Explore On Your Own
Professionalism and Ethical Practices
Education and Paraprofessionals in the Classroom
- Paraprofessional support of students with disabilities in general
education classrooms
- http://www.uvm.edu/~cdci/parasupport/
- American Federation of Teachers web site
- http://www.aft.org/psrp/standards/basic.html
- U.S. Department of Education web site
- http://www.ed.gov
Professional Development
- Project PARA: Paraeducator Self Study Program.
- http://para.unl.edu/default.html
- The Minnesota Paraprofessional Consortium
- http://ici2.education.umn.edu/para/default.html
- Minnesota Staff Development Council
- http://www.mn-sdc.org/
- National Staff Development Council
- http://www.nsdc.org/
- Paraeducators: Factors That Influence Their Performance, Development,
and Supervision
- http://www.ericdigests.org/2000-4/factors.htm
Communication and Conflict Resolution
- An article about positive communication between parents and teachers
- http://www.temple.edu/LSS/lss_partnerships103.htm
- Institute on Conflict Resolution
- http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/icr/
- Developing effective communication skills
- http://www.bizhotline.com/index.html
- University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service
- http://www.uaex.edu
- Paraeducator-to-Teacher Programs
- http://www.recruitingteachers.org
General Resources for Paraprofessionals
- Direct Support Professionals Web Site
- http://rtc.umn.edu/dsp/
- The Minnesota Paraprofessional Consortium
- http://ici2.education.umn.edu/para/default.html
- The National Resource Center for Paraprofessionals
- http://www.nrcpara.org/
- Paraeducator Newsletter
- http://www.aea10.k12.ia.us/prof/paras/
- National Clearinghouse for Professions in Special Education
- http://www.special-ed-careers.org/
- Resources for Paraeducator Information
- http://www.special-ed-careers.org/research_library/paraeducators.html
Law and Ethics
- Minnesota Omnibus Education Bill of 1998
- http://ici2.umn.edu/para/legislat.htm
- The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
- http://www.ed.gov/offices/OII/fpco/ferpa/index.html
- Council for Exceptional Children Code of Ethics and Standards of
Practice
- http://www.cec.sped.org/ps/code.html#1
- National Education Association
- http://www.nea.org/code.html
Disabilities
- Council for Exceptional Children
- http://www.cec.sped.org/
- Disabilities: An Overview
- http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-928/overview.htm
Explore What Skills You Bring to Work
An activity to explore your personality type or interests may be helpful.
Talk with a career counselor at a local community college or job service
to find out more about skills assessment. There are several widely used
tools available for free or low cost on the web. For example: The Meyers-Briggs
Personality Quiz can be taken online for $5.00 by going to their website:
Meyers-Briggs Personality
Type Quiz. The COIN
Interest Inventory focuses on career exploration. This website provides
a FREE and quick self-test. After answering 26 short questions, a brief
summary of your career interests is selected based on your answers.
Plan a Site Visit
If you are working as a paraprofessional now, visit at least one program
area other than the one in which you are currently working in. Think
about some of the following things and perhaps write down your thoughts
to add to your portfolio.
How is your current setting similar to the program area you are visiting?
How is your current setting different from the program area you are
visiting?
Identify some practices that you can implement in your current setting.
If you are not now working as a paraprofessional, visit at least one
site that you might be interested in working in. Think about some of
the following things and perhaps write down your thoughts to add to
your portfolio.
What is the paraprofessional’s role in this setting?
What skills do you see demonstrated that might be helpful to you as
a paraprofessional?
How do you see a paraprofessional being a positive role model in this
setting?
Skills Inventory
If you have not done so already, complete the Paraprofessional
Skills Inventory. This exercise will help you identify areas of
knowledge and skills that you already possess, as well as areas that
you would like to develop further. After completing this exercise, identify
what training options are available in your work site to address these
training needs.
|
E-mail us