Mindy Moore – Fourth Grade Hand-in-Hand Paraprofessional

Location: Island Park Elementary

Job Decription: As a hand-in-hand paraprofessional, Mindy supports the fourth-grade teachers and reinforces lessons and monitors the students to keep them on track. Each Hand-in-Hand paraprofessional takes a turn at planning an activity during recess. This is called Recess Camp. Mindy likes to do arts and crafts during her Recess Camp. Recent projects have included making barrettes, blowing paint freestyle through straws, and making apple babies. About 50-100 kids attend Recess Camp each week.

Typical day: Mindy’s workday starts at 8:00 a.m. with Eagles Nest Math Group where she assists those needing extra help. From 8:45-9:00 a.m. she supervises recess. Then she is back in the classroom helping small groups and dividing her time between the four classes, depending on what is needed, in writing, math, and reading. Mindy conducts Recess Camp during the final recess of the day.

Best part of the job: “The kids,” Mindy says. “There is never a boring moment in this job. One day we’ll be writing, the next day doing math. There is never an uninterrupted process – it is always changing. If I start a project that doesn’t go over well, I think, ‘let’s try something different.’ The kids give good feedback. This school is a good place to be. The kids and staff are always enthusiastic and happy to see each other.”

Something people may not know: “I like to drive my little mini Cooper convertible,” Mindy says. Mindy is also a chocolate aficionado, (“Sweet Decadence makes great chocolate, but I’m not a snob. I’ll take Hershey’s too!”), loves coffee and animals (she has 2 corgis and 2 cats).

Years in district: This is Mindy’s seventh year with MISD.

Outside interests: Mindy enjoys traveling. Last summer she went to the Mediterranean with husband, Eric. “I like travel because you read about different parts of the world in books, but it’s like ‘wow, how cool’ to see the places in real life.” In Greece, she fell in love with Greek donuts. “They are like baklava, but small—you can pop them in your mouth.” Mindy and Eric have two grown children, Brandon and Kyle.