became a SPED Paraprofessional, to have benefits and time to study.

I helped with remote classes and taught some this year even.

I really could add more and probably way too much detail to this. Just thought I'd share.

I’m on mobile so if my formatting is odd this is why.

I am currently a student teacher working with kindergarten. I have a fantastic mentor whom I love and admire! My students are so fantastic and I love them too!! But ... the paraprofessional I loath... they have been nothing but a thorn in my side this entire school year!!! Here are some of the things they have done:

1. Went over the head of my mentor to tell a parent that we will 100% guarantee their child can come to campus. This was before we told any families we intended to start hybrid teaching.

2. I don’t have “proof” of this one but my suspicions are not just my own. I had to make a mandated report.. I mistakingly emailed the paraprofessional to notify I made a report. I now realize I do not have to notify anyone, it was an honest mistake. However, when I interacted with this parent (the one I reported) for a materials pick up they were overtly aggressive towards me. Since that time period the parent will not interact with me or my mentor.

3. This paraprofessional told a family that they would watch their student after school was over so they could play??!! I only figured out what was happening because usually this parent is the first to get their child. I found this to be SO inappropriate..

4. This is the most recent. I made goodie bags with my own money to say goodbye to the students as I will not be staying with my school placement. I made little notes addressed to each student to be attached to each goodie bag. I asked the paraprofessional if they could sign their name on the bottom of these notes that read “Thank you for letting us teach you”. They signed the notes, BUT! When they handed them to me when they were done they said “I’m very upset you didn’t give me ANY room to write anything”. I responded with, “if you want to add your own notes to the bag you’re more than welcome to. If you could get them done today and bring them back to me I’ll attach them”. They were SOOOO angry! Their face twisted into this ugly mess and they said, “You know what! I won’t write a note then! Because I’ll actually be here next year unlike you”!!! I kept my cool because I am just so done with all the drama.. I responded, “You’re right I won’t be here next year, and I’m glad” And they SLAMMED the door and left the classroom..

I cannot wait to get away from this person.. and trust me I have made reports to the school! Even had meetings with principals about their behavior and they’ve faced zero re

Sorry, I hope this is okay to post in here. I can't even begin to explain how nervous I am about all this. I'm still surprised I got the job offer to begin with, but I need to take the test so I can be certified now. I have ADHD and tests have always been a struggle, but I also I make myself much more panicked than I should be a lot of the time. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has been in a similar boat. No degrees, and struggles to test. Any practice tests recommendations would be super appreciated. I'll just be so sad to miss out on this job, since its all I want to do. I'm in Illinois if that helps 😥

Hello so I’m currently working as TA in elementary school and have been doing a lot more work with kids and I find myself helping them a lot with their emotions and basically find myself listening and problem solving with them a lot. I’m super empathetic and a really good listener and have found myself very intrigued in becoming a school psychologist. Some background for you: I majored in English with a 2.7 gpa 🙈 but have been working as a paraprofessional for about 5 years and I even have sped experience. I’ve tried looking at my alma matters graduate program and it all just feels so overwhelming and daunting. I’m a bit scared to be honest since I’m 31. Any helpful advice or kind words to get me started on this journey ?

tl:dr - I apologize. If you want to cut to the chase, scroll to the bottom two paragraphs. Thanks.

I am a cataloger in a denominational academic library in the midwest US.

I have been cataloging for 9 years. Previous to that, for another nine years I managed a program in my library that sent books to affiliated overseas schools (a half-time position). Before that, I did a few half-time staff jobs, and began as a student worker in the periodicals department. I've been employed in this library for 25 out of the last 27 years (with a 2-year gap working in records for a pharmaceutical company in a large city).

Recently, due to covid and frankly, old age, my 4-person department was halved. We lost two faculty-level positions. There remains one faculty-level position, and me, a paraprofessional. My university has *finally* agreed to send me to get my MLIS - this is something they should have done years ago, and DID do for many of my older colleagues in the past, but they got cheap and shortsighted in the last 15-20 years, and are only just now coming to the realization that if they want qualified denominationally-affiliated librarians, they're going to need to educate those of us who are still here, because we don't have a denominationally-affiliated library school, and members of the denomination have not historically been encouraged to become librarians, and there's a severe shortage.

