Familiar faces. This year I’m a one-to-one paraprofessional in a general education classroom. I had worked with my student the year before so I was already familiar with him and was really looking forward to seeing him again. It was exciting thinking about the new school year and how he might grow this year. When we saw each other, he had a bright smile on his face — it felt really good.

Community building. When the school day began, Ms. Wei, the teacher, had the kids introduce themselves to each other. She has an excellent system with different tiers to get everyone’s attention. One is a chime if things are quiet in the room. If the noise level is a little higher, she will use a clap sound and the kids put their hands on their heads and freeze. I try to model with her because it’s important for the students to see us doing what we’re telling them to do. Then we did a scavenger hunt. Each little box had a question like “Did you go to an amusement park this summer?” Kids would go to each other and ask these questions and if there was a positive answer, the kid would sign inside the box. A couple of the kids asked me questions as well. One was “Do you like art?” And yes, I am an artist! It was a good way to get to know them, although I knew at least a third of the class from the previous year.

Cafeteria duty. We have four adults with five classes at our lunch period. We didn’t go outside because we’re setting up the rules: making sure the kids understand that they need to sit in their spots and quiet down to be ready to go outside. Taking time in the beginning to set down structure makes things much better throughout the year.

Afternoon redirection. After the students’ lunch, I go to lunch. When I came back into the room, the class was reading very quietly and I had to redirect my student because he had gotten tired of reading. He’s very smart but he likes to rush ahead and will get bored easily. So it’s a lot of redirecting, redirecting. When he needs direct instruction or direct help, I’m absolutely there for him. But I like to give him a certain amount of independence because that is the point: to see if they learn and become independent.

Reflection and preparation. After the kids were safely dismissed, I had a short talk with Ms. Wei. We spoke about some of my student’s behaviors and how we might help him. We have a chart set up to remind him, and I’m keeping a log of his performance during the day to keep everybody on the same page between home and school. I’m looking forward to seeing those “aha” moments during the school year. I can’t help but get attached to all the kids, and then before you know it, they’re going on to the next grade.