What is a Paraprofessional? Rachel's Experience

Mikaela Campbell

McKay Student Ambassador

Early Childhood Education

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A paraprofessional works under the direction of licensed teachers. They often help students one-on-one or in small groups. They also can help students with their IEPs (individualized education plans). Their main job is to provide support for the main classroom teacher.

I interviewed Rachel O'Malley, a senior majoring in Elementary Education. She is working as a paraprofessional in her hometown of Washington for the first part of Summer. In fact she is working at the same school she attended in her elementary school years! Here is her experience!

What is a typical day like? Rachel may be assigned to work either a full day or part of a day. When she is there the entire day she'll typically arrive before school starts at 8:50 a.m. and be at the school until 3:45 p.m.. What Rachel does in a day also varies. She checks in at the office and is told where to go. She is usually in an SLC (structured learning classroom), where she'll often work with students with Autism, since that is where the school needs the most help. Her day includes one-on-one instruction with students, read alouds, morning work, free choice, math, and fun activities like bubbles. The SLC students will also go into the general classroom for about 20 minutes and she'll work with them there. Throughout the day Rachel collaborates with many other teachers and helpers because many of the students need one-on-one classroom help.

Do you teach a specific grade? How long will you do this for? Rachel is not with a specific grade, the SLC classroom has students in a variety of grades. Since the school year is ending Rachel will do this until the school year ends in a month.

What have you enjoyed? What has been a challenge? Rachel has enjoyed getting to the know the students and likes that she is gaining new teaching experiences. She said the biggest challenge has been knowing what the students needs are. Many of the students in her classroom are non-verbal and use an iPad to communicate. This helps them to communicate but is not always the easiest form of communication. She also mentioned how another challenge is her lack of experience in Special Education classrooms. She doesn't always know what to do and although many teachers are needed in the classroom, there is not always something to do when the day is slower.

Is there anything that surprised you? Rachel has been surprised by what goes on behind the scenes and seeing what happens in a classroom outside the general one. She has added respect for those teaching Special Education.

Why did you decide to work as a paraprofessional? How will this experience help you

in the future? Rachel talked about how she wants to help and be at the schools more and would like to gain more experience before she starts teaching. Part of this is that she also wants to get to know the school system better and learn to work with teachers and principals. She hopes experiences like this will help her with networking. Rachel also talked about how this experience will be valuable for gaining knowledge in how to help students with special needs since each student has different needs. Even though her classes at BYU have helped her prepare for teaching, hands on practice like this has been beneficial for preparing her to have her own classroom.

What was the process of becoming a paraprofessional like? Rachel saw an opening on the districts website and applied to be a para sub. She then submitted a recommendation letter and her previous experience. Requirements change between states but often to work as a paraprofessional you'll need a certain amount of college credits and/or will take a para praxis test. She was then fingerprinted, filled out paperwork and waited a while to be cleared. After being hired she uses an app where she can book in advance and check for last minute needs.

Anything else you want students to know? Rachel shared the importance of finding opportunities to have diverse experiences and try new things. She also mentioned how her experiences have taught her humility where there is much she is learning from what other teachers do. She shared how this has given her new opportunities for networking and that it has been very helpful to both observe how teachers handle situations and that the best way to learn to teach is through experience.

After interviewing Rachel I thought about how her experiences relate closely to what the Savior asks of us. One of the attributes of Jesus Christ is humility and that is something that teachers experience often if they let themselves embrace it. I also think it is unique that a paraprofessional does a lot of one-on-one work to help students. This reminds me of how Jesus Christ reaches out to the one. There is so much that we can learn about Jesus Christ through teaching experiences!

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