The difficulty for me now is that a) I was not well-trained when I became a cataloger. My predecessor was over 70 at the time, largely checked out, and rather 'grabby' about the information she held in her head. (I believe she was afraid of someone having more knowledge and skills than she did, leaving her vulnerable to being pushed out - which wouldn't have happened, but is neither here nor there.) So, other than a few basic workshops, I largely had to teach myself. I do believe that I do a great job now, but there's always that niggling feeling that MAYBE I'm missing something, or I'm not as good as I think I am, because I've never had good feedback, or supervisors who were in my corner fighting for me.
b) My current co-worker/supervisor is, I'm afraid, having anxiety issues that are affecting his health and his work. He has been the head cataloger for many years, though he didn't do much of my training either, I'm not sure if he thought my other boss was doing it (she wasn't), or he thought I already knew things, or perhaps thought I didn't NEED to know

I'm not finding much info anywhere online regarding it, other than it's under each California district's discretion and that it is language arts and maths. Our district is requiring us all to take the exam before the new school year begins, even if we have been with the district for multiple years.

For some background, I work for a Title 1 charter school as a paraprofessional. This entire week PTO's celebration of teacher appreciation week was both very over the top and they completely left out the paraprofessionals. Each day of the week teachers got catering and gifts, and not even a verbal thank you was given to the paras. I'm a Title 1 paraprofessional so I work with students one on one and in small groups for math and reading interventions, so I'm definitely a teacher too. The math and reading specialists at my school were included for teacher appreciation week, and essentially the only difference between them and the paras is that they have degrees and we do not (perhaps this isn't the case at other schools, but it is at mine).

On top of this, the PTO sent out a newsletter to families asking students to buy different gifts for their teachers each day this week. One day it was Starbucks gift cards, and another students were told to bring flowers. I have a problem with this because it's straight up entitled of the PTO to ask families to spend money like that on teacher appreciation week, especially since we're a Title 1 school. Why can't the kids just draw their teachers a picture or write them a note that says thank you?

Teacher appreciation week has made me realize just how underappreciated I am as a paraprofessional too. We get paid minimum wage at my school, we're the ones who are outside during recess, in the cafeteria during lunch, doing Title 1 interventions, helping with SPED, etc. but we don't even get recognized for our importance during teacher appreciation week.

I'm on lunch right now, I'm very ready to go home after this week...

Hi everyone! I’m interviewing to be a paraprofessional in my dream school district - I want to be a lead teacher there later. I really want to show my enthusiasm and make clear how much I could gain from this role.

I’ve never interviewed for a paraprofessional role before. Anyone have any tips?

I just need to vent.

I'm a licensed teacher and worked for five years before taking a couple years off to raise my kiddo. My partner lost his job at the end of 2020, so to make ends meet, I took a job as a paraprofessional. I see multiple cohorts a day, during COVID, entirely in-person. I'm doing many (but not all) the things a salaried teacher does. The pay is below $14 an hour, 7 hours a day -- not much at all, but better than nothing, and fairly doable where we live as long as we're careful with money.

I've been working now since mid-January. I finally got my first paycheck. Aaaand it's HALF of what I expected it to be.

I contacted payroll because I was sure there had been a mistake. NOPE. Just like salaried teachers, they spread out our pay so we're also getting paid over the summer. A quick calculation tells me that instead of making almost $14 an hour, I'm actually making more like $9. What I bring home at the end of the month doesn't cover all our bills.

I'm just feeling sad and undervalued. It's ridiculous that in America, one can have a full-time job and still be below the poverty line.

Hey all, I've recently applied to several paraprofessional library positions to get my foot in the door. I'm waiting to hear back from several, but I'm having doubts about how attractive my qualifications or experience may look to a hiring manager.

To simplify things, I uploaded my resume with all names or locations censored (not sure if this is allowed, but from what I can tell it doesn't violate any rules).

Is there anything I can work on, whether it's experience or formatting?

Resume

Update So I've updated things a bit to make it more professional and appealing to employers. Please let me know if this is an improvement!

Updated Resume

Hi all! I’m a sped teacher and I’ve been working with a paraprofessional all year who has been constantly undermining me and making back handed comments. I’m a very easy going and people pleasing person so I’m not sure what to do other than ignore. Any advice is welcome!

I am a paraprofessional with ADHD that is working with students with ADHD, I never had one when I was growing up so for those that did what were some of the most helpful things they did for you/lessons they taught you? One of them is doing really well and a lot of that is due to being medicated and having a lot of parental support while the other one is struggling and is lacking both of those things. I'm really having a hard time figuring out exactly how to help them grow and learn.

Hello, I am super nervous as I received a call for an interview for an ESL paraprofessional position. I am just wondering if anyone can help with interview questions or pointers since it’ll be my first online interview . thanks !!

Hello! I need to interview a special education teacher or paraprofessional for a school project due this weekend. I have a set of questions that I need answered by this Friday morning 3/5/21. Would anyone be kind enough to help me with this? I would GREATLY appreciate this!

