Books about Paraeducators from Amazon.com

Education paraprofessionals are often tasked with handling a variety of challenging behaviors. Paraprofessionals provide inclusion supports to students with special needs, and act as extra staff in classrooms for students with emotional and behavioral difficulties. Paraprofessionals are often asked to monitor hallways, buses and playgrounds and perform a variety of other important duties that require skill in preventing and managing behavior. This book is designed to teach paraprofessionals important concepts and best practices for handling behaviors. This book covers the following:

The book begins with a discussion of how to understand challenging behavior. This book takes the perspective that behaviors are a result of critical skill deficits in social and emotional skills and can be understood from a perspective of their function for the student.

Next, this book covers the importance of positive, proactive and collaborative methods for addressing behavior. A central theme of this book is for staff members to move away from reactive, disciplinary methods that stress consequences and contingencies to methods that help students address the underlying needs evidenced by their behavior.

A complete review of many different types of behavior management skills, when to use them, how to use them (along with sample dialogue) is provided. This chapter helps the paraprofessional develop a variety of interventions for different students and situations.

De-escalation skills with sample dialogue are also provided to help paraprofessionals learn how to work with students who are emotionally escalated and potentially violent.

The book provides an in-depth discussion of personal/professional boundary dilemmas when working with students. This includes a definition of six types of professional boundaries, and ways to respond to student boundary violations.

The last chapter is devoted to helping paraprofessionals understand common disability categories and psychological diagnoses and debunk some of the myths associated with them.

This book is written especially for education paraprofessionals (often called paraeductors, teacher's aides, educational assistants, or para pros.) The book is also appropriate for anyone who works directly with children in the school district including teachers, volunteers, counselors, bus drivers and other staff who may need to manage difficult behavior.
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Price: $14.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

"An excellent desk reference for all school administrators regarding the role of paraeducators "
Kent Gerlach, Professor
School of Education
Tacoma, Washington

"Nancy French's new book provides wide-ranging information, ideas, and strategies to effectively utilize paraeducator support in today's schools. This guide is a helpful resource for administrators and teachers."
Michael Giangreco
Center on Disability and Community Inclusion
Burlington, Vermont

Specific Strategies for Utilizing the Talents of One of Our Most Valuable Resources-Paraeducators!

Paraprofessionals--or paraeducators--have long been an invaluable resource in our schools. A well-trained paraeducator not only boosts teacher morale and school-home-community relations, but also increases the amount and quality of instructional time as well as student achievement levels. But where are paraeducators' talents best utilized? Who will train them? And how can we best serve the ever-changing needs of the student population?

This comprehensive resource provides teachers and administrators with answers to these important questions and much more, supplying practical tools and strategies for how to best recruit, manage, and use paraeducators in their schools. French gives specific guidelines for working with paraeducators in Special Education, Title 1, Bilingual (ESL), School Library/Media Center, General and Special Education Classrooms, Speech/Language Pathology, and Health Care Services, helping teachers and administrators make the right decisions for their districts and schools.

Managing Paraeducators includes:

• Practical, easy-to-use worksheets that identify the needs and readiness of a school to employ paraeducators, providing a platform for team communication and the development of personalized job descriptions
• Self-assessment and support checklists that identify potential problems and how to surmount them
• Guidelines for helping make sure paraeducators are being used in ways that most contribute to student achievement
• Strategies for identifying best practices, timeframes, and person(s) best suited to training paraprofessionals

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Price: $17.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Paraeducators also known as teacher aides, teaching assistants, and instructional assistants are playing an increasingly important role in schools Most teachers, however, have never been trained to work effectively with other adults in their classrooms. In A Teacher's Guide to Working with Paraeducators and Other Classroom Aides, Jill Morgan and Betty Y. Ashbaker provide straightforward advice and focused activities that can help forge a productive working relationship between teachers and paraeducators. The authors cover key topics related to working with and supervising paraeducators, including how to assign responsibilities, communicate, monitor quality of work, provide on-the-job training, and create a feedback loop. Tips from practicing teachers explain ways to find the time to effectively supervise paraeducators. The authors discuss how the supervisory techniques involved in working with paraeducators are similar to and different from those that teachers use with students. The authors give concise suggestions for translating the information to the your classroom; fill-in-the-blank forms outline self-directed steps for improving in select areas. As both a practical workbook and a thoughtful reflection of the authors' experiences in working with teachers and paraeducators, this book is an indispensable resource for any teacher who wants to create a successful instructional team..
Price: $13.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

"This book provides a valuable resource for the best utilization of paraeducators in the classroom, with tips and tools for making this a successful process."
-Melissa Miller, Science Teacher
Lynch Middle School, Farmington, AR

"Easy to read and understand, this book contains many examples, resources, and up-to-date information pertinent to the role of paraeducators."
-Mari Gates, Special Education Co-Teacher
Henry B. Burkland Intermediate School, Middleboro, MA

Learn how paraeducators can positively impact the achievement of students with special needs in the inclusive classroom!

Focused on the expanding role of paraeducators, this hands-on reference provides practical guidelines for collaborating with paraeducators to give students with special needs access to highly qualified instructors in the general education classroom and individualized attention that promotes learning for all students.

The authors outline a team approach bolstered by a plan for developing teachers and their paraeducators through built-in school-system supports that allow for appropriate supervision and encourage ongoing training. This comprehensive guide includes tips and strategies for a collaborative planning and instructional process and offers:

• Reproducible forms that teachers and paraeducators can use to establish effective co-teaching roles
• Numerous K–12 examples that provide clear direction on how paraeducators can impact student achievement
• Real-life accounts from three paraeducators to provide authentic, firsthand scenarios
• Concept maps, chapter summaries, and a glossary of terms for easy navigation of the material

A Guide to Co-Teaching With Paraeducators offers general and special education teachers and paraeducators a historical overview of paraprofessional roles, highlights the four types of co-teaching, and addresses legislative mandates, potential legal challenges, and requirements for certification of paraprofessional skills.

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Price: $19.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This book provides a comprehensive, hands-on format to guide the paraeducator student or the practicing paraeducator through the portfolio development process from start to finish. Practical application suggestions are provided, as are suggestions for reflective documentation of skills and knowledge to help paraeducaotrs meet federal standards mandated under the "No Child Left Behind Act.".
Price: $17.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This unique checklist is written to help paraeducators, teachers and principals understand their roles and responsibilities as they relate to each other. It's filled with helpful tips for teachers on working effectively with paraeducators, practical suggestions for paraeducators on clarifying their jobs and their relationships with students and school staff, and great advice for principals on the administrative supervision of paraeducators.

Also available:

Group Decision Making: A Took Kit for Schools - ISBN 0810620103
Countdown to the First Day of School: A K-12 Get-Ready Checklist - ISBN 0810621622.
Price: $6.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

...contains practical info and activities for preparing teachers, speech-language pathologists, occupational and physical therapists and administrators to work effectively with paraeducators in educational settings.
Price: $14.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]