For John Allen, it's the best part of being a teacher aide. And it's
happened many times during his career.
"To talk with some of our former students who come back for open house
and see how much they've changed just gives everybody here a tremendous
sense of accomplishment," says Allen.
"Some of these kids came to us extremely hyper or with a big hate-on for
school or a big hate-on for teachers. A few were very difficult.
"Now, some have fallen into very good, steady jobs and stop back to say
hello. And they say they can't believe they created such a bad time here
or that they gave us a hard time. I thoroughly enjoy what I do."
And others in the profession agree.
Melody Black of Virginia remembers a five-year-old boy who jumped up and
down and shouted, "I can read!" after she spent time with him in a class.
"He was crying and crying because he said he was only five and couldn't
read yet," Black recalls. "So I pulled out a 'book' that we had
made in class and asked him to read it to me. He opened it up and read, 'One
red circle...' and continued with each successive page.
"When he finished with the fifth and last page, I clapped loudly and congratulated
him on reading his first book. He was so happy that he jumped up and down."
Black, also a substitute teacher, has a bachelor's degree in journalism.
"As a teacher aide, I get to work with the same children every day," says
Black. "Getting to see the difference I make is a bonus."
A seventh-grade girl has a special place in the heart of Marie Salaga,
a teacher aide in Hermitage, Pennsylvania. "She could read only two- to three-letter
words when she came to us," says Salaga.
"The girl had a tough life and had changed schools often. I worked a lot
with her -- we all worked with her -- and within about two school years she
could read paragraphs from a history book on a fourth-grade level. I'll
never forget that."
Linda Keesling, a teacher aide in Florida, recalls an autistic child. "After
three long years of the alphabet and singular words, the child was reading
simple books," she says.
"The parents never believed that their child would be able to read, so
I was very proud when he started to."
Their titles are as varied as their duties and backgrounds. But whether
called teacher aides, teacher assistants, paraprofessionals or para-educators,
they do their jobs for the students.
Allen's responsibilities ranged from one-on-one tutoring to watching
a single student during daily classes.
"You really have to spend some time and see what a student is doing each
day -- how they act in certain situations," he says. "Usually there's
a reason for their behavior."
Salaga's duties have been similar. She's checked homework, worked
one-on-one with students, filed papers, read to a student, scored tests, set
up a classroom and "shadowed" a student from class to class.
"I've always got along with kids. They've always seemed to confide
in me. I enjoy working with kids."
Taking pleasure from children and enjoying their company is something teacher
aides can't get enough of. "I enjoy kids. I have three of my own!" says
Gerry Griffith of Pennsylvania.
"I was working with my son years ago in school and asked the teacher to
call me if I could help with anything. And the next school year she called.
So I started as a volunteer."
Griffith's been a volunteer, a substitute teacher aide, a teacher
aide in remedial reading, an instructional aide to a special education
teacher and an instructional aide in the school's computer lab. Her basic
duties have been constant -- helping teachers help students.