ParaViews: An Interview with Andrea Loft

Andrea is a paraeducator in Alexandria, Indiana. Andrea now works primarily with students identified for special education services under the categorical label, Autism. In past years she has worked with  students eligible for services under various eligibility categories.

Sarah: Hello, Andrea. Thank you for talking with me today. I'm interested to learn in what led you to become a paraeducator.
Andrea: Originally I wanted to work with kids.  I wanted to go into teaching, but an opportunity presented itself to me when I was a senior in high school to work with pre-school children with disabilities.  I went to high school in the morning, and I worked at the pre-school in the afternoons.  I fell in love with it.  I did that fo a year or two.  Then I got married and had children of my own, so work went on hold for a while.  When my twins were in second grade, I wanted to go back to work again. I decided to go back to what was familiar, and that was working in the schools.  I got a job as a paraeducator in a general education classroom for three or four years.  Then we moved Northwest Indiana.  One of the schools had an opening for a paraeducator with a teacher assigned to a in a self-contained classroom.  I had never done that before; but, I gave it a try and I was there for four years.

That’s where I learned how to work with kids labled as autistic or having autism as well as gained some experience working with  kids with other types of special needs.  The teacher there was great and taught me a lot.  I was encouraged to learn some new ways of working with kids and to try different things even on my own, or she would say, “This is what I would like you to try with him or her.”  If I didn’t know how to do something, I learned how with this teacher.  I gained a great deal of experience in that classroom, and I fell in love with teaching kids who have special needs.  It’s stressful sometimes, but I enjoy working with the kids.

Then my family moved again, and I was able to find another job in another special education classroom, and I’ve been assigned to work with teachers in self-contained special education classes ever since.  I’ve not been back as a paraeducator in a general education classroom again -- mainly because it seemed to me that special education was where the greatest needs are.  

Sarah:  What is your work like now?
Andrea: One of our goals is to get our students more integrated into the class and not so tied to me. We want students to be more independent. That’s our main focus. And when students I work with are in the general education settings with kids who are not identified, I try to help all of the children in the that class as well as the children from the self-contained class. I don’t just work with the students who spend the majority of their day in special education.  We try to get all of the students to be more communicative with the general education teacher and with each other. The goal is for all of the children to learn to respond to her – not just to me. In the beginning, I provided a great deal of one-on-one support. I have close ties with those children. But I encourage them to branch out and be more independent of me. 

Sarah: How do you facilitate that and make that work?
Andrea: Many of the students have had problems communicating with other teachers in the past except for the teachers they were familiar with. Now, I take them to the lunch room to the lunch line, but then I leave them in line on their own with their peers. They’ve been going to different ‘specials’ [Art, PE and music] without me. And they seem to be doing okay with that. There are times when the children need the security of knowing that I’m around and then there are times I think they wish they had never met me. They’re handle these classes really well!

Sarah:  I think that you answered my next question too, which is how does that work?
Andrea: The students are in a general classroom most of the time, and we [the teacher and I] pull them out for specific things. Interaction with classmates can be a problem in the general education classroom, though. The teacher may do group activities, or board work, and she’ll call students [who I support] up to the board and give them a question that she knows they can do such as spelling. She tries to include them in what’s going on in whole class activities or in groups. Because social interaction can be difficult for many of our students, we try to keep them in general education settings as much as possible.  

Sarah:  How do the other students in general education seem to feel about you being in the classroom?
Andrea: They receive me really well. For students from the self-contained classroom, the “general education” students all encourage and cheer and yell for each other [special  and general education] without being coached to do so. They realize when some students do certain things that it’s a big deal. For example, in one class session the students had to do a worksheet. It was compound words, and students were supposed to color the compound words yellow and color the other ones blue. I read these instructions to them, and the students got out a set of crayons. Then I walked away and left them to work independently. I came back and nothing had been done. I asked one group why there was nothing on the papers and one of the students – who has an identified disability -- said, “No yellow.” At that point in his school life, it was a big deal for him to be able to be able to communicate what a problem was. Other kids noticed, and you could hear them whispering about it. Then several children raced over to the teacher and were all excited explaining to her that this student had talked to me. They knew that it was a big deal for him to communicate so clearly. They were thrilled. Some of the kids went home and told their parents. And even their parents thought it was a big deal. Overall, I would say that the students with disabilities who are assigned to special education classrooms  been received very well and treated very nicely when they spend part of their day in general education.

Sarah:  That's great–great story!
Andrea: It was wonderful. I have it documented and written down. It was a great moment.

