Why I Love Being a Paraprofessional

Kiesha Griffin: I became a para and I worked as a para for over, I'm going to say a little over five and a half years. I came to the realization that I love being a teacher. I love working with students. I was working with students that had autism, learning disabilities, and it really captured me. It locked me in. I was like, I'm going to be a teacher. Being a para, you are assigned as a one-to-one with certain students that need that one-on-one attention and assistance. So I had a student and I was his one-to-one, and he had reading disabilities and also behavior disabilities. However, while I was working with him during that entire year, he really didn't like to speak to people or he wasn't really social. But at the end of the school year, I saw him more and more loosening up to people, warming up to people, speaking to people, becoming more social.

And on the educational aspect, his reading abilities have gotten so much greater. He was able to read an entire book on the level, on a third grade level. His mom was amazed, flabbergasted, and just blown away in his reading ability. So that let me know that I'm really capable of touching students and making a difference in their lives. So it really felt really good. It felt great, amazing. It's showing up every day. It's being kind to him. I was talking to him like he was my own, and me teaching him in a loving way allowed him to trust me more and more. You have to meet students where they are because every student is in a different level. The best way to do it is to assess them and to see what they're capable of. And once you have that information, that's your data right there that you have and the data that you have. That's how you will know how to teach that student. My experience as a para inspired me to want to do this more, to empower students, equip them with the knowledge and the tools that I have in a loving way. I decided to further my education and I obtained my bachelor's degree and now I am on my way to obtaining my master's degree. And I say to myself like, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to make a difference in other students' lives.