Summer Job

I found out what I'll be doing this summer! I mean, I already told you I had found a job as a 1:1 aide for an ESY program, but today I actually found out who I'll be working with. A second grader named "Billy" who has an intellectual disability, in a class of 3rd through 5th graders with similar intellectual disabilities. I think he needs a 1:1 specifically because he has some sort of auditory processing disorder and gets lost in the shuffle a lot. I got to read some of his IEP, and his past teachers say he's a very sweet and cheerful little guy. So this should be fun!

I was never really planning to actually teach over the summer. I kind of thought that most ESY programs are taught by experienced teachers who already know the curriculum and know at least some of the students, and it might be kind of hard to walk into a summer school classroom and teach it for a month. I don't know. I just thought being an aide would be more manageable. But now I sort of feel sad because I'll be "just an aide." Having worked in schools a lot before, I know how some teachers view aides. I also know that, although I've met a lot of very educated and wonderful aides, I have also met a lot of aides who don't really have any qualifications or knowledge about education, except maybe that they have children of their own, and they often just stand around chatting and have to be "redirected" by the teacher. As a student teacher, I sat in on conferences where the teachers learned about how to manage their unruly aides and complained about them. For some reason the less qualified aides make up the stereotype, at least in schools where I've been. 

And let me just clarify... I am definitely willing and eager to follow directions and work with a lead teacher. But I'm worried about being treated like the stereotypical aide who just walked in off the street and was hired just because she is physically able to push someone's wheelchair around. 

But I suppose my best bet would be to just show them who I am, through my work, and let them see that I'm capable of more than just holding a little kid's hand to keep him from darting out of the room. 

Thanks for your help, guys! I'm glad we had that little talk!