Topics include:
- The many and varied roles and responsibilities of EAs
- Ethical duties of EAs
- Effective advocacy techniques
- The role of reflective practice in solving problems
- Building relationships and communicating with students, parents, teachers, and school administrators
- Recent research on the brain, self-esteem, resilience theory, and multiple intelligences
- The importance of an individualized, holistic approach to student learning
- Universal Design for Learning, and strategies for differentiating academic and social learning
- Techniques for observation and documentation
- Positive guidance strategies for challenging behaviours
Carole Massing began her career as an elementary school teacher and developed a special interest in early learning when her own children were small. Since that time, she has taught in post-secondary programs at MacEwan University, the University of Alberta, and NorQuest College. She has also consulted, researched, and developed curriculum in early learning and child care, interculturalism, and human service administration. Carole teaches in the Bachelor of Applied Human Service Administration program at MacEwan University. She earned her PhD in elementary education at the University of Alberta.
Bonnie Anderson began her teaching career as an educational assistant and went on to work as a classroom teacher for three decades. She worked primarily with children with exceptionalities in inclusive and specialized programs. Bonnie developed and coordinated a very successful arts-based program at her school. She now teaches at NorQuest College in the Educational Assistant program and the Early Learning and Child Care program, and has just developed the curriculum for a new program for EAs.
Carol Anderson is a retired educator with 39 years of teaching experience working with school-aged children in diverse classroom settings. She is trained both as a K–12 educator and as a specialist for children with communicative challenges, in particular children who are Deaf and hard of hearing. Originally from California, Carol completed her undergraduate degree in liberal arts from the University of the Pacific and achieved her Master’s in Communicative Disorders: Education of the Deaf, at California State University, Fresno.