In September, we mentioned that Renay’s personal life has been highly unusual lately due to helping out her family. The individual who was at the center of the need for family help has passed away due to their cancer. While the next several weeks are about getting the funeral together and the memories shared with the family, it is also a time of transition.
Renay was musing mostly on the challenges of working against the one factor over which no one has any control: time. There is not enough time in a day to get through all the pieces of everything in special education. The review that some students need far outpaces the time that classes can give to any given topic.
There is not enough time in a day to get through all the pieces of everything in special education.
ParaEducate
But time is so much more than learning specific academic concepts. Time is given to making sure that transitions are smoother. That staff know what is coming up. That staff knows what dates are looming for their special education teachers or even for certain students as they prepare for small celebrations.
Celebrating Indigenous People
We don’t really talk about Indigenous People through ParaEducate. The main reason, no one is of Indigenous related. However, Renay was recently was at a presentation that was brought by several individuals who were from area tribes, and one of them spoke about the lost voices of ‘now’.
Indigenous People are still here. They are not just some story in our history book. But their traditions trace back further than our history books often tell us. When teaching about Indigenous People, it is important to relate that their current generations are here, stewards of our land, of their traditions and history. And we need to make sure that we honor those traditions and history.
When teaching about Indigenous People, it is important to relate that their current generations are here, stewards of our land, of their traditions and history.
ParaEducate
If your district does a land acknowledgement, it is important to remember you are reading for those who have passed as well as those who wait for their lands and traditions to be as honored as other cultures. Reading a land acknowledgement, especially if one is not an indigenous person, is to read for someone who is preserving a tradition because the options were denied to them for years.
Reading a land acknowledgement, especially if one is not an indigenous person, is to read for someone who is preserving a tradition because the options were denied to them for years.
Instincts or Direct Planning
Renay has always relied on instincts to find her way through working with different teachers, students with disabilities, and curricula. She realizes that not everyone will do well with instincts.
There are reasons that instincts are not enough. Especially if one might be a parent. Parenting can only bring some balance. The nuances of navigating intrapersonal professional relationships and curriculum demands are an unusual combination that most parents do not get to understand directly in the same manner as paraeducators do.
There are systems that special education teachers can implement to help you navigate.
For those who are experiencing food insecurity
Please contact your politicians and get them back to the table. No one, including our students in our schools and our staff, should feel like they are not a part of the conversation.
Regardless of your political affiliations (Left, right, moderate, conservative, or neither), what is occurring that prevents our Federal government from supporting our most vulnerable among us is not right.
On the last word of family…
First, we would like to applaud Tim Villegas for reaching Year 13. We share many parallels with Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education and Tim’s origin– Think Inclusive was our inadvertent twin for many years. In blogging, podcasting, and reaching dozens of advocates and professionals in education, Tim Villegas and MCIE have turned into a great resource that is constantly connecting people with the importance of our advocacy on behalf of everyone in special education.
ParaEducate will return in December with a blog. Renay is going to take the time for her family.
Do you have any comments about this month’s blog? Do you have a question for us? Would you like to have an opportunity to pilot some materials at your campus? Find ParaEducate online here, here, here, and on our website. ParaEducate is a company providing materials, information, and strategies for people working in special education inclusion settings for grades K-12. ParaEducate, the blog, is published once a month during the academic school year. ParaEducate shares its findings at conferences, through its books, and through its academic adaptations.
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