In inclusive schools and classrooms, semi-professionals are relatively valuable human resources. In many ways, students benefit from the support of paraprofessionals – they not only provide students with vital support for their academic abilities, life skills, friendships, and mobility and offer children a meaningful sense of humor. Connection, encouragement, and security.
Inclusive schools and classrooms effectively use paraprofessional support in the school, but how can parasites provide the best and most helpful support during virtual lessons?
How Do Paraprofessionals Support Students?
Learn a New Skill
As paraprofessionals, you may not be able to learn the whole lesson, but you can still teach students new skills that will help remove barriers and give them access to study. Describe to your students how to write a friendly email to their teacher if they need help. See how you can use any web interactive tool they can compete with, from virtual backgrounds to separate rooms. If students are having trouble signing up in the morning, let them repeat how you set the alarm to get up in class. Acquiring this more minor but essential skill can help students overcome barriers to learning in the online environment.
Promote Learning
Please take a few minutes to connect with your student to help him prepare for what awaits him in the classroom. And prioritize him for learning success. Review the main concepts and main ideas of the lesson in advance, check the vocabulary to be used and help students identify the questions to ask during the lesson.
Support Students in the Lesson
What do your students need to feel comfortable and organized in the classroom? You can create a checklist or visual reminder of the items required for each online lesson, schedule activities in each class, and provide reminders to make students more comfortable and ready to learn (e.g., their workspace is suitable for learning ).
Support Students During the Lesson
Model how you can request a break, remind students how to ask a teacher for an explanation, and share your screen with pictures of the main lesson ideas. It’s also important to realize that students want a human connection, so make sure you sometimes stop sharing your screen and talk to them face to face.
Support Students After Class
Consider facilitating a group of homework where students can join the classroom if they need to review materials, practice new skills, or listen to some points again. Make group public, not just the students you support. You can also promote take my online class for me, resources for distance learners to keep it up with study. To boost the home-school connection, you should also write a note to families explaining how they can best provide homework support for their children.
Create Connections
Humans are wired to connect. There are three critical points of connection with learning: students need to feel connected to you as paraprofessionals, the content they are learning, and each other. You can strengthen student connections during the day in small but meaningful ways. For example, by private messaging using the chat feature (“Great idea! I like you shared it!”), Schedule a chat on time, or use Flipgrid to record messages. For your students.
Use the Chat Feature
Help your students take advantage of the chat feature of your technology platform on a teaching day. See how and when to use comment buttons, model how you can share thoughts and questions in a conversation, and show them how to share a link or image related to the content being taught. If your technology is an obstacle now, then be creative and develop other ways to connect – for example, group chat using text.
Encourage Movement
Students must act to learn. Provide the general teacher with ideas to support student movement during the day. They can encourage students to stand or jump in response to a question, play a live Simon Says game, take a short dance break, or walk during a class break.
Make Learning Fun
All students need fun in their lives, including in high school! You can give your school day your infusion of entertainment. For example, by wearing costumes and using interior props or creating themes related to content and fun virtual backgrounds. You can also promote more fun in learning by encouraging students to learn creatively without a screen. Invite them to write a song, create a poster, or create a blog post related to the lesson content.
Improve Communication Between Students
Now more than ever, children need clear and consistent communication. Check the instructions often to ensure everything your students need is organized and easy to find. Put consistency, clarity, and beauty first: remember a guide like Starbucks, which creates positive emotions in students by providing a consistent menu and experience in many places.
Provide Invisible or Silent Support
Think of creative ways to provide adequate support without sitting next to the student or making your support invisible. You can tell the benefits of the online class help to students so they can complete their class on time. You can do this by involving a partner who will help your student with the task. When telling the class that you are here to help anyone who needs it, and talking to your students through a private feedback channel offers all-day assistance.