I am looking for advice, as I am very torn. I’m currently a sub in a long term assignment that began in January, lasting for the remainder of the year. This was my first ever gig. I have been a co English teacher for this assignment, and one of the teachers I work with (who is fabulous) is very adamant on me staying here at this particular school (which I love and it is an ultimate goal to possibly work at).

She has recommended me highly, and now I am basically being offered my foot in the door at a full time paraprofessional position for next year.

This is where I get confused. I am not sure what would be the best course of action for me. I want to ultimately teach, and am getting ready to start my Alternate Educator License. Paras don’t need to be highly qualified (a HS diploma is needed, associates “preferred; I have my Bachelors and would like to do something where that is required), and I’m pretty sure the pay is not good. Sub pay is not great either, but there is always the opportunity for long term gigs where after 30 days the pay doubles. That is a significant pay increase.

Being a para would be guaranteed work every day, but it it the best course of action for my long term goal? Does anyone have advice or experience in this area?

I find it hilarious that National Paraprofessional day falls on April Fools Day. Because that’s how my admin team makes me feel almost all the time.

Our district decided they aren’t going to pay us for inclement weather days.

Why? Well, we’re not contract workers.

But.... we signed a contract. Oh, we’re support staff.

But.... we don’t get the bonus support staff gets. Right, because we’re not salaried.

But.... we were paid for them last year? Good on ya, it won’t happen again. (Also informed if we shut down for CV again we won’t be paid for those days either)

But... what changed? New superintendent. It’s not illegal, he just decided he didn’t want to.

Fantastic, good talk. Oh, but you tell us we are so appreciated and the teacher would quit without us. Riiiiight.

But sending home 5-10 sheets in a packet put together the day before a potential week out constitutes those days being virtual. roll eyes

So for one of my clerkships, we have to attend this paraprofessional collaboration day next week with nursing, NPs, PAs etc as well as students. We have to come up with misconceptions that our profession has about others, and what we can do to correct that and improve relations. Also why exactly we need these other professions to function, and how they are similar to us. It counts for like 20 percent of our grade. With remaining 40 percent for shelf and 40 percent wards. Any tips?

I work at a mid tier firm. Because I don’t have my required 150 credits, I am in a special position called a paraprofessional. Basically, I am below staff but above interns. We do the work of staff usually, but there is one para who works as a senior and reviews my work (and the work of other staff in the department) and often works directly with the partners.

I enjoy the work that I’m doing now, a lot of tax obviously at the moment, but I also do bookkeeping and attestations. I’m the first preparer on all engagements and have virtually no client-facing liability since I’m so low on the totem pole. I just started in November so busy season has been a wild ride, but it’s been manageable.

There are serious benefits to this role, and I’m considering not finishing my 150 credits to stay as a para:

• capped at 55 hours during busy season and 40 during off-season (can go over but needs express partner approval). At any time, anything over 40 hours in a week is time and a half. ETA: no cap for anyone else ever and 55 hr MIN for staff+ during tax season
• I make $65k, which is more than I have ever made...and likely is more now that busy season has me with 15 hours of OT each week for 12 weeks straight.
• We get raises, bonuses, and have PTO, 401k etc just like everyone else, but there’s probably a ceiling to what I can make in this role. My husband and I have always lived below our means so we have a large amount of money that we can put toward debt every month and are on track to pay off the house in 3 years.

I have no long term career goals - I genuinely only want to enjoy what I do every day and that’s pretty much where I’m at now. There are shitty engagements but that will happen anywhere and it’s not the norm. Basically, if I end up capped at $70k, and actually enjoy what I’m doing, that’s perfectly fine with me.

IS THAT SO BAD?!?!

This might be a dumb question, but I am wondering what resume I should use if I am applying for one of these jobs. I'm student teaching in the fall and would like to get some more experience in education since covid halted our field experiences. Every job I've held in the past has been retail, so I have my standard resume that is strictly work experience. However, I have another resume that I used to apply for student teaching, which details my education and field experiences. Which one of these should I use in applying for these jobs? Thanks!

Does anyone have experience transitioning from a paraprofessional to a lead sed teacher?

I was an SSN para for seven years and am now trying to get into sed teaching. I am curious to know if transitioning from this position to a certified role was difficult.

What was your biggest struggle through your transition?

While I’m going through school to become a teacher I decided to interview for a job as a paraprofessional. The job is in a preschool. I know the teacher is somewhat strict with her ways.

I really want to get this job. Do you have any tips for me during the interview? I’ve only worked retail before this so I don’t know what type of questions they ask. I believe there is going to be the teacher there, the principal, and the director. As a teacher, what do you look for in a para?

