A Systematic Approach for Supporting Paraeducators in Educational Settings
Questions to Guide Informal Assessment of Staff
Initial Assessment/Interview
- Describe your past experiences working with students with special needs.
- What did you like or dislike about other classrooms in which you have worked?
- What are your strengths in working with children or within a classroom?
- What are areas of difficulty with working with children or within a class- room?
- What activities have you enjoyed the most in past experiences?
- What activities have you enjoyed the least?
- Describe your past experiences with providing systematic instruction, delivering reinforcement, and collecting data.
- Describe past experiences with children with (specific issues within your classroom, i.e., behavior problems, medically fragile, etc.).
Questions to Guide the Observation Process
The questions below may guide pre- and postobservation discussions, and be useful for ongoing feedback.
- What skills are you teaching? Describe a correct response.
- Describe the specific teaching plan.
- What materials do you need? How do you keep your materials organized?
- What do you do when the student responds correctly?
- What do you do if the student responds incorrectly?
- What is the plan to handle interfering/inappropriate behavior when teaching?
- What items should be placed out of sight or out of the teaching area?