Another great moment happened when I had a small group, and we were reading a story. I asked the students to take turns reading aloud. One student was reading, and came to a word that he didn’t know. I helped him with it and the reading continued on. Another girl started to read, and she got stuck. When she hesitated, he read the word for her. He was reading words the children who were not identified for special education support couldn’t read.

Sometimes because students with disabilities have trouble communicating their needs or feelings, their peers think that they can’t do things like read. And that makes it hard. But I love it when you can “see” a child’s brain clicking and you can “see” them processing information. You know that it’s going to come out because you have “seen” it– you just have to wait for it. That’s what I work for. That’s what makes it rewarding for me -- seeing that moment when something makes sense and a student gets it.  And then verbalizes it!  My work is all worthwhile.

Sarah:  Based on what you do in your role in a general education classroom, would it be easy for a visitor to identify the students you were working with?
Andrea: Usually I am redirecting any/all of the students, so it would be hard to tell from my actions. I’m making a pointed effort these days to “withdraw” myself. That’s something that our team has really been concentrating on -- withdrawing and leaving students to work independent of us as much as possible. I think it would probably be pretty difficult to know who the students were who needed support. Even when students have a need for one-on-one support [someone in proximity throughout the general education class time, we’re trying to get that student to respond to classmates and the general education teacher – everyone -- not just the paraeducators assigned to work with them.

Sarah: Every year there are countless new paraeducators hired all across Indiana. Knowing what you know now and remembering back to your first day, how did your actual first day on the job as a paraeducator compare to how you believe a first day should actually be?
Andrea: I think it depends on the needs of students who you will support --  that is, what type of paraeducator assignment you will have. When I interviewed at one school, the interviewer took me on a tour of the building and the two classrooms with openings and watched my reactions in the classrooms to the room and the children. I was then asked a few questions about working with students with disabilities. At that point, I really knew next to nothing and based on their observations of my responses and reactions, the administrator decided which room I should be in. I was given a part time job, rather than a full time job and I think that was the best decision the administration ever made. I wish that everybody could have that opportunity to observe and see what they’re getting into in classrooms and schools. 

So I began with part-time in one class, and then little by little I got used to things that were new to me. I had a very good teacher who knew what she was doing; if she didn’t, she researched the topic and came back and said, “This is what I’ve learned.” That job later turned into a full-time position for me. And that’s what I did for four years. I wouldn’t trade that for anything. If the administration had just thrown me into either of those two classes full-time, I am not sure that I could have handled all of what for me was new in terms of students needs and how to teach and what was expected of me. It helped to be able to see things first, to know what the teacher expected of me, and then have the chance to decide whether or not I could learn and do all that was going to encompass. 

I think sometimes that when new paraeducators start work, they really don’t have a clue. They are not experienced or prepared and they’ve never been taught anything about the role. Some people can pick it up and go with it. Others can’t, and that leaves them feeling frustrated. New people should have a day to observe, instead of hiring people, “throwing them in” on the job without observing the class or being training or having some other support. I’ve seen that happen. People are hired and yet they do not understand what the responsibilities are going to be, and then it winds up that they couldn’t handle the job.   

Sarah: That really segues into my last question. If you could set up a new paraeducator for success, how would you do it?
Andrea: I would tell the person interested in the job to first investigate what they’re considering doing, and visit a classroom to watch, ask questions, and learn. I think you have to be personable, so that you can have a good relationship with the people you work with. That’s only going to benefit you and ultimately the students, too. Be able to communicate. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. And be responsible. You can take the job, but you really need to do your job. If you try, then I think you can be successful -- even if you know little or next to nothing as I did. I took whatever criticism or instruction the teacher offered me. And, yes, sometimes it hurt, Sometimes it leaves you feeling embarrassed, like “Gosh, I should have known that.” Yet I was able to roll with it, and pick up my role and take the criticism and learn and go on.  In every place I’ve worked, I left feeling as though I made a friend. I really did. And it was difficult to leave – it was hard. I would tell new paraeducators to try to have a good relationship with the people they work with every day. I think that is most important to being successful, because if you really listen and learn, then you can do just about anything.

Sarah: Wonderful. Is there anything else that you would want to share with other paraeducators or anything that you want to say?
Andrea: I’ve probably said what I would like to say. I never expected to be in special education. But I love working with kids. And once I got started, I couldn’t leave it. I really do enjoy it. I know that some people say, don’t get personally involved.  Well, I’m sorry. Yes, there is a line that you have to draw, but I find that I make more of an impact if my heart is involved. It’s just how I work. Not to be inappropriate, not to cross any lines or anything, but I think it communicates something when you gain your students’ trust. They feel secure and cared for.  Knowing you care gives them that sense of security. 

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