Teacher's Aide

Hours: 208 / Access Length: 12 Months / Delivery: Online, Self-Paced
Retail Price: $3,499.00

Course Overview:

The Instructional Paraprofessional Certification Program will prepare you to assist classroom teachers in instruction of mathematics, reading and writing. The required courses include topics in teaching mathematic, reading and writing, an overview of the job of Instructional Paraprofessional and an introduction to child development. The elective courses allow students to explore areas related to instruction including classroom management skills, teaching and learning theories and instructional methods. The Instructional Paraprofessional Certification Program will help prepare you to pass the Educational Testing Services ParaPro Exam or other skills assessment exams and to pass any observation-based certification programs required by your state.

This course requires a word processor software, such as Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, or Google Docs in order for the student to follow along with the course lessons. The cost of the software is not included in the purchase of the course. Free trials of Microsoft Word may be available from Microsoft but may not last the duration of the course.

Students will be prepared to take the ETS ParaPro Assessment upon completion of this course.

About This Course:

We are committed to offering world class interactive online courses that provide training and learning support for the student in a number of ways during their experience. This course structure has been developed to provide activities to guide students throughout the entire process of learning. Learning activities include hands-on assignments that allow students to use what they are learning to allow better transferable skills within their work environments.

When a student learns, they are not alone.   Each student will be supported by our student services department – which ranges from course mentors, registrar, and technical support assistance.   Every month students have a progress report run on them every month by our student services department to ensure they are making satisfactory progress.   If a student falls behind, we reach out to them personally by phone call every month to see if there is anything we can do to continue to assist them with moving forward in their course.

Course Outline:

To receive their certificate, students will need to successfully complete the five required courses and three of the elective courses.

Required:

Paraprofessional's Training

Students will investigate the requirements for becoming an Instructional Paraprofessional and the skills needed for classroom management, and instructing students. When taking this program, this course Paraprofessional's Training, must be taken first.

Child Development

Students will explore child development from several different viewpoints including biological, cognitive, social, language, and peer and family relationships.

Teaching Math

Students will review the basic math skills required for the skills assessments test as they explore ways to present math content to students of all levels.

Teaching Reading

Students will review the basic reading skills required for the skills assessments test as they explore ways to present reading content to students of all levels.

Teaching Writing

Students will review the basic writing skills required for the skills assessments test as they explore ways to present writing content to students of all levels.

Electives:

Classroom Management

Students will explore various approaches to classroom and student behavior management.

Differentiated Instruction in the Inclusive Classroom

Students will learn various instructional strategies to help them present course content to a variety of students with varying backgrounds and skillsets.

Motivating Students

Students will identify ways they can get and keep their students' attention and get them excited about learning.

Learning Styles in the Classroom

Students will identify their own learning styles and learn how to incorporate activities that appeal to a variety of learning styles in their course activities.

Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom

Students will explore how the Multiple Intelligences theory can be used to help identify students' strengths and weaknesses and help them to better learn any subject.

Fundamentals of Instructional Design

Students will go through the process of designing a unit of instruction from creating course objectives, course content and assessment.

All necessary materials are included.

Certification(s):

Students will be prepared to take the ETS ParaPro Assessment upon completion of this course.

In order to register for the exam, students will have to find and register with a testing center in their area.   Each state has their own minimum passing score, students should be aware of the score they must achieve in order to pass the ParaPro Assessment.

System Requirements:

Internet Connectivity Requirements:

• Cable, Fiber, DSL, or LEO Satellite (i.e. Starlink) internet with speeds of at least 10mb/sec download and 5mb/sec upload are recommended for the best experience.

NOTE: While cellular hotspots may allow access to our courses, users may experience connectivity issues by trying to access our learning management system.  This is due to the potential high download and upload latency of cellular connections.   Therefore, it is not recommended that students use a cellular hotspot as their primary way of accessing their courses.

Hardware Requirements:

• CPU: 1 GHz or higher
• RAM: 4 GB or higher
• Resolution: 1280 x 720 or higher.  1920x1080 resolution is recommended for the best experience.
• Speakers / Headphones
• Microphone for Webinar or Live Online sessions.

Operating System Requirements:

• Windows 7 or higher.
• Mac OSX 10 or higher.
• Latest Chrome OS
• Latest Linux Distributions
  

NOTE: While we understand that our courses can be viewed on Android and iPhone devices, we do not recommend the use of these devices for our courses. The size of these devices do not provide a good learning environment for students taking online or live online based courses.

Web Browser Requirements:

• Latest Google Chrome is recommended for the best experience.
• Latest Mozilla FireFox
• Latest Microsoft Edge
• Latest Apple Safari

Basic Software Requirements (These are recommendations of software to use):

• Office suite software (Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, or LibreOffice)
• PDF reader program (Adobe Reader, FoxIt)
• Courses may require other software that is described in the above course outline.