I work in an amazing place. I work with wonderful children (who sometimes have the ability to drive me crazy) and great teachers. I work in an elementary school. I am a paraprofessional. I never thought that something like this would be my dream job, but it makes me happier than I ever expected, so let me tell you about where I work.

Where I Work

Where I work is a great place. In the mornings, I go in and greet happy children (and some upset children) as they come in ready to learn. I talk to one of the teachers that I work with, and we plan how our day is going to go. When it’s time for the students to go to class, I go to another class, with another teacher.

This part of the morning is not something that just anyone would want to deal with. This part of my morning is spent in a special education class. This class is what’s called a self-contained class. These children have severe delays… Some are physically handicapped, some have emotional and behavioral issues, and some have simply been failed by educators and parents and are severely behind in school.

During this part of the morning, I work with a little boy who is in a wheelchair and is unable to communicate. We are working on teaching him how to communicate, and then will be teaching him his letters. I get asked how I do it, and while it does get frustrating at times, it is so rewarding to see him happy and learning to communicate with his teachers, family, and friends. That is how I do it.

After the first few hours of my day, I go to kindergarten. My teacher and I have a planning period there before I actually start working with the kids. This is the time where we discuss which particular kids I will be working with that day, and what I will be working on with them. We have some children that we know do not have any learning disabilities, but just need a little extra help. This is where I come in. I pull these children into what’s called small group and give them extra help and work.

After working with my kindergarten class, I ride a bus to a special needs school, where we pick up two students who are better served there. I help keep them calm until we get them home. When we get the two of them to their homes, I go back to the school and work with both of my teachers on the upcoming days and weeks lesson plans.

It’s a hard job. I stay busy. I love it. This is where I work.