Ellen Hallgarth, Issues in Special Education, Course Reflection
Over the course of the Issues in Special Education class I got the opportunity
to dig deeper into the numerous important topics relevant to the discipline. Two
topics in particular that really resonated with me were the utilization of paraeducators and serving students in the least restrictive environment. I have strong
feelings about these topics because I have worked as a para-educator for the past
two years, helping to serve a diverse group of students in both inclusive and selfcontained settings.
During our class we were given the article “The Golden Rule of Providing
Support in Inclusive Classrooms: Support Others as You Would Wish to Be
Supported.” To be honest, this article initially rubbed me the wrong way. I felt as
though the author must be a disgruntled gen ed teacher, sick and tired of adults
(para-educators) creating distractions in their classroom in order to help students
with disabilities access the LRE. I also felt, and continue to feel that the general ‘rule’
promoted by this article is incorrect and totally inappropriate for serving students
in gen ed/LRE while making progress toward IEP goals. Students need to be served
using SDI and best practices tailored to their needs and goals, not in the way the
para would like to be served if they were in the students shoes (this seems obvious).
I was also baffled by the articles intolerance of disruptions in the learning space.
They way the article preached about disruptions by para-educators working within
the classroom seemed like intolerance toward individuals who require special
accommodations. Now for some good, I did think the article provided some useful
descriptions of support models, and co-supporting structures. Overall, I found this
piece to be really thought provoking because it addressed something that I do
nearly every day in a non-positive light (perhaps I am also being a little defensive.)
However, in the future I think I might ask the paras I work with to take a look at this
article to tell me what they think, and gain insight into their own personal
perspectives of how to best serve students in inclusive settings and the LRE.
Previously I worked in a classroom where students with significant
disabilities were receiving services in a nearly fully inclusive setting. The teacher
who I’ll call J was great at not only integrating the students into her class, but also
Ellen Hallgarth, Issues in Special Education, Course Reflection
integrating me (the para) into the class so that we could help as many students as
possible. (The whole thing was great and really successful/very utilitarian). For
example, J and I team taught spelling to her multi-age homeroom, which included
many sped students (some from a self-contained program some from a resource
room). Students were grouped based on level not on age, and the two sped students
with the highest needs were in the same group. Every week J and I would meet to go
over curriculum, aka that weeks spelling lessons, so that I could ask any questions I
had. Truth be told, spelling is not my strongest area and I have always had a hard
time with rules etc. This was extremely nice of J, and really helped me to improve
my teaching. I also had the opportunity to sit in on J’s spelling lessons prior to taking
an instructing role. This way I got to see the lesson structure. She started each
lesson by going over each word, explaining rules and definitions. Students were
then asked to sort the words into categories based on that weeks spelling rule(s).
From here students were given spelling packets to work on independently
throughout the week. J and I each taught two to three small spelling groups, which
allowed sped students to receive services tailored to their individual needs/levels
while successfully accessing the LRE.
The classroom described above definitively was full of its share of
disruptions. On top of being an inclusive setting, this classroom was in an open
concept school. Personally, I feel that disruptions are part of any exciting learning
environment, whether it be a little side talking here or there, or a chatty classroom
next door. Therefore, I feel that disruptions by para-educators helping children to
access the gen. ed classroom is not a big deal since in most cases the benefits greatly
out-weigh the downfalls.