Just a mom
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Paraeducator
Boy was I ever unprepared for the position I was sent out to yesterday. I am substituting in the local school district as a paraeducator (glorified term meaning teacher's aide). Because I now hold an Associates degree I am considered "highly qualified". I'll bet they're lauging about that at the school I went to yesterday. My job was simple, one on one working with one particular 2nd-3rd grader for 3 hours. Well, at least the child only tried to run away once. The teacher was prepared and blocked the exit. Anyhow, the day was not as simple as I thought it would be. The child "hates" me and wonders "Who in the HELL" I think I am. I didn't much care about that because it would take more than that to hurt my feelings but there was a lot of inappropriate behavior and I decided that I am not the right woman for the job. I am going back today because I didn't want to leave them hanging but I let them know yesterday that they need to find someone else. Did I mention that this was my first assignment? What a way to start out. I hope this doesn't make me look too bad. If it does, oh well.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Good gravy! I would have a heart-attack if I knew my child was acting like that at school.
Kirsten, if this little peanut had a mother who cared how she acted at school, she probably wouldn't be acting out. Unfortunately, this is a very real part of public education. My principal is sending me to a class in a couple of weeks on restraint training. Imagine having to learn to restrain people for your job...we are educators, not cops.
Cassie, you will be fine. I know this.
Yeah, the poor kid has been abused in every way known to man. This is the reason she requires one on one attention along with only being able to handle being in school half a day. Today was better and though I can't be there tomorrow, I have agreed to go back on Monday. She was very good today and even apologized (without being prodded) about her behavior yesterday. I brought special stickers for her today and I think that helped a lot.
Well, the 3 of you ladies have already mentioned everything i was going to say!
Kids like that come from homes where the parents are either over parenting or under parenting. Poor little girl, unfortunately as gramma said, too many times it's the teachers who are assumed to play cop instead of teaching.
I would never have the strength or mental stamina needed to be an educator.
Post a Comment