I never said I didn't like aides or were angry about them. My minor is actually in Special Education so I'm pretty sure that I can deal with aides and inclusion. I wouldn't assume because of one post that you know exactly how my teaching career will go.
I was just saying in my opinion in response to the post it depends on the school. My school the aides only work with specific children which 90 % of the time is outside of the classroom. So no If I had a child I wouldn't buy them a gift unless my child was being worked with by them. All of the aides are quite nice at my school and I like them. I was just trying to get across that even though some aides seem to do a lot it shouldn't be forgotten how much more teachers have to do to get to their position and their responsibilities. Unless you know the aide has some kind of teaching certification or sped. certification. But in that case they are most likely not staying in that position forever. As somebody else even said most people do teaching as a career and being an aide is more of a job not a career for many people. My teacher I'm with right now actually started out as an aide to get into the school district so she would have more luck getting a teacher position.
Yes, we had an outside aide come into the classroom that just sat back in the classroom the whole time he was there which was maybe an hour. My co-op teacher had no clue what exactly he was doing there since he clearly wasn't doing anything. She's had wrap arounds that read, text, sleep in the class. So she just doesn't really like to use wrap-arounds anymore.
From your last post, it sounds as if the administrators need to deal with those who are not doing their jobs. In our district, aide positions, though grossly underpaid, are hard to come by. Our aides do a great job. I am sorry that isn't the case in your school.
If someone came in to my room for an hour everyday and I had no idea why, I would ask them. Some people have great initiative and others need more specific direction. It can be very intimidating to come into someone else's classroom. You don't know what to do or when to help. The teacher should be the instructional leader in the classroom so if she does not feel like the aide is contributing, she has every right to speak to her administrator and work on a plan to correct the situation. I have had to do that on one occasion when an aide was interrupting instruction. This particular person was not able to help in any meaningful way and is not employed by my district anymore.
In our school, aides do not pull children out of class for instruction. That is done by a teacher.
I would buy the aides a gift, especially in a class like pre-K, or K where the aide is there to assist all the children. If my child received special education services, then I would buy a gift for the aides that worked with my child.
I don't buy people gifts based on what kind of degrees that they have, or the education that they have. I buy gifts for people who I care about. I don't consider a gift a "tip", it is an expression of my appreciation. I appreciate the aides as well as the teachers!
If there was someone who I did NOT appreciate, I would not feel obligated to give them a gift.
Good luck with your teaching career! I wish you the best and I hope that you have some better experiences with paraprofessionals in the future.
