r/paraprofessional

Does your school make paras sub for teachers?
I do this at mine and I don’t mind subbing but feel like I should get sub pay instead of my hourly rate

Hello,

I am a one on one this year. Ten minutes before school gets out, a few students in the classroom leave to go to the bus. The rest of the students get picked up. When I tell him he has to wait, it's clear he doesn't understand that he is not going with them because he gets picked up. I asked a para in the building, and she suggested showing him that it's the bus, but that made it worse when i did it. I've tried a timer, and it worked the first 2 times and now it doesn't work. Does anyone have suggestions on what to do because I don't know what to do and it's frustrating to watch him have a meltdown because he doesn't understand that he can't leave cuz he doesn't ride the bus.

I'm a para in a self-contained classroom with lots of behavior students, and we're outnumbered most days.

My husband just started a full-time job and a full-time master's program, so when my kids get sick, I'm the one who now has to stay home. This past week my son had the flu with a 102 fever and needed a doctor's visit, so I stayed home all three days rather than risk bringing it to our class. (Shocker, I'm sick now. Exactly what I anticipated happening…)

I heard from our 1:1 that the teacher was saying I shouldn't be "allowed" that many days off. She then later texted me, among other things, "y'all don't use babysitters?" A sitter would cost more than I make hourly, I’m not getting paid for these days off, and my child had a very contagious illness. This isn't the first weird comment from her, and I've tried talking to her directly and setting boundaries, but nothing has changed. So I went to admin. They advised me to stop replying and let me vent a little.

After the principal talked to her, she immediately blocked me on TikTok and emailed saying that all communication is now via email, adding that she thought our conversations were private.

There is a lot more context that I’m just not sure how to put into words. But this is the bare gist of everything.
My family says going to admin was the right call, but I still feel like I did something wrong. Has anyone been through something like this? How do you handle a coworker who resents you for taking time off for your kids? I feel SO nauseous about returning after Fall break is over.

I’m a first-year paraprofessional and I feel like I’m constantly questioning whether I’m doing things correctly.

Admin gave us basically no training. We weren’t even given basic training or information about different disabilities, what certain behaviors might mean, how we’re supposed to respond in different situations, etc.

I ask questions pretty much every day because I genuinely don’t know what to do in certain situations. I’m trying to learn as I go, but sometimes I wonder if I’m asking too many questions or if I’m somehow supposed to already know all of this.

For experienced paras or special education staff, is this normal for a first year? Is asking questions constantly basically all I can do when my school didn’t provide much training?

I’m trying really hard to do a good job. I just wish I had actually been taught what the job entails instead of being thrown into it and expected to figure it out.

My partner teacher (who is the case manager for all of the EE/SPED kids who I work with, I’m with her mornings and afternoons), has been out roughly more than 12 times this year so far not including half days/being late. And I am being generous with those numbers, that is just what I have found recorded in my texts/emails, I know there is more. I work with 22 kids in this grade and it’s gened inclusion.

I’m feeling frustrated because IF I get a sub for her, they are not trained with EE kids or know how to talk to them. They normally stay in the back and watch me do everything. Sometimes I don’t even get a sub which I’m well aware that is not allowed.

Today was ultra frustrating because her absence was without any notice to anyone. This has happened before. She has gotten sick, her kid is sick, appointment, or something of the sorts. It’s normally one of these. I feel empathy towards her situation and personal life, but these kids are not getting the consistency that they need. They need extra support that I cannot always give as one person. They also need extra reading/lessons that I do not have time to give because I am doing 2 jobs at once. I am mad on the behalf of the kids that they aren’t getting the learning that they need, and I KNOW they need it. All I can think about is how certain kids cannot progress because she [the teacher] is not here.

Other teachers are starting to notice her large amount of absences and I have no doubt that admin is too. They can’t NOT notice. I just feel bad saying too much about it because when she is here, most of the time, she is a good teacher. But I feel like it’s too much and it’s getting out of hand.

This is mainly just a vent, but if anyone has any advice or has been in a similar situation let me know.