The tools every EA needs to help each child reach their full potential

The Educational Assistant’s Guide to Supporting Inclusion in a Diverse Society is an accessible, practical guide to acquiring the key skills and knowledge you need to be an effective, professional enhancement to the classroom.

Chock-full of pro tips, tricks, tools, and tales from EAs who understand the importance of an individualized, holistic approach to student learning, The Educational Assistant’s Guide is your introduction to the many and varied roles and responsibilities of the effective EA. Updates for the second edition include five new chapters, a core-skills focus, targeted instructional strategies, EA wellness assessments, and more.

Gain foundational knowledge that will make you an invaluable addition to any classroom team:

• Canada’s legal commitments to diversity and inclusion
• AI and other assistive technologies in the classroom
• The argument for inclusive education
• Societal issues affecting students
• The basics of universal design for learning
• Proven methods of supporting learning and inquiry
• Scaffolding instruction for all learners
• Applications of assistive technologies
• Techniques for observing and documenting student progress
• Positive guidance strategies for challenging behaviours
• Relevant research on the brain, self-esteem, stress and trauma, resiliency, and multiple intelligences
• Effective communication, advocacy, and relationship-building strategies
• Strategies for problem-solving and professional growth

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.

Carole Massing's profile page

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.

Bonnie Anderson's profile page

Carol Anderson has pursued a diverse career as a dancer, choreographer, teacher, director and dance writer. Her writing includes numerous articles on Canadian dance, the biography Judy Jarvice Dance Artist: A Portrait (1993), a look at Canadian dance near the millennium entitled Chasing the Tale of Contemporary Dance (1999), and This Passion: For the Love of Dance (1998), an anthology of original Canadian dance writing that she compiled and edited. Her most recent book is Unfold: A Portrait of Peggy Baker (Dance Collection Danse Press/Presse 2008). Anderson is a former artistic director of Toronto's Dancemakers, of which she was a founding member. She has danced for over twenty years and continues to teach, choreograph, and perform selectively. Born in New York City, Joysanne Sidimus studied under George Balanchine at the School of American Ballet, subsequently joining the choreographer's New York City Ballet. She later performed as a Soloist with London's Festival Ballet and as a Principal Dancer with Pennsylvania Ballet and The National Ballet of Canada.Joysanne Sidimus is the founder of the Dancer Transition Resource Centre as well as the founding Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Artists' Health Centre Foundation, which created the Artists' Health Centre, a comprehensive health care facility for artists at Toronto Western Hospital, and the Project Director of the Senior Artists' Research Project, examining the difficulties faced by Canada's senior artists. In 2003, she was awarded the Governor General's Meritorious Service Medal. In 2006, Ms. Sidimus received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.

Carol Anderson's profile page

Sarah Dewhurst has spent her career in education proving that the learning journey never ends. Beginning as a high school English teacher, Sarah has developed programs for Indigenous students, students with English as an additional language, students with complex learning needs, preschoolers, daycare programs for autistic children, and day programming for adults with developmental disabilities. Sarah now teaches at NorQuest College in the educational assistant and disability studies programs. She is also the founder and executive director of DiffabilitiesYEG, an organization aimed at providing vocational day programming for adults with developmental disabilities.

Sarah Dewhurst's profile page