Tips and Tricks: Working with Support Staff

Let’s chat about working with support staff.

In my first year teaching, I had a SERIOUS case of imposter syndrome. How could I, a fresh out of grad school 23 year old, tell a woman who has been working at this school way longer than me what to do? So that year, I didn’t interact much with my support staff. I put my head down and tried to plow through. I never really got to know this woman who was in my classroom for 10 whole months.

This was the wrong way to work with support staff.

In the years since, I have learned how wrong I was in my first year. As a teacher, we often do not learn how to manage support staff until we are on the job. Your support staff is there not only to help your students but to help you do your job more effectively too.

In this post, I will provide some helpful tips and tricks to ensuring that your experience working with your staff (and their experience working with you!) is nothing but productive, positive and benefiting to everyone.

_{*IMPORTANT NOTE*: There are many different names for various positions of support staff in a classroom. Paraprofessionals/paraeducators/paras, one to one aides, and teaching assistants (TAs) are all often filling the same role; supporting one or more specific students in a classroom. In this post, I will be using the term “support staff” while speaking generally and “TAs” while speaking about my specific classroom (since this is the language we use in my school).*}

Build Rapport and Set Expectations

Working with your support staff is like an arranged marriage. Often, you are not able to choose who you are working with, but you are with them for the long haul. Just as you build rapport with your students at the beginning of the school year, get to know your staff and allow them to get to know you. Most importantly, assume the best out of your staff. If you go in thinking that they “don’t want to be there” (something I hear teachers complain about often, unfortunately) you will inadvertently treat them as if they are not there. This enables the cycle and ends up leaving both of you frustrated. Ask questions about how you can support them or if they have any questions about your instructional choices. Give responsibilities and direction.

Treat your staff as the valuable member of the classroom community that they are.

The way you position yourself also sets the tone for the way your classroom will run. Teachers, I know this can be tough, but DO NOT use your “teacher voice” with your staff, especially if you are looking to build a positive and equitable relationship. If your staff see you as thinking that you are superior because of a piece of paper and a state license, I can guarantee this relationship with be soured.

When I started with my current staff about a year and a half ago (I work at a 12 month school), I came in with the attitude that I was going to build a classroom environment that was positive and supportive, not only for my students but for every staff member present as well. On the first day in the building, I sat in my classroom and spoke to my TAs about what our room would look like.

Here is what I said:

“I am so happy that you are here with me. I want to be clear, it does not matter to me that I am the teacher and you are TAs; we all have something to learn from each other. In front of the students, we are all teachers. We will all be providing instruction and we all will be interacting at the fullest extent with our kids. I will never ask you to do things that I would not personally do myself nor will I ask you to do things outside of your job description. I value you input and your feedback, so please, if you see something that is not working, please tell me. If you ever have questions on how to do a program or why I am having a student work on a specific goal, ask. There is no such thing as a stupid question.”

This conversation set the tone for our time together. We are widely regarded as a highly effective classroom in our school community. Our kids have made progress, grown and learned so much and that is because we, as teaching staff, communicate effectively and consistently with each other.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!

I alluded to this, but communication is KEY. Find out what your support staff knows, what their strengths are and where they need more support. Find out what makes them excited to be a TA/para/aide. ( Alyssa has a free staff favorites surveys available in the Simply Free Library, Sign up here)

Find out how you can support their growth within the classroom and within the field. Make sure that you as the classroom teacher are not just assuming that your staff knows how to do a specific lesson just because they have been in the classroom. Ask them, “do you need this modeled for you?” or “can I provide you with examples?” Observe your staff providing instruction/support and offer feedback. By offering of yourself, you make your staff feel like they are not simply there for their one child. Ensuring your staff knows and sees you demonstrating their value in the classroom is crucial to classroom success.

Communicate the Needs of Students too!

It is also crucial that you are consistently communicating about the needs of the students in your classroom. This includes but is not limited to: IEP goals of ALL of the students they will be working with, medical alerts and needs of students, prompt levels, definitions of special ed acronyms (because really, who can keep track of them all?) and a classroom schedule/routine. You can create a system that works for you or use a “Para Binder” where you can put important information and data.

Personally, I like to meet with my staff before and after school each day. At my school, we have built in prep time at the beginning and end of each day for exactly this purpose. In the mornings, I will review each of the programs that we will be running, figure out who is working with what student (we rotate daily) and answer any lingering questions my TAs may have.

In the afternoons, we debrief on how the day went, what went well and what we can improve for tomorrow. I also have a notebook where I write out each child’s IEP goals and specific information related to behavior plans and keep in a place my TAs know they can reference it if needed.

Take Yourself Out of the Equation

How do I know when I have done an effective job at training my staff? I can leave my classroom, either for minutes or for days, and my classroom staff are able to run the classroom just as effective and efficiently as if I was there. Whether it is for a meeting or I am out sick, I know that my students are in the best possible hands. I know that they will be receiving the highest quality of instruction because I am confident in the abilities of my TAs.

Yes, my TAs are incredible at their jobs, but this confidence also comes in knowing that I have taught them how to run the programs, take data on the behaviors and have seen them implement my feedback tenfold. My support staff are proud to be in my classroom, working along side me and with our kids. They feel as though it is not only my classroom, but theirs too. This sentiment is vital because it IS their classroom.

Give your staff the opportunity to have ownership of the classroom. This could look a variety of ways, depending on the type of classroom you teach in. Maybe you have your support staff run a center during station time. Maybe you have them teach a full class lesson about something that they are passionate about. The options are endless but it is your job as a teacher to allow your staff to have the agency to make these decisions for themselves.

Unintended Bias and the Importance of Equity

You and your staff are going to have different relationships with each student. That is inevitable, but keep it in the front of your minds at all times that you and/or your support staff are not “playing favorites” or limiting communication with a child because of unconscious bias in race, family structure or ability level.

In the profession of special education, it is likely that you hear individuals in your school make comments regarding the ability levels, cognitive ability and/or maladaptive behaviors of your students. If you hear these types of conversations from your support staff, ask them how you can support them in feeling more comfortable with these students. Make it clear that there is nothing to be fearful of, as long as you are prepared and know how to deescalate a child.

Additionally, be aware of the language used (yours too!) around race, family structure and sexuality in the classroom. Be mindful of referring to “a grown-up at home” rather than “mom and dad” and do not make assumptions about a child’s home life as it pertain to the color of the child’s skin. If these situations come up in the classroom with your support staff or students, I would recommend having a conversation about it. Confront the bias, get clear about intentions and figure out how to productively move forward in the way that is most equitable for the students.

For Support Staff

I want to conclude this post with an extremely important anecdote. Support staff, you are what makes a teacher’s job possible. You are a vital and irreplaceable part of a classroom community that is often overlooked, underutilized and undervalued. I thank each and every one of you for showing up every day from every teacher out there, I know I certainly can’t get through the day without my TAs.

Additionally, I want you to know that this post is for you just as much as it is for teachers. If the teacher you are working with is not providing an engaging and supportive work environment for you, use this post as a way to start a conversation. I spoke from a teacher’s perspective throughout this post, but this can all be turned around to help you advocate for what you need from your teacher. This is a two way street, everyone has the responsibility to show up and if your teacher is not doing that for you, make it clear that you want them to.

P.s. If you are teaching virtually this year, check out this blog post on Paraprofessionals and virtual teaching!

Have any questions? Drop them below and I’ll get back to you!