Linda Mariotti was our keynote speaker this morning and gave a wonderful presentation titled, “Educating the Whole Child with 21st Century Skills” Educating the Whole Child for the 21st Century She discussed the differences between digital immigrants and digital natives and contrasted the skills of 20th century educators with those needed by 21st century educators. … Read more
Meet Jessica Dai (parent of a child with autism), Larissa Feng (social worker) and Sophie Xie (special educator), pioneers in promoting the important work of paraprofessionals in China. Their presentation was highlight of the State Leadership Meeting last night. They told us about two organizations- the Childrens Palace and the Special Parents Club in Guangzhou … Read more
The conference had begun and last tonight leaders from all over the country and world gathered here in Salt Lake City to discuss successes and challenges in their own states and countries, including three visitors from China. The last half of the meeting was spent going around the room to hear about good things that … Read more
We have a number of videos from the 2008 National Conference that we will be sharing in the next few weeks. To begin with, here is a short 2-minute clip of Ann Lou Pickett, the founder of the National Resources Center for Paraprofessionals. Anna Lou shares how she became interested in paraprofesssionals, some of the … Read more
Here are three more presentations from our recent National Conference: Paraprofessionals Fueling Change Dr. Ashley Molloy Building Foundations for Para-professionalism Ann Birch, Dr. Jill Morgan Paraprofessionals As Certified Educators Pamela O. Brucker, Southern Connecticut State University and Dana Corriveau, Connecticut State Department of Education
Here is another presentation from today- this one goes through each of the sections of our website and gives a little bit of insight into some of the projects we are planning on working on in the coming months. Enjoy! | View | Upload your own Facebook page for the National Resource Center for Paraprofessionals … Read more
More than 40 instructional aides from schools across Henrico County attended last night’s public hearing on the district’s proposed 2008-09 budget. Their message was clear: Instructional aides should make at least half the salary of teachers. One parent from the school district understands the importance of paraprofessionals: Caroline Nelson, a Henrico parent, called these workers … Read more
From Pennsylvania, a news story about paraprofessionals involved in a contract negotiations. Paraprofessionals from the Bethel Park School District recently attended a school board meeting to help those present better understand their work. Jan Sterrett, president of the paraprofessional union said:
We believe that there are some misperceptions and misconceptions in our school board about what we do… They think we come in and babysit children all day long.
Pat Hensley has 26 years of teaching experience and takes a moment to share some of the things that she has done to create a positive working relationship with the paraprofessionals in her classroom. She goes over many practical tips on how to work together as a team. She explains her feelings towards the role … Read more
The Freetown Elementary School has received a grant for $42,343 to fund paraprofessional positions. From the article: “The paraprofessionals are a great help. You don’t know what you are missing until you take them away,” said Principal Robert Frizelle. Freetown Elementary awarded grant