TIA.

Anyone have any suggestions/experience/references? A Google search for "'library interview' coach mostly brings up services at public libraries for other people. I'm familiar with the Mr. Library Dude resources, but it seems worth ironing out the kinks and getting feedback. I'm going to ask my most recent supervisor for assistance (I was laid off from pandemic cuts) and perhaps one other one, but if anyone has suggestions I would appreciate it.

I haven't had great feedback from the one library interview I've had so far, and given how much out of date and contradictory job searching/interview advice is out there, I'm a little wary. But anything that can give me a boost in answering currently typical questions would be great!

I'm in the Northeast, but given how easy video conferencing is these days

Today is National♡Paraprofessionals'♡Day, and all I can say is:

You guys freakin' ROCK. ♡

So I currently don’t have any tattoos and do not work as a para until the next semester but I was hoping to get one on my wrist and a about two on my fingers. Do you think there would be any trouble in being employed having tattoos?

I graduated from college a little over a year and a half ago and I’ve been working as a teen associate at a public library for a year. I basically do the work of a teen librarian but without graduate education, title, or higher pay. I do collection development, event planning, front desk shifts, and miscellaneous other duties like working with schools and managing the teen volunteer program.

I also had a front desk circulation job for eight months.

TIA.

Hi! I (25f) graduated in May 2020 with my MAT and my elementary Ed. certification. In August 2020, I accepted a 4th grade position in a catholic school. I started two days before school started, had no curriculum to work with, and I was the only 4th grade teacher. My mental health was terrible, I was breaking down everyday, and I was sleep deprived from the amount of work I was doing. I decided to leave in October with accepting another job (as a leave replacement from Oct-Feb) in a public school, same grade level.

As I’m approaching my last full month at this new school, I’m starting to think I chose the wrong career. The expectations, parents, weekly meetings, and absolutely no time for myself has been very harmful to my mental health. I have anxiety attacks everyday just thinking of everything I have on my list to do. I’ve done it all - from researching how to prioritize, joining support groups, advice groups, but nothing is helping me.

I am thankful this is a leave replacement, but I do have to think about my future now that it is ending quite soon. Is it frowned upon to go from teaching to a paraprofessional? I was thinking of doing this to gain more experience and to get myself back into the classroom. I love working with children, but the toll teaching has on my mental health is so disappointing. This isn’t what I thought it would be like.

Hello,

I am posting this because reddit has all answers and advice, yes?

Hear me out. I am currently working a paraprofessional position at my local school district where I am assigned to a Special Education class. I had some very upsetting events happen to me yesterday.

First off, myself and the other aide in the classroom are not SPED certified. We have no more than our Paraprofessional licenses. Second of all, the SPED certified teacher that we work under was assigned to be a chaperone for a cross-country meet yesterday, and we were placed with a substitute; who, as you can guess- is not SPED certified. That is issue #1 that I have with what all took place yesterday.

Second, during our classes PE time yesterday, my coworker and myself observed one of our students (who happens to be the lowest functioning child in the class- nonverbal, low grade motor skills) had had a bowel movement (this child wears depends). We took the student to the restroom so that we could change them. This was my first time dealing with this child having a bowel movement; normally the teacher would be 1/2 who goes in with this child- and my coworker has been the lucky #2 in the past. When we saw what "damage" had been done, it was awful. This child just had feces... well, all over, and.... in... places. So, we gloved up and just started wiping this child as best as we could. While we were doing this, the school nurse knocked on the bathroom door (the nurse was there to distribute medication; the substitute must have advised the nurse that we were changing this child). When the nurse got there, she asked if we needed any help. Perfectly understandable gesture. Wrong. Well, the "help" was the suggestion that we put this child in the shower (the bathroom in our classroom is a full functioning facility) in order to thoroughly rinse the child with the removable shower head. I would have thought that to be a great idea, IF we had hot water in our room (for whatever reason, we do not. Yes, we have complained about it to admin). We advised the nurse about this multiple times, but the nurse thought that it would still be an okay thing to do. We got the student into the shower, and the nurse just simply held and "aimed" the showerhead. That was the "help". Both my coworker and I changed our gloves, and the nurse directed us to "soap up, and get in there...clean (the student)." So, that's what we did.

I literally had to use my soaped, gloved hand to was between this child's butt

Does anyone have experience transitioning from a paraprofessional to a lead sed teacher?

I was an SSN para for seven years and am now trying to get into sed teaching. I am curious to know if transitioning from this position to a certified role was difficult.

What was your biggest struggle through your transition?