Kimberley "Kim' Tinkham

As a high school SPED Paraprofessional I was responsible for providing academic support for approximately 15 students with IEP's in 7 classrooms through out the school day in various subjects and as well as study halls in my students' Case Managers' classrooms. The students learning differences ranged from ADD/ADHD, Autism, Low IQ and Down Syndrome as well as mental health diagnoses of Anxiety, Depression, PTSD etc. I developed a rapport with all my students to provide them with the educational, behavioral and emotional support they needed to be successful in school and for a lot of them to graduate. I was also an extra set of eyes and ears for the teachers ensuring that all the students but particularly mine felt safe and heard in the classrooms.

I substituted for many grades, in high school it was more to ensure that the students were doing their assigned work, maintaining a safe and controlled classroom and offering academic assistance to students if I was familiar with the subject. In young elementary I had to follow the lesson plans of the absent teachers so I would actually teach the students the subject materials left by their teachers as well as lunch and recess duties. On one occasion I had to teach a 1st grade classroom of twenty students without the assistance of a para. I had a child who was a hemophiliac, one with a sensory diagnosis and one with a learning difference. I had to think on my toes and had the whole classroom successfully help me teach.